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Review: 'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation' has Tom Cruise at his best

 
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation features a succession of action sequences showcasing practical stunt work at its finest. It’s hard to choose a favorite among the set pieces, but there is a thrilling motorcycle chase in Morocco — with Cruise leaning steel.
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation features a succession of action sequences showcasing practical stunt work at its finest. It’s hard to choose a favorite among the set pieces, but there is a thrilling motorcycle chase in Morocco — with Cruise leaning steel.
Published July 29, 2015

No matter what anyone thinks of Tom Cruise, about his marriages, divorces, religion, couch jumping or wherever he stands on immigration, one thing is undeniable:

The man is a movie star, underline it twice. Cruise is this young century's personification of what it takes to earn that title, a perfect storm of personality, drive and talent on delivery, incapable of irrelevance.

Anyone can be in a movie; only a few like Cruise are the movies.

Cruise endures yet still aspires to giving moviegoers everything he has, with risks like the airplane stunt kicking off Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, plus a recent self-deflating edge to his work, effectively beating haters to the punch.

Case in point: One pulsing action sequence writer-director Christopher McQuarrie devises here calls for Cruise's Ethan Hunt to hold his breath underwater for several minutes, nearly killing him. Hunt runs woozy to his car, doing one of those action slides across the hood, leading to a result that's uncommonly honest for an action flick.

Coupled with the hater fantasy encouraged by last year's Edge of Tomorrow (watch Cruise get killed over and over!), these moments of fallibility are exactly what such a cultivated aura of perfection needs. Cruise is getting the joke for which he's long been the punchline.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation should make him a few more friends worldwide, and certainly satisfy old ones. It is the funniest of the 19-year franchise, not only for Cruise's subtle doubting but also an expanded role for Simon Pegg's cyber-coward Benji Dunn, and adding Alec Baldwin's dry CIA chief, who's shutting down the Impossible Mission Force.

A rogue agency calling itself the Syndicate, led by a bespectacled mystery man (Sean Harris), has deadlier plans for Ethan and his crew. Everyone is after a flash drive containing information that along with the villain's scheme isn't as interesting as everyone's scrambling. As usual, the IMF plan expands to flow chart complexity, latex mask pull-offs and all.

Slinking between sides is Ilsa Faust, played by newcomer Rebecca Ferguson (BBC's The White Queen) with a refreshingly maturity for a female lead in an action flick. Ferguson has a sultry femme fatale vibe sizing up well with Cruise's magnetism, making Ilsa a calculating espionage foil and flirt interest. She's one to watch in the future.

For now, moviegoers can witness a succession of action sequences showcasing practical stunt work at its finest, often with Cruise in the middle of the mayhem. The opening sequence is amazing, even knowing Cruise is safely strapped outside an ascending airplane. McQuarrie segues into a brazen escape that's comically edited, setting the movie's relentless tone.

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Hard to choose a favorite among Rogue Nation's set pieces, although the Vienna Opera House sequence, with multiple assassins scoping targets and each other while Ethan fights for his life above a performance of Turandot is pretty darn good. But so is a motorcycle chase in Morocco — with Cruise leaning steel — and the aforementioned water stunt, that even with safety precautions is perilous.

That's what Cruise is willing to do for his art, for his fans, and what he doesn't get enough credit for doing. All that other stuff gets in the way.

Contact Steve Persall at spersall@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8365. Follow @StevePersall.