Previously, on Cruise Control...

Ghost Protocol rejuvenated both the franchise and the star's career, with the movie becoming Cruise's biggest worldwide hit ever at the time. 

Truthfully, Cruise's star power never really wained elsewhere around the globe, a fact that helped carry some of his disappointing domestic releases into profitability in the years that followed like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow (the latter being one of my absolute favorite movies of the last 10 years). 

Cruise also didn't really stray from Tom Cruise: Action Star either (I mean, he did Rock of Ages, but you know, whatever). The positive reaction to his Dubai stunt sealed the deal for the star. As far as he was concerned, this is what the audience wanted to see from him. 

Spoilers for Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation to follow. 

For the next installment, Cruise chose director Christopher McQuarrie, whom the star had just worked with on Jack Reacher (a pulpy and entertaining as hell action flick that I will one day write about, I promise). Rogue Nation would only be his third movie as a director, but the filmmaker elevates the series to new heights, ultimately shaping the legacy of the franchise thus far between this and Fallout. 

Right off the bat, the movie throws a sequence where Tom's character, Ethan, is hanging off the side of a plane as it takes off. And yes, Tom actually does this. It's THE crazy stunt for this installment, and it's definitely bonkers. But like Ghost Protocol before it, the scene surrounding the big stunt is exciting and light hearted, and even scores a lot of well earned laughs throughout the sequence. Five movies in and it finally felt like the franchise had found its footing. 

McQuarrie full on delivers an action masterpiece, with the car/motorcycle chase that occurs AFTER Ethan is brought back from the dead is one of the most thrilling sequences in any modern blockbuster. Ilsa Faust, played by the incredible Rebecca Ferguson, is by far the strongest female character the series as had, if not the best character period. Even the sense of family among the team is stronger here. 

I believe that's because Rogue Nation really embraces the history of these movies and the character of Ethan Hunt. Hunt feels mythic here. After the opening sequence, a young agent tells Ethan "I've the stories about you", and asks if they're true. Cruise just smiles. It's a great exchange, and a nice meta moment to boot. But the fact that this film acknowledges the others adds a sense of history. This is the third film with this core team now, and they're mainly on this mission just to help each other. Those relationships add weight to the proceedings, and even an extra bit of urgency when someone is in danger. All of these little parts that keep adding up and adding up. All the separate sequences and set pieces ( I haven't even talked about the incredible opera sequence!) just complete and compliments the whole. It's clear that McQuarrie knows exactly what he is doing. As a matter of fact, he became the only director to helm more than one installment.  

As for Tom, he's great of course. At this point he is finally starting to show his age just a bit, which solidifies the sense of history with this movie that I mentioned earlier.  Aside from showing a bit of weariness, Tom also scores a number of big laughs, often with a subtle smile or facial expression. Cruise also makes it very apparent that Ethan is all about saving innocent lives. Not that the other films said he didn't. But in the first installment, Ethan is mostly out to clear his name. In the second, he's trying to stop a deadly virus from getting out, sure, but he's mainly doing it for a girl. Which is actually the same as the third now that I think about it. However, in Ghost Protocol, it's all about saving the actual world. Rogue Nation builds on that, showcasing Ethan often saving individual lives as he also fights to save us all. It really builds Ethan as the ultimate hero, and you know what? It fucking works. 

Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation opened in July of 2015 to enthusiastic reviews and a $55 million opening weekend. The film would end up with $195 million domestically and $682 million worldwide, both totals just a hair under Ghost Protocol from 4 years earlier. And yes, those numbers are very, very good. The fact that a 20 year old, five movie franchise was just hitting its stride was pretty damn cool.