Cinematographer Robert Elswit is no stranger to the big blockbuster spy franchise. Back in 1997 he shot the Brosnan Bond, Tomorrow Never Dies, then he did back to back Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and The Bourne Legacy.
Elswitt is back with the Mission Impossible team for ROGUE NATION, whose opening scene smacks of the pre-title sequence of Tomorrow Never Dies.
There’s a lot of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION that harks back to the Bond movies more so than the original conceits of the Mission Impossible TV show, an observation not a criticism, for after all these are big budget globe trotting affairs.
Again we have the teaming of Ethan (Tom Cruise) the extreme sportsman leader and the IT geek, Benji (Simon Pegg) with a little help from carry-over Ghost Nation IMFers, Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames).
They’re out to shut down the Syndicate, the mob that’s been double dealing all the foreign intelligence agencies and risks the total disbanding of the Impossible Mission Force.
The syndicate is run by a shady character, ex MI6, icily played by Sean Harris. The trump card in this film, however, is the casting of Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, also MI6 trained, a modern day Emma Peel, whose intelligence and beauty are a lethal combination. Her performance is an amalgamation of athleticism and knowing cinematic aesthete, a harmony of Hollywood action heroics and European subtlety.
In a cafe scene in Casablanca, with dialogue that riffs from the film of the same name, Ilsa is reminiscent of Elsa, or at least resembling Ingrid Bergman in that role. Alas, Tom Cruise is no Bogey.
Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE has a trio of remarkable set pieces, the upstaging of Turandot by the staging of a multiple sniper attack at the Vienna Opera House, an underwater sequence that is quite literally breathtaking and a Moroccan motor cycle chase at break neck no change that brake knee busting pace.
Simon McBurney as the MI6 chief and Tom Hollander as the British Prime Minister are splendid in their roles, combining a deft blend of gravitas and humour.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is sit back, pop your popcorn, and enjoy the travelogue, the cinematography, the set pieces, the cameo, and the many charms of Ms. Ferguson.