Move aside, James Bond. Go on a holiday, Jason Bourne. Ethan Hunt is back! He is no Superman but he can climb tall buildings, hang between mountains and jump from a flying plane… and don’t get me started on his motorbiking skills. In Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team take over the villains but not before he performs some impossible stunts - after

all, if it was possible, anybody would be able to do it.

Anything’s possible

Tom Cruise crosses all barriers in Rogue Nation with the first stunt of the flick, when he takes the aerial route. He hangs out of an Airbus airplane even after it has taken off, waiting for Benji (Simon Pegg) to ‘open the door’. He also goes underwater in a death-defying stunt, participates in a high pursuit motorbike chase and drives a car backwards, all within a span of a few minutes! So what if he isn’t playing the Man of Steel, he has nerves of steel to do anything and he proves that in the opera sequence.

Trust no one

Although the line ‘I trust everyone, I just don’t trust the devil inside them’ was delivered by Donald Sutherland in The Italian Job, the same scenario applies here as well. Except for Tom Cruise and his core team - Jeremy Renner as William Brandt, Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn and Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell - nobody is to be trusted, no matter what. Just like in the first installment that came out in 1996, Hunt develops trust issues here and is betrayed by someone you least expect to be the betraying sort.

Never say die

Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is nothing short of a superhero - he can impersonate anyone (Martian Manhunter), has the arsenal to counter all possible scenarios (like Batman), jumps from tall buildings in a single bound (ala Superman) and leads from the front (just as Captain America does). His team trusts him because they know that even when the chips are down, Hunt is on the move. Just like he did in the last 4 movies, Tom Cruise’s character changes the balance of the equation by going all out, displaying his bravado.

Appearances can be deceptive

"Hunt is the living personification of destiny," Alec Baldwin’s character in the movie says of the main IMF agent but it could well and truly fit Tom Cruise. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, this flick takes you back into the days of the Cold War where winning was everything for the agents. Yes, Sean Harris as Solomon Lane could have bettered his performance as the antagonist but since he gives Hunt a tough time, he passes as the bad guy. Had the villain been a little more assertive and sinister, Rogue Nation could have become the best  Mission Impossible film ever.

 IMF will never self-destruct …

The message may self-destruct in 5 seconds but IMF (Impossible Mission Foundation) never will. In the last 19 years, as many as 5 editions of the Mission Impossible films have made it to the screens and the way things look, there will be more in the coming years. Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt shows no sign of slowing down even at the age of 53, although most of his rivals (Bond, Bourne to name a few) change actors to stay in the business. With Hunt and his team, it’s always something out of this world; something impossible.

OmairAlavi is a broadcast journalist who can be contacted at omair78@gmail.com