Perhaps if Uncle Sam had just taken the view that what it doesn't know wouldn't do it any harm, then "Hunley" (Alec Baldwin) wouldn't have managed to get them to shut down the IMF! They do, however, and that casts "Hunt" (Tom Cruise) and his team even more into the shadows. Their timing could hardly have been worse as just at this point, a sophisticated "Syndicate" is out for world domination. They are starting out by innocuously disposing of some key global figures - all looking like accidents, but despite his protestations to the sceptical CIA, "Hunt" remains on the outside and needs to rekindle the gang to thwart their intentions - intentions that have their roots deep within the establishment. Nope, it's not original. Not in the least. This is just another excuse for Cruise to show of his stunt-man skills, for the CGI boys to let rip and for the deadly and nimble assassin "Ilsa Faust" (Rebecca Ferguson) to flirt with menace. I still can't get my head around why Simon Pegg is here (or in "Star Trek") as I find his characterisations linear and annoying, but Ving Rhames brings an amiable bit of less is more and Jeremy Renner also works well as sidekick "Brandt". There's plenty of action, pyrotechnics, gadgets, rubber faces and though the denouement isn't exactly Pulitzer stuff, the whole film moves along entertainingly, if predictably, for just over two hours with an increasingly distinctive British slant to the proceedings. Like all of these, they really do need a big screen to come alive but once there, they are usually quite good - this one is.
