Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was hardly on my radar before that spectacular first trailer, and now everything I’m seeing about the high-octane fivequel is getting me more excited for it. Today brings the release of some high-quality stills from the pic, which finds Tom Cruise again taking on the role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt.
This time around, Hunt becomes the hunted (see what I did there?) when a probably evil bureaucrat played by Alec Baldwin (is there any other kind?) opts to disband the IMF, which has a very strong success rate but usually has trouble keeping things on the down-low. Of course, this political maneuver comes at pretty much the worst time imaginable for Hunt, seeing as he’s faced with trying to stop a nefarious organization known as The Syndicate from raining chaos down across the world.
Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) is sitting in the director’s chair this time around, replacing Ghost Protocol‘s Brad Bird, and that’s not the only shake-up. Though Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Jeremy Renner are reprising their roles, Paula Patton couldn’t return due to scheduling conflicts, so she’s effectively replaced here by Rebecca Ferguson (who, as demonstrated by one of those above stills, seems more than capable of handling this kind of role).
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opens July 31. Here’s the official synopsis:
The new flick finds Hunt’s highly effective but destructive Impossible Mission Force (IMF) disbanded by vengeful Washington bureaucrats such as the CIA chief (played by Alec Baldwin). But Hunt pulls his team together (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and newcomer Rebecca Ferguson) to battle the shadowy force known as “The Syndicate” and its elusive leader (Sean Harris).