Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

By: Robert Murphy

Spy movies have always been a dime a dozen over the years and why shouldn't it be when it provides the perfect box office bait for willing fans to see attractive woman, crazy explosions and sinister plots. I always felt that the Mission: Impossible movies hit their marks though as a series that has some pretty crazy doomsday level threats, Bond era bad guys and some out there but believable gadgets. Rogue Nation continues with this style of story as Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the rest of his team at the IMF continue their world wide efforts in stopping terrorism and global threats with the slightest chances of success. 

The story wastes no time with it's ramping up the action right out of the gates, we see Benji (Simon Pegg), William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and former Mission: Impossible star Luther (Ving Rhames) attempting to stop a terrorist group from escaping with dangerous nerve gas missiles to an unknown source. Just a usual day for the IMF but it also sets the stage for the new level of exceedingly perilous stunts that you will see come up throughout the entire story. You thought the Kremlin mission was insane in the last film? Well, the series of new stunts will blow you away. But, this brings up the critical point that the story tries to bring across for Rogue Nation's story and that is, are these missions worth undertaking when they have such a low success rate? It appears many high ranking officials believe this and despite being a legend at the IMF, Ethan's string of success could be misconstrued as nothing more than blind luck.

This is certainly the view of CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) who has a brilliant but small role to play in Ethan's plans but he is a welcomed addition nonetheless especially if he ends up in any future films. For the moment though he has effectively brought an end to the IMF and all their further actions but Ethan isn't one to leave a mission half complete and he sets out to put an end to the shadow organization known as the Syndicate. This group is basically the anti-IMF and Ethan has been chasing them down for the past couple of years with no luck at finding out who they're or what they're after. What he does know is that they have been manipulating world and geopolitical aspect for years by way of assassinations and other small attacks that go under the radar but actually have a huge ripple affect. This brings into question Ethan's sanity however as people question whether or not an organization like this could exist without anyone other than Ethan knowing about it and maybe this is all just in his head. 

This was an interesting factor to bring up as most people that meet Ethan are probably perplexed by the actions he takes and all the insane stunts he tries to pull. People like Benji and Luther know who the real Ethan is but to an outsider his antics could be misconstrued as the exploits of an adrenaline junkie who can't survive in a world without danger or an enemy to face. It's a nice idea but you never truly question that factor as you watch Rogue Nation because if you've watched the series up until this point then you know who Ethan is just as well as Benji or anyone else. You never once question his motives or the fact that Ethan will not succeed in his attempts to take down the Syndicate. 

Of course, the Syndicate never proves to be much of a challenge to begin with once you start to get to know them more and more. The regular agents of this group amount to nothing more than the nameless thugs that Ethan and the IMF have taken on countless times before, they aren't an anti-IMF when you get down to it because they don't have the skills that the IMF has. They do however have their own Ethan Hunt and she is one of the only real treats to come out of the Syndicate. Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) is a virtual unknown for most of the film as she appears to be on the side of the Syndicate but helps Ethan at every turn as well. She matches him in fight sequences as well as the heavy action moments though and her inclusion in the story really becomes the driving factor for the whole thing. The Syndicate's leader certainly doesn't pull that off as Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) doesn't make a full appearance until the films almost finished and by then what's the point? He is calm, cool and menacing but no level of performance can make up for the Syndicates poor showing for the majority of the story. 

If you were looking for a successor to the previous Mission: Impossible film then I don't believe Rogue Nation fits the bill but it does continue to provide the same level of action that I come to expect from the series and really, what more could you ask for? The show still belongs to Ethan in many ways as Benji, Brandt and Luther take to their side roles but hey, the shows always belonged to Ethan anyways and they all still play their parts exceedingly well. If it weren't for the Syndicate proving to have a poor showing then I would have loved Rogue Nation all the way through as it kept to what I have come to love from the entire series thus far. 

Good:

- Out of this world stunts

- Ethan/Tom Cruise hit his high note yet again

- Wonderful supporting cast of characters especially new comer Rebecca Ferguson

Bad:

- The Syndicate was a weak group of enemies to face

- The unbelievable aspect of Ethan going rogue and possibly crazy too

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Edge of Tomorrow

By: Robert Murphy

Spoilers bro, watch it.

I like many of you have probably seen the commercials for Tom Cruise’s latest film and looked upon it with skepticism because of its bewildering premise of a man stuck in an infinite loop doomed to repeat the same day over and over again. Live, die and repeat is the idea behind Edge of Tomorrow and while the whole thing struck me as the kind of thing that couldn’t be pulled off but I was very wrong once I got into it. William Cage (Tom Cruise) is an army major who mainly provides publicity and awareness for the war that humanity is taking part in against the alien race we dubbed as Mimics in which we have been beaten badly in and we had only just won our first victory in this war a short time ago. Sadly major Cage is not what you would call a super solider who is ready to place the final blow against this alien race and he proceeds to lumber and whine all the way up to the battle that is meant to be the final push to take back the world from the Mimics. His unlikely partner in this fight though is up to the task, popularly known as "the full metal bi!@#" real name Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) she is the most decorated and exceptional solider the world has to offer in it's defense and the two will end up working together to put an end to this threat.

As I said I had my doubts about the film from the get go but as I watched Edge of Tomorrow I quickly found joy in the fantastic way that it was handled. Major Cage, loses his life during the battle he desperately did not want to be a part of but he ends up killing a unique form of Mimic in his last moments that grants him the ability to skip backwards in time. Every time he loses his life he returns to the day before the battle and repeats all the same events over again but he is the only one who knows anything about. At first he attempts to simply stop heavy loses and win the battle hoping that things will improve but quickly learns that this isn't going to be accomplished all on his own. That's when our incredibly kick butt heroine enters into the story and it is reveals that she has gone through this whole thing in much the same way, that's how she became so regarded as a solider and how her skills are so immense. In turn Cage's skills will improve much the same way as his continuous (which are obviously sped up a bit) allow him to become just as deadly of a solider and preform some stellar action scenes. I neglect to mention that each of the soldiers are equipped with an enhance exosuit which greatly improves every soldier, including Cage early on, into a killing machine. These suits often appear realistic like they could be used in my distant future and make the action that much more thrilling.

To my surprise as well, there is a great deal of humor that goes along with Edge of Tomorrow's story mainly with the time loop functionality. As Rita starts to train Cage to try and make him a somewhat passable soldier who can put an end to the war, she trains him every day before the battle or before he loses his life again and the later usually happens as she will simply kill him to start the day over again and retry anew. This becomes more and more hilarious as time progresses, at first Cage is weary about being shot in the head, one scene he simply has a broken leg and is crawling away from her explaining he can make it, only to have a bullet placed firmly in his skull. The ever stoic Rita doesn't help things either as she will at certain points just say "let's shoot you and start the day over" like it was no big deal while Cage feels a little differently, heck I would too. The time skip notion is really handle so fantastically in the film and I cannot say it enough how much I enjoyed it even in the touchier romantic scenes.

Cage's character at points feels the weight of reliving so many days over and over again and seeing Rita die before him. Cage's affection for Rita is pretty obvious through most of the movie and its really a unique sort of romance to see and watch, even though the day starts over and Rita will still be alive the next day if something happens it really hurts. It doesn't help also that each time he learns more about her and gets closer to her when she really doesn't because she can't remember things like he can. Cage gains a somewhat superhuman mind reading ability it would seem to most people outside of the loop who don't understand that he learns all the information about the people around him because he's done it all before. This is also a very funny aspect to the film as he wows people and leaves them speechless at the know-how he gains about people's lives, sometimes he cuts out the middle math of conversations and has them himself while people just stand there slack jawed. Comedy plays a very unique role in the film and it's surprising when you think about it because you end up laughing more in Edge of Tomorrow than you would at an actual comedy.

In conclusion, Edge of Tomorrow really turns out to be a fantastic surprise for an action thriller as it takes the Japanese novel All You Need is Kill and gives it a wonderful representation on screen. The trip line style of time traveling is both exciting and hilarious when it comes to Cage learning how to fight and become stronger and when he is repeatedly getting knock around during training, shot in the head and starting it all over. The concept behind this alien race having time travel abilities is a bit of stretch considering Mimics don't appear to be an insanely intelligent super race, they're more like killing machines to me but that really is the only thing I didn't go in for 100% with the film. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt are both exceptional on screen and Tom I will say was a great pick for the role as he plays the smart/smug mystique role of Cage later on perfectly, it's right in his wheel house. Action, comedy and killer robotic aliens, I loved it all in the Edge of Tomorrow.

Good:

- Excellent performances by Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt 

- The trip line style of time travel is handle fantastically both with the action and the comedic moments

- Fast paced and very solid action throughout the movie

Bad:

- Not really sure these aliens would have this time travel ability but oh well you can't win them all

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10