I've got a ton of things to do, but just got back from a late night screening of MIRN and I thought it was absolutely terrific, perhaps my favorite of the entire MI series. Hit just the right balance of action, humor, character, even a deft handling of necessary exposition so that we always knew what the goals were and why people were doing what they were doing, all the while keeping up the entertainment. It's smart, it's visual, and such a well-constructed story. The roles of all the characters were strong. Tom Cruise is his usual fantastic self, but the revelation is Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust. What a great role and so exciting to see a female lead with just as much smarts and action chops as any guy on screen. There's not a single part of this movie I didn't enjoy (here a double negative translates into a strong positive). A great job by writer-director Christopher McQuarrie. I look forward to dissecting the story and characters this week. How about you? Did you enjoy it? Not? Love to hear your comments.

Hi Scott, this article from Deadline Hollywood is also decent: http://deadline.com/2015/07/christopher-mcquarrie-tom-cruise-mission-impossible-rogue-nation-q-and-a-1201488807/ It covers some of the same stuff as the filmcomment interview you posted but focusses strongly on McQuarrie's collaboration with Cruise. As for the film, I want to catch it in the next day or so, so hoping to be able to contribute to the discussion!

Thanks! I'll include the article in the OP.

I agree; the story is well-crafted and well-rounded. It's entertaining and compelling on multiple levels.

Shari, that's one of the things that makes MIRN stand out: How it works on "multiple levels". On the surface, pure entertainment and it hits the mark with well-crafted and imaginative action sequences. But there's also interesting stuff going on with character interactions, shifting points of narrative attack, exploration of themes, and a really good sense of humor about the entire proceedings.

Howdy, all. Just got back from seeing the film. I dug it. I really enjoyed Rebecca Ferguson as well ... great onscreen presence and fantastic on the motorcycle! Those scenes in particular were a highlight for me. I'm gonna' step out on a limb though and rock the boat a bit ... I thought the Opera scene was terribly long. I just wanted the darn scene to reach it's conclusion, and it seemed to take forever to arrive. Driving home, I was trying to reason with why I felt that way and realized it may have been the opera music itself ... working against the tension the director likely wanted us to feel. Not until Nessun dorma does the music correlate with what I was experiencing emotion-wise. Another note on the music. The use of silence was fantastic. The quiet of the water scenes, and the few seconds of absolute silence at the table scene near the end was very effective at pulling me in. Likewise, in the first fight scene, I noticed the score deliberately added quick drum rolls or tight cymbal splashes with nearly every punch. Great extra effect. I know those sounds are often in fight sequences, but it felt intentional and right up-front. I liked that. Overall, a good film, and I thought once we exited the Opera House we were on a non-stop ride!

File this under 'one person's ceiling is another person's floor': I loved the opera sequence. The contrast between formal setting and music, and the actual behind the scenes pre-assassination business, I thought, was great. A bit long? Perhaps. But if you go through that sequence again, it's a good example in using complications to heighten tension and make it more challenging for the Protagonist to accomplish their goal. Also it reminded me of that great scene from Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Really the sequence in MIRN is an homage to that movie. Re silence: I noticed that, too. I'm especially aware of silence because it's my opinion that modern movies have too much damn soundtrack music going on. It's like the filmmakers seem to feel, "Well, we spent this much money on the composer, let's squeeze every penny out of them we can," and cram music into every nook and cranny of every scene. Watch a movie like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Or contemporary movies like Drive, Ex Machina, and Night Crawler. Minimal to no soundtrack music. It gives us room to breathe and feel our OWN feelings instead of being dictated to by the tone/atmosphere created by the music. Nothing against music, mind you. I've played guitar since I was 14 and written hundreds of songs. It's just this overuse - IMHO - of music in movies nowadays. So when there is silence in soundtrack a la MIRN, I super appreciate it.