Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt. This time around, he's hanging from airplanes in an unnatural and impossible posture, performing overly long tasks underwater, and riding a motorcycle again. Everything he does is in service of a typically convoluted plot, this one involving some sort of evil syndicate of international agents who have faked their deaths and are looking to terrorize the planet. All sorts of nationalities are in on the evil, but the United Kingdom is especially nasty in this one, giving the whole thing a little bit of a James Bond vibe. Simon Pegg's role is increased this time out, his computer analyst guy becoming Hunt's sidekick. Newcomer to the series Alec Baldwin gets a couple of good scenes as the CIA guy trying to eradicate Hunt's agency. Rebecca Ferguson is impressive as an English agent who may or may not be a villain and, yes, is quite decent-looking in a bikini. Jeremy Renner is around to crack wise as he messes with Baldwin's character, while Ving Rhames still gets to collect a paycheck. As for Emilio Estevez, sadly, he's still dead after his elevator accident in the first film. This is my least favorite M:I yet, but it's still a good film. Things feel a little by-the-numbers, but Cruise is a crazy bastard willing to go all out for his movies, and this installment is no exception. The dude is nuts, and we, the movie-viewing public, benefit from this.