MISSION: IMPOSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

GRADE: A

Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris 
and Alec Baldwin
Story by Drew Pearce and Christopher McQuarrie
Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
Rated PG-13 (violence, profanity, brief partial nudity)

Yeah. We know. You don't like Tom Cruise because he's . . . Well, because he's Tom Cruise. But the fact remains that however much that may be true, it still doesn't change the fact that he's Tom Cruise.

In other words, forget about his personal life; as an action star and as a producer, the guy really delivers. Cruise is the modern day Erroll Flynn, and in an age when it's a novelty to even have stunt men doing action instead of just using C.G.I., it is a huge breath of fresh air to see a movie where the star isn't putting on a mask and quite literally becoming a cartoon.  The Mission: Impossible series continues to make us grateful on some level that Cruise is crazy, because as Ethan Hunt, he pushes himself beyond limits that today's breed of action stars wouldn't even dare to approach, and he's been doing it for nearly 20 years.

This time around, Ethan is tracking a mysterious organization known only as "The Syndicate," and it's pretty much the deadliest and most secret covert organization in existence. So covert, in fact,

that many people in the intelligence community question its existence, including the CIA's director, Alan Hunley (played by Alec Baldwin), who goes before a Senate sub-committee arguing that despite the eventual defeat of the viliains in the last film, the collateral damage was simply too high, and that the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is an outdated and out of control entity that has no place in the modern, transparent world of international relations, and needs to be dissolved into the Central Intelligence Agency. Despite the protestations of William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Hunley gets his way, and Brandt is told that it is time for Ethan Hunt to come in from the cold.

It goes without saying that Ethan, whose status changes from America's most trusted agent to public enemy number one so often that, if he did have a Facebook profile, it would read "Ethan Hunt is 'In A Relationship' with 'United States Government' and 'It's Complicated,'" fails to comply and heads out to bring down the Syndicate on his own. It also goes without saying that Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and, thank the maker, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) are included in anything that Ethan does on his own. And of course, it really goes without saying that somewhere along the line, a beautiful woman is thrown into the mix (this time played by Rebecca Ferguson.).

The third film in the franchise to be produced through J.J. Abrahms' Bad Robot production company, Rogue Nation doesn't provide as many laughs as Ghost Protocol or the wonderful character moments and human drama that Mission: Impossible III gave us, but it does succeed at serving up one element that those two films failed to deliver: namely, a plot. An actual, coherent plot that plays out from beginning to end, makes sense and which you, the viewer, could actually explain as long as you were paying attention. Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie fills the movie with twists and turns, some of which are genuinely unexpected, reminding us that he is, after all, the writer of The Usual Suspects. McQuarrie seems to have replaced Robert Towne as Cruise's go to writer, this being their fourth collaboration after two genuinely great films that unfortunately failed to find audiences, Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow, and Jack Reacher, which unfortunately sounds like a device that an amputee uses to pleasure himself, but was nowhere near that interesting. But McQuarrie really shines as a director here showing a knack for creative staging and creating a moody, almost film noir atmosphere.

Cruise the action hero is without a current peer in this kind of film. His agile physicality allows him to leap and climb around in ways most actions stars can't even convincingly do with special effects, and his charismatic presence and genuine acting talent complete the package.  Though most of the supporting cats isn't given a lot to do, relative newcomer rebecca Ferguson makes quite an impression as her character, ilsa Faust, proves to be an equal to Ethan every step of the way.  We kept waiting for her to turn into the hellpess female who needs to be saved or swoons over Ethan's charms, but thankfully those moments never came, and most of the best fight scenes belong to her.

While it is unfortunate that Renner is literally not given a single action scene, his impeccable sense of comic timing is a big plus, and he and Baldwin play very well off each other, and it's kind of nice to see Pegg getting some more serious moments. Rhames is clearly just happy to be in the film at all after being relegated to a cameo in the previous installment, but he's a welcome presence, and Sean Harris makes for a creepy, if not terribly nuanced villain.

The bottom line: if you're genuinely not a fan of the franchise, this isn't likely to win you over, but in a ridiculously C.G.I. heavy summer, this movie isn't just welcome, it was genuinely needed, and we really hope it's a big enough hit to warrant at least one more mission before Cruise and Hunt ride off into the sunset together, having truly done the impossible.

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs and Paul Gibbs