Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation [Blu-Ray] 
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson
Release Date: Now Available on Blu-ray & DVD
A Review By: Kevin Lovell
Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10
Synopsis:
With their elite organization shut down by the CIA, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) must race against time to stop The Syndicate, a deadly network of rogue operatives turned traitors. To stop this global threat, Ethan must join forces with an elusive, disavowed agent (Rebecca Ferguson) whose loyalty is suspect as he faces his most impossible mission ever.
Marking the fifth entry in the series, ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ begins with the closure of the IMF thanks largely to the insistence of CIA head honcho Hunley (Baldwin). Ordered by Hunley to bring in Ethan Hunt (Cruise) with the IMF now disbanded and merged with the CIA, William Brandt (Renner) instead quietly allows Ethan to disappear in order to finish his hunt for information regarding the Syndicate. As he begins breaking real ground in his investigation and the Syndicate in turn begins making moves to prevent his penetration of their top secret organization, Ethan is forced to enlist the assistance of his team in order to stand any chance of taking down the syndicate once and for all, not to mention staying alive long enough to do so.
The fifth film in the increasingly impressive and popular series, ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ was directed by Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) from his own screenplay and McQuarrie does a impressive job at the helm, easily finding his place and displaying his obvious capability for handling the series beautifully. The cast for the fifth entry once again compiles a collection of new and returning faces with numerous talented individuals including Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Sean Harris and Alec Baldwin among others, all of whom deliver solid performances in each of their respective roles; the returning cast members each falling back into their individual roles flawlessly.
The ‘Mission: Impossible’ films (even more specifically the last couple of entries) have easily proven the series to be yet another popular franchise that even after five films only continues to improve and build upon what it does best, and ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ delivers on every level, from insane action sequences to plenty of hilarious moments and impressive spy tech, easily making it one of the best films in the series to date, if not simply the best. Overall, for anyone who enjoyed the previous entries in the series, as well as those who simply appreciate a good action and/or spy film, I would highly recommend checking out ‘Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation’. This one should additionally prove a pretty safe blind purchase for fans of the franchise that may not have had the opportunity to catch this one during its theatrical release; you shouldn’t be disappointed in the slightest.
VIDEO:
The Blu-ray release of ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks pretty fantastic as a whole, delivering a sharp, detailed presentation from start to end. Some mild blurring around the edges of the picture is briefly noticeable on a couple of rare occasions, although nothing troubling and it holds up impressively during the numerous fast moving and/or darkly lit sequences, never resulting in anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a gorgeous high definition video presentation that should easily satisfy most fans.
AUDIO:
The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. This review will pertain solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack sounds wonderful, providing a crisp, clean and aggressive presentation from start to finish that constantly utilizes all seven available channels in order to surround the viewer with a plethora of auditory effects including bullets whizzing by, water bubbling and swishing around and much more. Even the bass is provided ample opportunity to show off its stuff as the explosions and plane activity consistently rumble with notable strength, while never causing any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, this is an impressive Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that contributes a great deal of fun to the overall viewing experience.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Blu-ray release of ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ includes a number of enjoyable extras. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Tom Cruise and Director Christopher McQuarrie’. We are also treated to a number of Featurettes which include behind the scenes footage and interviews/comments with members of the cast and crew, each exploring different aspects and sequences of the film and bringing them to life. The included Featurettes are: ‘Lighting the Fuse’ (running approximately 6 minutes in length), ‘Cruise Control’ (approximately 7 minutes), ‘Heroes…’ (8 minutes), ‘Cruising Altitude’ (8 minutes), ‘Mission: Immersible’ (7 minutes), ‘Sand Theft Auto’ (6 minutes), and ‘The Missions Continue’ (7 minutes).
*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.
Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8/10
‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ is Now Available to own on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, Digital HD & On Demand From Paramount Home Media Distribution.
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