Tom Cruise is 53. I repeat: Tom Cruise is 53. In seven years he will officially be eligible for retirement and a cushy 401(k) plan. That will probably be what's going on in the minds of most people who watch "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," the latest but not last installment in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
The series has provided Tom Cruise with arguably his most iconic role: Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). Despite the urge to riff endlessly on this organization's name and the series' colossal American ego, the franchise is a cinematic phenomenon that I hope will be around forever. Like a really good restaurant, it satisfies your culinary cravings without overdoing it on the calories. All is right with the world, because Ethan — like a master chef who works his magic every night — has made it so.
When the film series first came out in 1996, Hunt was a boyish idealist. Over the years he toughened under the strain of betrayals and travails: a botched marriage, violent deaths of trusted teammates and other tragedies.