As a producer of these past five films, Cruise is a much more vital player in the process than practically any other modern-day Hollywood star. His long list of successful hits include "Top Gun," "Born on the Fourth of July," "Rain Man," "Jerry McGuire," "Magnolia," and "Minority Report," but these "Mission: Impossible" films seem to be a truly immense passion for him. He has almost single-handedly picked the director for each of the five films, an eclectic collection consisting of legendary director Brian DePalma, action auteur John Woo, "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" director J.J. Abrams, Pixar animator and director Brad Bird, and Christopher McQuarrie, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who wrote "The Usual Suspects." What other Hollywood star would not only willingly hang off the world's tallest building but top that stunt by opening the newest film hanging out of an airplane as it takes off and ascends into the air? I wouldn't be too surprised if his next act would be to follow in Felix Baumgartner's footsteps and dive from the stratosphere.
Note: These films go too far with all this stunt stuff. "Mission: Impossible II" stuntman Mark Joseph Connolly suffered from permanent pain due to accidents during the filming, and "Mission: Impossible III" stuntman Steven Scott Wheatley sued the production for burns he sustained on the set that covered 60 percent of his body. Perhaps that's why Cruise has done most or all of his own stunts with the latest two.
Unfortunately, immediately after is where the film gets in over its head as our characters jump from Austria to Morocco, where there's some sort of highly improbable (or, shall we say, impossible) underwater obstacle. Then a car chase, featuring a few humorous moments (particularly from Simon Pegg, returning as Benji), follows, and eventually things improve again.
Hunt is helped and sometimes hindered by British agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) whose allegiances are unclear. Hunt at least knows for certain that she's trusted by the Syndicate's leader Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). Harris plays Lane (who on paper is as bland as any cartoon villain) with a bit of ingenuity; he twitches about, never grinning as he salivates over world domination. Lane claims he's not a terrorist. I can't remember why he believes this, and I'm really not sure I care. The content of what he says is not the least bit interesting, but how he says it surely is.
What complicates Hunt's mission is the backroom bureaucracy. Alec Baldwin appears as Alan Hunley, the Director of the CIA, and he's had enough of the lack of protocol of the IMF team, led by William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). The two argue back and forth in front of a closed-door Senate hearing, but Hunley gets his way, and the IMF is to be disbanded, even as Hunt is still overseas hunting the Syndicate. Who cares, right? Plot boring, action good. But beneath the banality is a hint of realpolitik. The MI6 director (played by Simon McBurney) tells Faust that there's no such thing as allies, only common interests. That very much is the case in this story.
Tom Cruise came across very much in a negative light in HBO's Scientology documentary "Going Clear" earlier this year. The public, though, seems to love him more often than they hate him. They will in all likely see the sixth installment, which Cruise recently signed on for, and I'm sure they very much look forward to seeing what stunning stunt he will do next.
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