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PARAMOUNT

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Christopher McQuarrie
Cast:
Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Michael Nyqvist
Writing Credits:
Christopher McQuarrie

Synopsis:
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

Box Office:
Budget
$145 million.
Opening Weekend
$29,556,629 on 3,448 Screens.
Domestic Gross
$209,397,903.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English Audio Description
Spanish Dolby 5.1
Latin Spanish Dolby 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
German Dolby 5.1
Italian Dolby 5.1
Japanese Dolby 5.1
Brazilian Portuguese Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Latin Spanish
French
Danish
German
Italian
Japanese
Dutch
Brazilian Portuguese
Finnish
Swedish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French

Runtime: 131 min.
Price: $31.99
Release Date: 6/26/2018

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie and Actor Tom Cruise
• “Lighting the Fuse” Featurette
• “Cruise Control” Featurette
• “Heroes…” Featurette
• “Cruising Altitude” Featurette
• “Mission: Immersible” Featurette
• “Sand Theft Auto” Featurette
• “The Missions Continue” Featurette
• Blu-ray Copy


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Sony UBP-X800 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation [4K UHD] (2015)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (July 4, 2018)

For the fifth film in the long-running franchise, we go to 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. To pay for alleged indiscretions, CIA leader Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) convinces a Senate committee to disband the secret Impossible Mission Force (IMF).

Despite this action, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) refuses to abandon his current mission: an attempt to infiltrate and stop a powerful “shadow” organization called the Syndicate. We follow Ethan’s efforts, especially as they involve the mysterious operative Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a character whose motives and allegiances seem murky.

One unusual aspect of the Mission: Impossible films relates to the creative groups behind them. Five movies, five directors, five screenwriting teams – that’s a level of variation virtually unprecedented for a franchise such as this.

If I liked the series more than I do, I might not care for all the changes behind the camera, but as I’ve mentioned in prior reviews, I’ve remained a lukewarm fan of the Impossible films. Prior to Rogue Nation, only MI3 stood out as particularly memorable. I thought the other three offered movies I found to be varying levels of “okay”.

One frequent negative I associate with the Impossible films comes from the usual absence of strong villains. Outside of MI3’s Owen Davian, the Impossible baddies tend to be bland and forgettable.

Does Rogue Nation’s Solomon Lane (Sean Harris) alter that template? Yes - to a decent degree, at least.

I don’t think Lane offers a great villain, but Harris plays him as such a cold customer that he makes a reasonable impact. His detached sense of cruelty allows him to become better than most of his predecessors.

In terms of new cast, Rogue Nation benefits most from the presence of Ferguson. As with the villains, I don’t think the prior Impossible movies came with especially memorable leading ladies, but Ferguson changes that, and does so in a major way.

Honestly, Ferguson carries much of Rogue Nation. Ethan may be our lead hero, but the film most comes to life when he interacts with Ilsa. Ferguson creates a strong, intriguing agent who proves to be sly, sexy and delightful at all times. She’s a revelation.

I will admit that Rogue Nation drags a bit during its first act. Sure, we get a smattering of good action sequences – the opening infiltration of a plane, Ethan’s first meeting with Ilsa – but the story doesn’t seem all that engaging through the initial 40 minutes or so.

Once we go to Austria, however, the movie kicks into higher gear. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie stages a potential assassination plot in an opera house with wonderful aplomb.

Stylish and exciting, this may become the movie’s best scene. McQuarrie channels Hitchcock but avoids obvious imitation, and he gives us a highly memorable sequence.

After that, the movie continues without many lulls. McQuarrie provides Rogue Nation with a simple but effective plot that allows for a mix of twists but never becomes convoluted. That tended to be an issue with the earlier films: they’d bog the viewer down with pointless story elements that just turned into a drag.

McQuarrie avoids that. Sure, we get some semi-murky spy nonsense, but the main story remains concise.

Ethan needs to stop the Syndicate: game, set, match. Everything else fleshes out that narrative but doesn’t make the tale messy or turgid.

All of this sums up to a highly satisfying experience. Even with the slightly sluggish first act, Rogue Nation presents a terrific array of action and adventure sequences. Five films into the series, those behind Mission: Impossible manage to find plenty of new tricks, and those turn this into arguably the best Mission yet.


The Disc Grades: Picture B+/ Audio A-/ Bonus C+

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Though not a killer presentation, Rogue Nation usually looked strong.

Sharpness worked fine most of the time. Some interiors looked a bit soft, but those remained infrequent, so the majority of the film was accurate and well-defined. I saw no signs of jaggies or moiré effects, and the film lacked edge haloes or print flaws.

If you suspected Rogue Nation would come with the modern standard teal and orange palette, you’ll get what you expected, though not to an extreme. While the flick went with those overtones, they didn’t overwhelm; indeed, the orange bordered on amber. I’d like to see action flicks dispense with those conceits, but given their restraints, they looked fine here.

Blacks came across nicely. Dark tones were deep and rich, without any muddiness or problems. In addition, low-light shots gave us smooth, clear visuals. All in all, this became a pleasing presentation.

I also felt happy with the solid Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Rogue Nation. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the mix offered plenty of opportunities for lively auditory information, and it took good advantage of these.

From the opening scene on a plane to road chases to gunfire to explosions to other action elements, the mix filled the speakers on a frequent basis. The track placed information in logical spots and blended all the channels in a smooth, compelling manner.

Audio quality was also positive. Music sounded lively and full, while effects delivered accurate material. Those elements showed nice clarity and kick, with tight low-end. Speech was always distinctive and concise, too. This mix worked well for the film.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Audio remained identical, as both releases provided the same Atmos mix.

Because Rogue Nation was finished at 2K, the UHD lacked a ton of room to improve on the Blu-ray in terms of visuals. Still, the format’s capabilities allowed for moderately superior sharpness as well as deeper blacks and more dynamic colors. This wasn’t the most impressive of the Impossible UHDs but it gave the movie a little more oomph.

No extras appear on the 4K UHD, but the included Blu-ray copy provides some materials, and we begin with an audio commentary from writer/director Christopher McQuarrie and actor Tom Cruise. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at stunts and action, cast and performances, sets and locations, music and cinematography, story/character areas, and related topics.

If you heard the McQuarrie/Cruise commentary for Jack Reacher, you’ll know exactly what to expect from their chat for Rogue Nation. In fact, both tracks showed so many similarities that I felt tempted to cut and paste my Reacher remarks – they’re virtually identical in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

On the negative side, the commentary becomes a lovefest too much of the time. We find a lot of praise for all involved, a trend that continues literally through the very end of the film; Cruise and McQuarrie shovel out the praise firmly into the credits.

Despite the tedium of the happy talk, we learn a fair amount about the movie here. As was the case with Reacher, McQuarrie gives us the majority of the content.

Cruise throws out some good nuggets as well – usually related to his stunt work – but the writer/director carries the heaviest load, and he does well. Even with all the praise, the commentary provides a pretty informative discussion that merits the viewer’s time.

The disc also includes seven featurettes. We find Lighting the Fuse (5:57), Cruise Control (6:33), Heroes… (8:06). Cruising Altitude (8:23), Mission: Immersible (6:45), Sand Theft Auto (5:35) and The Missions Continue (7:08).

In these, we hear from McQuarrie, Cruise, producers JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk and Don Granger, editor Eddie Hamilton, supervising art director Paul Inglis, executive producer Jake Myers, stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, Airbus military defense advisor Tony Toner, production designer Jim Bissell, visual effects supervisor David Vickery, underwater DOP Peter Romano, freediving expert Kirk Krack, divemaster Dave Monroe, 2nd unit director Gregg Smrz, supervising sound editor James Mather, and actors Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson.

The featurettes look at story/character/script choices, action and stunts, Cruise’s work as producer, cast and performances, effects, and the series’ continuation. In these clips, we get a mix of good facts/footage and a lot of praise. We learn enough to make the segments worth a look, but expect a lot of hyperbole along the way.

> After a lackluster fourth film, the Mission: Impossible franchise bounces back with the exciting Rogue Nation. The movie boasts many fun action scenes as well as a lot of intrigue along the way. The 4K UHD delivers very good picture, excellent audio and a decent collection of supplements. This becomes a solid release for a fine film.

To rate this film, visit the prior review of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main