If you can remember the plots of the previous five Mission: Impossible movies, you are either some kind of movie savant or you’re Tom Cruise. But if you had to guess any of them, including the forthcoming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, you could safely say either: “Tom Cruise goes rogue”, “Tom Cruise goes after someone who’s gone rogue”, or possibly “Who cares? Remember those awesome stunts!”
And, basically, you’d be right. The previous instalment featured all three: it had a secret spy project that had gone rogue. To infiltrate it, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt had to go even roguer (and hang on to the outside of a plane). In case you’d forgotten, it was called Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, although that could be the title for any of them, and many other movies besides.
Jason Bourne was never knowingly un-rogue. Daniel Craig’s James Bond has gone varying degrees of rogue in pretty much every movie (Quantum of Solace in particular), as have many Bonds before him. Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow was a Russian spy who went off-message. Felicity Jones defied orders and saved the rebellion in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Captain America had similar ideas and took half of the Avengers with him. Vigilantes such as Batman have permanent rogue status. Even Vin Diesel turned on his Fast and Furious buddies. Why can’t anyone just stick to the programme?
You could read Tom Cruise’s persistent rogueism as a coded bid to break free from his Scientological shackles but, in the wider sense, it’s now accepted in the movies that rules and orders are the preserve of villains and wusses. The real heroes are those who go against the herd.
In the real world, however, it doesn’t usually work out like that. When government operatives go rogue in real life, they are more likely to be persecuted (eg Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning). Then again, look at Donald Trump. Going rogue – defying the establishment, the elites, the Deep State, the mainstream media – is what populist politics purports to be all about. Trump trailblazer Sarah Palin even called her memoir: Going Rogue: An American Story.
It might be a stretch to blame Cruise for Trump, but Cruise has at least highlighted how meaningless a term “going rogue” has become. It can denote courageous sacrifice or dangerous recklessness. Looking at the state of the planet, perhaps we could do with a bit less going rogue and a bit more, you know, agreeing on some rules and sticking to them. Trouble is, that sounds like the most boring movie ever. If only there was a franchise-friendly action hero who could make “not going rogue” into a really exciting movie. That just might be Mission: Impossible.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is in UK cinemas from 25 July
