In Tom Cruise’s fifth impossible mission as Ethan Hunt (i.e. the new Jim Phelps, the classic television character whose cover was unnecessarily blown by the first and worst entry in the series), the action is as unfeasible as ever; Cruise/Hunt hangs from the outside of an ascending plane and even dies. But like the equally unbelievable Fast and Furious franchise, Mission: Impossible continues to improve upon its blockbuster formula. It is the humor—a strong suit of Cruise’s unjustly ignored summer 2014 flick, Edge of Tomorrow, also written by Mission: Impossible–Rogue Nation’s writer/director Christopher McQuarrie—that sets it apart from its predecessors and its peers. While Bond is stuck in moody, angsty teendom, MI5 sets spy thrillers back to the Stone Age of Roger Moore, when espionage was light: fun but still thrilling.
After the grandstanding director of the CIA (Alec Baldwin) convinces the Senate to shutter the Impossible Missions Force, Hunt and his team—Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg)—are on their own to take down the anti-IMF known as The Syndicate, led by a former British secret agent (Sean Harris).
If Peter Graves could keep on Missioning Impossible in his 60s, who knows how long the frighteningly youthful Cruise can keep it up?
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