An Impossible romance to die for
Secondary characters pushed to background as sparks fly between Cruise and Ferguson
You must remember this about Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, even if the plot details threaten to self-destruct in five seconds.
It’s the smouldering suggestion of romance between Tom Cruise’s unstoppable Ethan Hunt and series newcomer Rebecca Ferguson’s inscrutable Ilsa Faust.
The chance of a love connection between these rival spies fascinates more than the predictably entertaining car and motorbike chases, ticking time bombs and “impossible” action set pieces the franchise trades in, much like the 007 series it imitates. (MIA from this M: I are aspects of Hunt’s personal life that were revealed in the previous two films.)
Not by accident does a major story development happen in Casablanca, one of the film’s many frantic and scenic global stops. And the Stockholm-born Ferguson strongly resembles fellow Swede Ingrid Bergman, who starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in the classic wartime romance situated in and titled after the Moroccan desert city.
Of course, you would never have caught Bogie hanging from the side of a departing jet. Hunt does this in the opening sequence that has already been revealed in the trailer for this fifth impossible mission, which this time has been capably directed by Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise’s favourite screenwriter, who shares the script duties with Drew Pearce ( Iron Man 3).
But there’s a similar intense willingness to sacrifice personal fulfilment for the safety of the planet or war effort, as the case may be. And Ferguson’s Ilsa, like Bergman’s Ilsa Lund, makes for a worthy obsession.
She’s a true femme fatale, one who is every bit Hunt’s match, physically and mentally.
Ilsa may be working for dastardly dweeb Soloman Lane, played by Sean Harris, the head of a Bond-like evil agency called the Syndicate. But if so, why is she willing to bail Ethan out of dangerous scrapes?
Her motives and loyalties are as unreadable as her emotions, which helps maintain interest in a story that rekindles the fugitive status for the Impossible Mission Force previously established in the fourth chapter, Ghost Protocol.
Alec Baldwin plays the CIA chief determined to once and for all shut down the IMF, which has been deemed to be engaging in “wanton brinksmanship.”
All the covert cooing between Ethan and Ilsa means other IMF characters played by Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames end up looking like bit players, although Pegg’s gadget guy Benji is increasingly more of a serious sidekick than comic-relief clown.
At age 53, Tom Cruise is still a credible action hero. But this time, Rebecca Ferguson really gives him a run for his money, and his heart.