DVD REVIEWS
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE — ROGUE NATION
(out of 4) The chance of a love connection between rival spies played by Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson fascinates more than the entertaining car chases and other “impossible” action set pieces this franchise trades in, much like the 007 series it imitates.
The trailer has already revealed the biggest pulse-raiser: Cruise’s unstoppable Ethan Hunt hanging onto a departing jet. Hints of romance between Hunt and Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust are more teased out in this fifth impossible mission, which is capably directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who shares the script duties with Drew Pearce ( Iron Man 3).
Ilsa may be working for dastardly dweeb Soloman Lane (Sean Harris), the head of a SPECTRE-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 M:I 4, a.k.a. Ghost Protocol. Alec Baldwin is the CIA chief determined to once and for all shut down the IMF’s “wanton brinksmanship.” No chance of that, bub.
Extras include a Cruise/McQuarrie commentary and making-of featurettes. Peter Howell
FANTASTIC FOUR
(out of 4) There are many things wrong with this failed Fantastic Four reboot by Josh Trank, but the fatal flaw is how it squanders more time fashioning these familiar Marvel Comics heroes than it does motivating them.
When it finally gets down to the business of saving the planet, it’s not “clobberin’ time,” to use the Fantastic phrase, it’s more like yawnin’ time.
The film blows nearly an hour of its plodding 100 minutes before conferring superpowers upon the title team, played by Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell. The casting ranges from the bizarre (Teller) to the merely curious (all the rest).
Will Dr. Doom advance his evil plan, whatever that is? Will the Fantastic Four work as tools of the U.S. military, represented by a malevolent Tim Blake Nelson? Nobody’s in a hurry to work things out or even give this querulous quartet its name. This is just a fantastic bore.
Extras include concept art and making-of featurettes. PH