Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation - Which number is this in the franchise?

I’ve just watched ‘Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.’ I notice that for a film in an ongoing franchise, it doesn’t actually have a number attached to the title.  I’m guessing this is generally because it doesn’t matter which one it is.  If you’ve seen any of the previous instalments (excluding the original which requires some sort of post doctorate in nuclear physics to understand the numerous double-crossing plot threads) then you’ll know what you’re getting.  The ‘MI’ franchise has certainly settled into a formula and, try as I might to hate it for basically doing the same thing over and over again, I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoyed it (after all, if Marvel can do it, why can’t Tom?!).

Tom Cruise plays… oh, does it matter?  He basically plays Tom Cruise playing a sort of James Bond role where his team of secret agents has to stop (yet another) super villainous organisation from overthrowing Britain.  As a Brit, I could probably take offense at us needing saving, but my fellow countryman Simon ‘Shaun of the Dead’ Pegg is helping him out, so I guess I’ll let that one slide.  He accomplishes this through numerous high-octane car chases, gun fights and stunts – none of which leaving so much as a scratch on our hero.

Oh, dear – three paragraphs in and I’m already running out of things to say about ‘Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.’ I’m guessing that’s because there’s not much that can be said about it that you haven’t already seen written about the others.  In all the film franchises of recent times (including the reliably similar Marvel movies) this is just about as identical in structure as those that have come before it.  In a nutshell: if you like Tom Cruise then you’ll probably like this.  If you’ve liked any of the previous instalments (2-4) then you’ll also like this.  Of course if you haven’t seen any of them and you’re just a fan of action movies with a pinch of spy/doublecross involved, again you’ll get something out of it.  You don’t really need to know what’s come before.  You can join the franchise here or at any point after the first film.  Just put your brain in ‘neutral’ and enjoy the nicely-choreographed action scenes and Tom Cruise fighting wave after wave of useless henchmen.  Sheer popcorn fun.

Oh, and I’ve just checked online.  It appears that yet another ‘Mission Impossible’ film is pencilled in for 2018.  Gee, I wonder what that one will be like?!  It’s fair to say that I’ll be watching it either way.  The only downside will be that when I come to review it I’ll probably have even less original observations to make about it than I did here!

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that