Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Parent Guide

In my opinion the Mission: Impossible franchise has been an undeserved underperformer at the box office. The series got off to a rough start nearly two decades ago, but the films have improved in both writing, on screen chemistry, and a diminishing amount of profanities and sexual content. Fortunately Rouge Nation continues this trend.

In the movie’s opening minutes, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team, William Brandt, Benji Dunn and Luther Stickell (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames), are doing their thing and saving the world from bad guys. It begins with a heart-stopping stunt (which, the studio claims, Cruise performed himself) where Hunt hangs from the side of an airplane during liftoff. But back at headquarters in Washington DC, the under-under-cover IMF organization is about to be chloroformed by Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin). The bureaucrat is convinced the group’s main foe, the even more illusive Syndicate, doesn’t exist. His solution is to hand over what assets the IMF has to the CIA.

When the guys get their pink slips, they reluctantly assume new positions with the CIA. However Hunt, who is actively running for his life after being targeted by the Syndicate’s leader (Sean Harris), isn’t willing to accept his change of employment without a fight. Receiving the news in a London phone booth, he disappears into the underworld, determined still to bring down the enemy. His only leads are an opera performance in Vienna, and the surprisingly skilled Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), a woman who may be a femme fatale or a femme fantastique.

Seeing as the IMF is unplugged, it’s uncertain whose credit card is being billed for trips to Austria and Morocco. Nevertheless, our hero is fully engaged and we get to come along for the wild ride of car and motorcycle chases, back stage combat and underwater maneuvers. Hunt and with his personable team (who eventually manage to break away from their desk jobs to join him), offer solutions to every challenge – as well as a good dose of humor.

Frequent conflicts with guns, knives, bombs and fists will result in violence. Yet considering the number of on-screen shootings and stabbings, little blood or other detail is seen. And, in this era of terrorism, Hunt’s character is willing to doggedly fight for liberty—even when his country has disowned him. Further, unlike so many other spy protagonists, Hunt works with women, not on them. With a script full of male characters, our sole female offers agility and brains as her greatest assets—although they still fit in a bikini. (Cruise also manages to get his shirt off within minutes of the movie’s opening.)

The lack of sexual content and relatively few profanities (you’ll still hear a handful of scatological terms and other mild swears) are a welcome change in this genre, making Mission: Impossible - Rouge Nation a possibility for teens and adults to enjoy together.

About author

Rod Gustafson

Rod Gustafson has worked in various media industries since 1977. He founded Parent Previews in 1993, and today continues to write and broadcast the reviews in newspapers, on radio and (of course) on the Internet. His efforts also include writing and researching media in all its forms and observing how it effects society and culture. He and his wife Donna have four children.