Tom Cruise is up to his old tricks and a lot of new ones as he returns to play Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt this summer with Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. The film will have a release date of July 31st, and the full trailer looks pretty action-packed.
The Verge calls Mission: Impossible 5's first trailer "just stunt-filled chaos", and there is definitely a lot going on, action-wise. The series is famous for a lot of over the top action scenes, and judging by the poster, it is very clear that the film's signature moment will be Tom Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, hanging off a cargo plane.
Mission: Impossible 5 definitely has a "we're getting the band back together" storyline as the trailer shows a government meeting to disband the IMF. Unfortunately, this leads to the rise of the Syndicate, a villainous organization that even the trailer calls "the anti-IMF". The stakes will then get high as Ethan has to summon his team to take the enemy down.
On his team are characters who have appeared in other Mission: Impossible films. Jeremy Renner, who is also affiliated with the Avengers movie franchise as Hawkeye, will be back as William Brandt, who was introduced in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (the fourth film of the series). Also back will be Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, who first appeared in M:i:III, and is most known for comedy roles like Hot Fuzz and playing Scotty in the new Star Trek movie series. Also reprising his role is Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, who has been in all Mission: Impossible movies, but had very little screen time in Ghost Protocol.
The film will also introduce Rebecca Ferguson (from last summer's Hercules) and Alec Baldwin, who seems well-cast as a bureaucrat. One of the big questions and one not addressed on the trailer is Ethan Hunt's relationship with Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Hunt married Julia in M:i:III, and much of Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol was spent with Hunt mourning over her loss, until it is revealed at the end that she is alive in a brief and uncredited appearance. It should be noted that Monaghan's name is absent from the Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation imdb cast list.
The Mission: Impossible film series has had a different director per movie, and the list includes experts in their field such as Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, and Brad Bird. The director of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is Christopher McQuarrie, who has written many films for Cruise including Valkyrie, Jack Reacher, and Edge of Tomorrow. He has directed Cruise in Jack Reacher.
This film series has kept Tom Cruise an action star even in his fifties, and the trailer hints that it could be the last. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation will hit theaters on July 31st. The release date was actually pushed for a summer release due to competition from another espionage movie with the new James Bond Spectre movie due to hit theaters in November, as well as the new Star Wars film in December.
