CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB.  Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media, Bad Robot, China Movie Channel, Alibaba Pictures Group, Odin, TC Productions.  USA, 2015.  Directed by Christopher McQuarrie.  Story by Christopher McQuarrie, Drew Pearce, Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, based on the television series by Bruce Geller.  Cinematography by Robert Elswit.  Produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Tom Cruise, David Ellison, Don Granger.  Music by Joe Kraemer.  Production Design by James D. Bissell.  Costume Design by Joanna Johnston.  Film Editing by Eddie Hamilton. 

Ethan Hunt is at a low point when this adventure begins, his IMF unit decommissioned by the government and absorbed by the CIA thanks to the protestations of angry boss Alec Baldwin.  The shadow organization that Tom Cruise‘s Hunt has been looking for, imaginatively named “The Syndicate” and made up of former and presumed dead agents from the around the world who are causing disasters to destabilize nations, has been thought a myth that Hunt has been pursuing to justify his own reckless actions.  Proof of their existence appears at the same time that he is officially declared rogue, which means he’s on his own to travel the world and get to the bottom of who is planning assassinations and why a beautiful, morally dubious woman (Rebecca Ferguson) keeps showing up and sparing his life.  As loud and bombastic as these films always need to be, this smoothly written and exciting adventure by Christopher The Usual Suspects McQuarrie is one of the most polished in the series yet, featuring terrific action sequences, a marvelous cast, gorgeous imagery and some very exciting twists.  Cruise himself is in hale and hearty shape and, other than a few gratuitous shirtless scenes to make sure we know how hard he works to stay fit, doesn’t seem quite as desperate to have us think him youthful and sensitive as he has in the past; all his work pales in comparison to the highly charismatic Ferguson, however, who steals the film outright with her terrific physical prowess and witty intelligence.  The film won’t stay with you long after it’s over, and despite the plot involving political intrigue is a shallow take on a Bourne movie, but you’ll have a marvelous time watching it.