4 Things Writers Learn From Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation
Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation checks all of the boxes. It’s an all-around excellent film, having thrilling action, eye-opening stunts, a great cast and the gifts of talented writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. But is this film’s writing as good as its spectacle? Spoiler alert, yes. It definitely is.
1 .How to Begin a Story
Firstly, Rogue Nation has one of the best openings of any film I’ve seen recently. The A400 scene is an excellent scene by itself, but it’s also a fantastic hook. To explain, a hook is the first part of a story. It’s the initial scene that gives the audience their first taste of what your story is going to be. A hook needs to do four main things. Firstly, it needs to establish the tone.
a) Establish the tone
Establishing the tone is crucial to a hook. Imagine if the Super Mario Bros movie began with the heist from The Dark Knight. First impressions are everything, so the first scene of your story should be aligned with the rest of it. There’s a good reason as to why this movie begins with a high-stakes yet fun action scene whereas Fallout begins with Ethan’s haunting nightmare. Rogue Nation is a much more fun film than Fallout, and that lighter tone successfully comes through in the first scene.
b) Accrue investment and excitement
A hook also needs to get the audience both invested and excited. If the audience isn’t immediately engaged, you run the risk of them abandoning your story before it gets started. By providing an interesting and exciting hook, the chances of your audience sticking around for longer are much better. The A400 scene does this extremely well as the scene is thrilling throughout and quickly gets the audience interested. The scene doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the movie, but it doesn’t need to. It just needs to set up the story in an interesting way so that the audience is willing to give you more of their time.
c) Remind the audience what they came for
Something a hook also needs to do is remind the audience what they came for. If they came to a Mission: Impossible movie, they expect Mission: Impossible. If they came to a Jurassic Park movie, they expect Jurassic Park, etc. This is especially important for franchises and genre fiction. Beginning a fantasy novel with a scene in outer space would leave your readers questioning if they bought the right book. But while it’s good to give fans what they want, you also need to promise to surpass their expectations. You can’t just give them the same old stuff, you have to build upon it. While we’ve seen Ethan Hunt do crazy things before, hanging on to the outside of an airplane as it takes off is pretty next-level. It both reminds audiences why they came and demonstrates how their expectations will be surpassed.
d) Begin the story
The last thing a hook can do is a bit less important than the other points, but it’s still good to keep in mind. A story should truly get started with the inciting event, which is where the plot gets its direction and begins moving toward the climax. Rogue Nation’s inciting event is Ethan’s escape from the Bone Doctor and the dissolution of the IMF. This is what forces Ethan on the path to tracking down Solomon Lane. All of a story’s time before the inciting event should be devoted to setup with the exception of the opening hook. A hook is essential because, if you just begin a story with pure setup, the audience won’t have anything to get invested in. A hook grabs their attention long enough for their interest to last to the inciting event. But while a hook can be totally disconnected from the main story, it’s best for it to tie back to things in some way, even if indirectly. For example, look at the opening scene of Return of the Jedi. The scene of Darth Vader arriving at the Death Star isn’t essential to the rest of the film, but it loosely connects to the events proceeding it in addition to accruing interest. If this scene was essential and directly began the events of the movie as an inciting event would, it would miss the time needed for setup. If it was entirely disconnected, it would feel out of place, like a part of a different story. Instead, it maintains just enough relevance to fit in where it is.
2. Three-act Sequence
Secondly, writers can learn about the three-act sequence. One of the biggest setpieces in Rogue Nation is the opera sequence. This sequence, like many in the franchise, follows a sort of three-act structure where we have the setup, the action and the payoff. Similar sequences—such as the Dubai sequence in Ghost Protocol and the Morocco heist later in this film—utilize this structure, the opera scene being a prime example of using it to effectively build tension and dramatize action.
The first part of this structure is the setup. The opera scene starts with our objectives established and all of the pieces moving into place. This part is essential for making the latter two parts work, as without objectives, the action would feel directionless. While directionless action can sometimes work, it requires a different kind of conflict and can’t stand on its own. Here, we’re explicitly told that the mission is to get Lane. “You find him”. We’re also given hints about the three shooters, slowly seeing them prepare for the same thing. Ethan begins tracking someone he suspects to be Lane as we quickly transition into the second act: the action. Ethan fights and kills the shooter backstage while the Terminator prepares to terminate the chancellor. Benji sees this and rushes to stop it while Ilsa gets ready to take her shot. This influx of shooters interrupts their plan to find Lane as Ethan has to resort to shooting the chancellor’s shoulder to save him from the snipers. Ethan escapes backstage, Ilsa saves Benji and security begins closing the place down as we transition into the payoff. While the action is the most important part in deciding the outcome of the entire sequence, the payoff shows how we transition from the action to the rest of the story. The payoff gives us a glimpse into the fallout of the action as Ethan and Ilsa escape, the chancellor is blown up and Ilsa jumps out of the car to return to Lane with the promise that Ethan knows how to find her. She doesn’t tell Ethan who Lane is, but she gives him enough clues to further Ethan’s ultimate goal.
The constant moving pieces in this sequence build tension through the first half, the explosive action in the middle delivers the excitement that was promised and the escape and payoff conclude the sequence while setting up what’s to come.
3. Non-violent Conflict
Thirdly, Rogue Nation gives a lesson in non-violent conflict. Non-violent conflict isn’t anything new as it’s been in stories since stories existed, but Rogue Nation is an example of how to integrate this kind of conflict into an action story. Rogue Nation has the luxury of including some incredible action setpieces, but it doesn’t rely on them for everything. Rather, the non-violent conflict that stretches from the end of the motorcycle chase to the shootout in the plaza is carried by its effective writing combined with the threat of violence. This section of the movie shows that, sometimes, the threat of possible violence is just as effective as actual violence.
This is exemplified in two of the best scenes in the movie, which are the scene with the Prime Minister and the scene where Ethan confronts Lane. Both of these scenes are heavily focused on the intellectual battles rather than the physical. Ethan outsmarts his opponents to win the day, which is much more engaging than simply being stronger than them. Like I mentioned in my video about M:I 2, I believe that in an action movie, if the hero doesn’t win because of some special advantage or unique skill, the victory will feel unearned. Instead, if the hero wins by playing to their strengths, their win is much more satisfying. In Rogue Nation, Ethan wins by refusing to play Lane’s game and forcing Lane to play his. Lane falls prey to his trap and is outsmarted, not to mention that Ethan’s friends help him secure his victory whilst Lane is alone. This climax follows a series of scenes with verbal character conflict that each build upon the previous one effectively.
For the sake of time, I won’t delve too deeply into each of these scenes, but they all share a few commonalities. While the last three are much more action-packed, all six of them—from the meeting between Ilsa and Atlee to the confrontation between Ethan and Lane—feature some sort of philosophical battle. Atlee shares his view, Brandt shares his view, Lane shares his view, Ilsa shares her view, Hunley shares his view and Ethan shares his. All of these views are somehow related to Ethan, either referring to his actions, the consequences of his actions or the philosophy behind his actions. There’s even a small scene after Benji is kidnapped where Ethan and Brandt come to an agreement on their plan as Brandt realizes that Ethan is right. Everything builds to when Ethan declares war on Lane, beating him at his own game. This whole section of the movie is something plucked straight out of a drama, using the stakes established by the earlier bombastic action scenes to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. The auction scene alone is something that could be worthy of its own video—it’s one of my favourite scenes in the franchise.
4. The Perfect Franchise Movie
Lastly, Rogue Nation is an example of a perfect franchise movie. While I would argue that Fallout is a better movie overall, Rogue Nation is a better Mission: Impossible movie. That’s what I mean when I say that it checks all of the boxes. It has everything a Mission: Impossible fan could ask for: car chases, heists, intrigue, espionage, mask reveals, gritty fight choreography, betrayals and twists and a menacing and intelligent villain. No other Mission: Impossible film is as successful in this way as Rogue Nation. The movie does this by both remaining true to what the franchise is and what it has become, taking inspiration from everything that has come before to craft a masterpiece. While it’s certainly great for franchise films to deviate to be original, Rogue Nation shows how it’s possible to both be original and stay true to what audiences came for.
It’s something you can do in your writing. Even if you’re not writing a sequel in a franchise, you can write for your story engaging hooks, tensely structured setpieces and non-violent conflict to keep your audience enthralled at every turn.
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