Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie brings a dark and gritty tone to this larger-than-life franchise. Along with a constant stream of barbed humour, the film has an enjoyably knotted mystery plot and action set-pieces that feel like they're grounded in the real world. It's a terrific shift into earthy believability for a series of movies that has previously indulged in gleefully incoherent narratives and exaggerated explosive chaos.

Right from the start, our hero Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an outsider. As he searches for a shady assassin (Sean Harris) and his mythical organisation The Syndicate, Ethan's Impossible Mission Force is being dissolved by the US government. CIA Director Hunley (Alec Baldwin) absorbs the IMF team, but tech genius Benji (Simon Pegg) secretly helps Ethan, enlisting Luther (Ving Rhames) and William (Jeremy Renner) as well. Soon, all three are gallivanting from Vienna to Morocco and back to London, as Ethan works with double or perhaps triple agent Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) to prove that The Syndicate exists and stop its nefarious plan.

The film plays out like an edgy James Bond adventure, as Ethan works with a possibly dangerous woman in exotic locations in pursuit of some very shadowy baddies. McQuarrie's script is unusually lucid for this genre, piecing together the various elements expertly, building a genuine sense of tension without ever letting things tip over into overblown silliness. The chase sequences are remarkably rough and unpredictable, avoiding digital trickery to create moments that are jaw-droppingly authentic. As usual, we can tell that Cruise does his own stunts; the opening hanging-from-an-airplane scene is awesome, and a helmet-free motorbike chase looks even more perilous. With the IMF disbanded, it's never quite clear how Ethan funds his one-man operation, but he has a terrific supply of cool gadgets stashed all over Europe.

Cruise may be 53 years old, but he's clearly more than up for this kind of physicality, occasionally removing his shirt to remind us how fit he is. But he also lets the strain show, as it takes Ethan a bit longer to recover from each gruelling action sequence. Thankfully, the flirtation with Ferguson's tough, intriguing Ilsa is kept in check, letting her become a strong character in her own right. And Pegg, Rhames and Renner provide an entertaining chorus of comical patter that never becomes too corny. With such an edgy tone, it's surprising that the film doesn't have much of a point. There's an allusion to the West's careless use of lawless counter-terrorism tactics, but the film never quite grapples with that at all. Instead, it's notable for how it quietly keeps the gears of the tight plot turning, smartly avoiding the hackneyed pitfalls of other summer blockbusters.

Watch the trailer for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation here: