If you can say one thing about the Mission: Impossible series, it's that Cruise and his producing partners have allowed each film to be different. Each has been helmed by a different director and each has its own vibe. This can be seen as a good thing and a bad thing. On the positive side, it's nice to see someone in Hollywood (somewhat) throw caution to the wind and encourage some diversity. On the negative side, when it comes to a film series, we expect some uniformity and consistency, especially in terms of quality, and we certainly don't get that with the Mission: Impossible films. The first one was so bombastic that it had to be admired, but II and III did very little to stand out. However, the series came roaring back with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, as film which offered great action sequences and a nicely streamlined script.

Another problem area with the film concerns the action scenes and the pacing. Ghost Protocol featured some amazing action set-pieces, most notably the opening, and the movie never felt like it was two-hours plus. While Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation offers a variety of action sequences, none of them feel very unique or special. The underwater scene contains some nice shots, but we’ve seen things like this before. The lack of anything truly special hurts the pacing and the movie crawls at times. It took me three sittings to finish the movie, as I would lose interest.

Finally, we come to the point that we all know -- a villain can make or break a movie like this, and Solomon Lane is a dud. He kind of reminded me of Steve Jobs, except I think that Steve Jobs was more sinister. Seriously, this is just a guy in a black turtleneck and glasses. There’s nothing even remotely scary or interesting about him. We are treated to these huge scenes of Ethan jumping on moving plane or racing a motorcycle through the desert all to stop a guy who looks like a beatnik?

I realize that I’m making Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation sound like some sort of trainwreck, which it isn’t. Instead, it’s simply a step backwards for the series. It would have taken a monumental film to live up to Ghost Protocol, and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation doesn’t even come close. I’m sure that rabid fans of the series will find something to like, but the casual viewer may come away wondering how so much, yet so little can happen in a film.

Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation took London record shops off of my list on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 24 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look great and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail is impressive and the picture is never soft. The picture offers great depth, as the foreground and background are clearly defined. The Disc carries a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 6.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This is a muscular track which delivers very clear stereo and surround sound effects. During the action sequences, we are immersed in these effects, as the track shows off individual sounds and great separation. The subwoofer effects are very strong and really add to the action.

The Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation Blu-ray Disc contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise. "Lighting the Fuse" (6 minutes) has McQuarrie and Cruise discussing the origin and planning of the film, focusing on the story, the story arcs, and the action scenes. "Cruise Control" (7 minutes) examines how Cruise is involved in the making of the movie as both an actor and a producer, and how he likes to be very hands-on. "Heroes..." (8 minutes) looks at the characters and how the various members of the IMF have changed and what their challenges are in this film. The piece contains comments from most of the primary cast. "Cruising Altitude" (8 minutes) looks at the conception of and the execution of the opening sequence, taking us on-set to see all of the planning involved. "Mission: Immersible" (7 minutes) takes us into the tank to see how the underwater sequence was done. Likewise, we go on-location for the motorcycle chase and we also see how the road was actually empty in "Sand Theft Auto" (6 minutes). "The Missions Continue" (7 minutes) gives an overview of the series through clips and interviews.

UPDATE:

On June 26, 2018, Paramount Home Entertainment released Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation on 4K UHD.  The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an HEVC 2160p transfer which runs at an average of 45 Mbps.  The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials.  The picture has a very nice crispness to it, which helps to deliver a detailed image which has a generous amount of depth.  The actors are clearly separate from the backgrounds, avoiding the "flat" look which can plague some movies.  The colors look very good, and the image is never overly dark or bright.  The overall crispness of the image gives it a slight edge over the Blu-ray Disc.  The Disc carries a Dolby Atmos audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 6.5 Mbps.  The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects.  This track is similar to the one found on the Blu-ray Disc, but it comes off as somewhat louder.  The action sequences deliver strong surround and subwoofer effects, adding emphasis to these moments.  Some the rear-channel effects are nicely detailed and it's easy to pick out individual sounds at times.  The stereo effects highlight sounds coming from off-screen.

The extra features found on the Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation 4K UHD are the same as those which were offered on the Blu-ray Disc release.