Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation [2015]

Language - English
Director - Christopher McQuarrie
Run Time - 2 hours, 11 minutes
Genre - Action/Drama
Starring - Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg

Tom Cruise once again reprised his role as the ultimate IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent in fifth movie of the series, and boy, at the age of 53, he is among the few actors who can pull off an action movie.

The previous movie was such a disappointment for me, because even though the name of the series is 'Mission Impossible', it became too 'impossible' and an unrealistic plot. Rogue Nation in comparison is a delightful pleasure to watch. Christopher McQuarrie is able to blend old school spy movie within this new age and technological era and that works out brilliantly  It manages to keep you enthralled and captivated for  more than 2 hours.

The movie starts with Ethan Hunt trying to track down a rogue terrorist organization called as 'Syndicate' but sadly, the CIA are not ready to believe that something like this even exists and they dissolve the IMF thus making Hunt a fugitive. Hunt has to evade the CIA, as well terminate a terrorist organization, whose operations remain a mystery.

This is one movie where Hunt meets his match, in Solomon Lane, the leader of the Syndicate and it's s amusing to see how each tries to outwit the other. Add in the wildcard British Agent Ilsa Faust, and it gets even better. The occasional quips provided Simon Pegg as 'Benji' are quite enjoyable and lighten up the mood. I was sad to see the immensely talented Jeremy Renner left on the sidelines. He should have gotten more screentime. Rebecca Ferguson makes quite an impression in her second movie and seems like promising future actor.

The movie has been shot nicely, especially the scenes in Morocco, oh what a beautiful country! And the action sequences were suave and stylish, far from the previous movie. Even at the age of 50, Tom Cruise can carry a movie with 'swag'.

Although I have one negative comment is that the movie did become predictable at times. But that should not take away anything from the movie and remains one of the finer films of the summer.

My Rating - 7.5/10

Southpaw [2015]

Language - English
Director - Antoine Fuqua
Run Time - 2 hours, 4 minutes
Genre - Drama/Sport
Starring - Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker and Rachel McAdams

Southpaw was expected to be another thrilling boxing movie, but it came out as a disappointment for me. Even after having some of Hollywood's finest (underrated as well) actors, this movie fails as it is not able to overcome the generic and cliched storyline thats done and dusted. In fact, I would say that the trailer itself showed us how insipid the plot is.

I went to see this movie just because of Gyllenhaal, but sadly, he couldn't churn up brilliant cinema this time. Taking no credit away from Gyllenhaal, he was tremendous as Billy Hope, our protagonist, the lonely father with the never giving up attitude. Also, Rachel McAdams was wasted in the movie as she lasted all of 15 minutes as Whitaker fails to lift the latter half of the movie.
Note - 50 Cent can't act for shit.

The plot is so banal with Hope as the World Heavyweight Champion, losing his wife, kid, title and everything else because of his rage and ego. Fast forward to 'whatamidoing' 'letmegetmylifebacktogether' phases and yes, you can guess the end. If someone calls this the best boxing movie since Raging Bull, that person hasn't seen 'Warrior' which is a gem of a movie.

The thing is, the director Antoine Fuqua, of the Training Day fame, has tried to fuse the a sports movie with drama, but it becomes too overberaing to handle. In Boxing Terms, I would say it has become a match which has lasted all of 12 Rounds without any contender throwing a good punch.

But, Jake Gylenhall is brilliant, as he's been in the past couple of years, be it with Nightcrawler, Prisioners, Source Code, Zodiac, Brokeback Mountain or even further down the line when he did Donnie Darko as a kid. This guy, I feel is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood currently, and deserves to be called along the best.
Adding to it, I'd say Gylenhaal and McAdams share sizzling chemistry, and I would love to see them together in the future.

One could skip it, unless they are hardcore fans of Gylenhaal or boxing movies, although it is more about the drama than boxing.

My Rating - 6.5/10