Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation: A relevant sequel

The fifth installment of Mission Impossible titled Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation was released on July 30 which acts as a direct sequel to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011).

Rogue Nation was directed by Christopher McQuarrie who also wrote the script with Drew Pearce. The film is McQuarrie's fourth collaboration with Tom Cruise after Valkyrie, Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow.

The story begins with the disbandment of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), an independent espionage agency commonly employed by the United States government.

Ex-IMF agent, Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) has to face off against a network of highly skilled special agents, the Syndicate.

These highly trained operatives aim to create a new world order through an escalating series of terrorist attacks.

Ethan gathers his old team which consist of Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) who joins forces with disavowed British agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) to put a stop and an end to the Syndicate.

With its big budget of US$150 million (RM575 million), the shooting process began in August 2014 at various locations such as Austria, Morocco, London and Monaco.

Aside from some familiar faces from the series, a number of great actors were added to the cast. Sean Harris plays the antagonist character, Solomon Lane while Alec Baldwin is the CIA director, Alan Hunley.

McQuarrie together with Pearce successfully shaped the film so it would not overshadowed by its predecessors.

Kudos to Cruise and Pegg who performed their own driving stunts. Cruise was injured six times during the making of the movie.

Cruise also performed the sequence where his character "Hunt" climbs on the outside of a flying airplane without the use of special effects or a stunt double. During shooting, he was suspended on the aircraft 5,000 feet in the air.

Jessica Chastain was the first choice to play the female lead but declined because she did not like the prospect of spending up to six months training for the role. This role was later given to Rebecca Ferguson who acted in the movie 'The White Queen'.

Nonetheless, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation can be considered a fine example of a spy action film with several unforgettable scenes.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin, Simon McBurney, Zhang Jingchu, Jens Hultén dan Tom Hollander.

Release Date: July 30, 2015

Trailer: