Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) gives off a trustworthy, likable energy, while neutralizing world terrorists and juggling politically correct bosses (Alec Baldwin and Jeremy Renner.)
The film’s screwball opening has Benji Dinn (Simon Pegg) botching up a mission with Cruise who is forced to jump not in a plane, but on a plane. One moving down a runway, no less. Apparently, just another Mission..possible.
Shortly after, Cruise goes to an unassuming Piccadilly, London, record store to receive his next assignment “if he chooses to accept it.” But as “this message will self-destruct in five seconds”, a mysterious man shoots the store clerk, setting the plot into motion.
There are some truly original action scenes in this installment – brought to us by the creative mind of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie – like the one with Cruise hand-cuffed in front of an evil villain called ‘The Bone Doctor’. It’s here Cruise will meet Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) a gorgeous, highly skilled, British agent who has managed to infiltrate the bad guy syndicate and may just be a double spy. The chemistry between the two isn’t romantic, but instead the romance of shared experiences as if they’re meant to open their own spy school.
As with all these films, of course, and when it comes to the bad guy, it’s fascinating that a trained assassin always misses their mark (or the movie’s star.) That said, the story’s opera scene of high rafter antics above “Turrandot” and the famous Pucini high-note ending in “Nessun dorma” plays out like 3 gunman Kennedy assassination theory.
The story spends a good deal of time globe-trotting (as all these James Bond type stories do) but spends most of its time in England, giving the film a more studied edge than say…Morocco. Unlike one-note “Terminator,” Cruise at age 53, has no shame and a lot of stamina. He’s eager to please, agile, and displays as much conviction as his character, Ethan Hunt. Even his 3 minute oxygen machine sequence, amidst the technical jargon, bank account numbers, encrypted messages, retinal scans and digital finger prints, leaves us little room to breathe.
You’re never quite sure what the actual mission is, but it’s certainly possible. And with Cruise at the helm, it doesn’t matter. If Ghost Protocol (which ended up generating 700 million worldwide) was good, this is really good. What seems to run like a fast-burning piece of rope through the faster moving film is the tricky relationships being set up in order to deliver the next installment of the film with a group called the IMF. This “Impossible Mission Force” creates an Avengers strategy of four men and one woman. A true summer popcorn film. It’s only drawback, about 20 minutes too long of a mission that never ends. ♕ ♚ ♛