A variant of Mission Impossible theme
song plays during opening which has ...

---
Sidenote: I've been remiss in listing the
actors in each Mission Impossible so
this time, I'm listing all that appeared in
episode 5 & listing other episodes they
appeared in:

Tom Cruise - IMF agent Ethan Hunt, all episodes
Jeremy Renner - IMF agent William Brandt, episodes 4 & 5
Simon Pegg - IMF agent Benji Dunn, episodes 3, 4, 5, & 6
Rebecca Ferguson - MI6 agent Ilsa Faust, episodes 5 & 6
Ving Rhames - IMF agent Luther Stickell, all episodes
Sean Harris - Arch enemy/villain Solomon Lane, episodes 5 & 6
Alec Baldwin - Director of CIA Alan Hunley, episodes 5 & 6
Simon McBurney - Syndicate founder Atlee, episode 5
Jingchu Zhang - CIA analyst Lauren, episode 5
Jens Hultén - Bone doctor/villain Janik Vinter, episode 5
Hermione Corfield - Record Shop Girl, episode 5
Tom Hollender - Prime Minister of United Kingdom.
---

.... Ethan Hunt jumping onto a moving air-
plane, in Belarus, barely getting in after
takeoff, attaching himself to what looks
to be an array of bombs & opening the
bombs' parachute to depart the airplane.

Mysteriously, next scene Ethan is in a rec-
ord store looking for a record, something
rare. The record store girl seems to recog-
nize Ethan. She hands him a record which
actually is instructing him as he plays the
record in a room behind a glass-windowed ...

.... door, the record telling him what I thought
were bombs actually was actually VX nerve
gas capable of devastating a major city. He's
informed the entity behind the effort to use
the nerve gas is the Syndicate, a shadow ...

.... organization committed to inciting revolu-
tion by enabling acts of terror in nations that
are friendly to western interests. The record
says "we are the Syndicate & now we know
who you are."

The record says "Your mission, should you
choose to accept it, is to face your fate. Pur-
sue us, you will be caught. Resist us, you
will be killed. And your precious Secretary
will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
Good luck Mr. Hunt. This message will ...

.... self-destruct in 5 seconds." Gas is released
into the room. A man points a gun at the back
of the Record Shop girl's head as Ethan tries
to escape the room but the door won't open.
The man (who we later find out is Syndicate
head Soloman Lane) kills the girl (who ...

.... elsewhere I find out is an IMF agent). Ethan
succumbs to the gas, implying he has been
killed.

Jump to a senate hearing where Director of
CIA Alan Hunley (played by Alec Baldwin) is
testifying against IMF, proposing it be dis-
solved, with IMF agent William Brandt (played
by Jeremy Renner) defending IMF.

Ethan is shown shirtless waking up, attached
to a pole. A woman enters with a plate having
liquid vials & syringes on it. She takes off her
shoes & rolls up her sleeves. Some men enter
the room. One of the men hits Ethan in the
chest.

Ethan recognizes the man as Janik Vinter
& says "they call you the Bone Doctor." Vin-
ter opens a case full of metal objects that
look like surgery & pain-delivery devices.
The woman says "our instructions were
to break him down, not kill him."

Vinter continues hitting Ethan in the chest.
The woman tosses Ethan some keys that
appear to be helping him to escape. Ethan
knocks Vinter unconscious and the woman
fights the other men in the room. Ethan
gets free & joins the fight.

The woman helps Ethan escape but goes
back as she apparently is playing an under-
cover role of working for the Syndicate.
Some guys show up as Ethan runs & they
fire machine guns but mysteriously none
of the bullets hit Ethan (as often happens ...

.... in movies/television, they show machine
guns being fired with none of the bullets
hitting as if by magic). Via phone, William
tells Ethan IMF has been shut down & they
now work for the CIA.

Ethan is in London. It's shown he has been
shot so some (one?) of the bullets did hit.
6 months later in Havana, Cuba, CIA guys
are breaking in somewhere trying to find
Ethan. Some guy is shown in Paris. Not
sure who he is.

Dunn is somewhere working for the CIA,
with Director of CIA Alan Hunley standing
over him asking about Ethan. Dunn an-
swers questions while hooked up to a lie
detector & he passes (somehow able to
lie without being detected).

Someone (Ethan probably) sent up tickets
to an opera in Vienna, where Dunn shows
up. Dunn talks to Ethan thru glasses Dunn
was handed after he got off of a train. Dunn
attends an opera in Vienna. Ethan has Dunn
searching for a guy.

Sidenote: Not an opera fan am I, so I'm not
enjoying whatever's going on in the opera.

The woman who helped Ethan escape from
the Syndicate is at the opera. She's loading
a rifle. Ethan is at the opera & is following
a man who is also loading a rifle. Ethan &
the man are fighting over the rifle & of
course they're fighting on a narrow ...

.... platform dangerously high. Ethan is
thrown off the platform but appears to
survive the fall. The platform he fell onto
is raised back up to the level of the plat-
form the man who Ethan is fighting is
on. The fight continues, Ethan as a ...

.... disadvantage as the man has a long
knife. He's a very tall man. Now it shows
a guard loading a rifle. This time, Ethan
tosses the man off the platform. Ethan
picks up the man's weapon & appears
to be preparing to shoot at the guard.

Ethan also sees the woman pointing a
weapon at someone. The woman fires
but wounds someone (not sure who or
why), Dunn shows up attacking the guard.
The woman shoots the guard.

Sidenote: Confusing? Yes.

The opera is interrupted. Guards arrive
throughout the opera house. Ethan is
talking to the woman and says "I have
a way out. Interested?"

Ethan has a very long rope & apparently,
they're going to use it to jump from the
top of the opera house. They do so and
land safely.

The wounded man escaping in a car and
a bomb goes off, the car exploding. Dunn
picks up Ethan & the woman near the ex-
ploded car. The woman says she's Ilsa
Faust. Ethan guesses that she's British
Intelligence.

She explains she was sent (by the Syndi-
cate, unmentioned) to kill the Chancellor
of Austria to regain the trust of the Syndi-
cate but instead, she wounded him to try
to satisfy the Syndicate but not killing the
Chancellor (who, turns out) was killed by ...

.... a bomb as the Syndicate had 2 others
involved, one other to kill the Chancellor
and another to kill Ilsa.

She jumps out of the car (I certainly would
never do such a thing) & somehow sur-
vives that (once again, trying to play her
Syndicate role).

Sidenote: I'm only 45 minutes into the
movie & an entire movie's worth of action
has already occurred. Deep breath.

Casablanca, Morocco. Appears Ilsa left
a clue (in her lipstick) that that's where
she would be. Ethan & Dunn go there &
find Ilsa.

William & Luther meet & William tells him
the CIA is trying to kill Ethan & Luther has
to find him to save Ethan's life. Dunn's life
also at risk.

Ilsa, Dunn, & Ethan are going to try to get
the Syndicate details (including all their
operatives) which is stored in an impossi-
ble to steal location 'neath impossible to
get past theft prevention measures. Need-
less to say, they're going to try to get to it.

Ethan had to go underwater & hold his
breath for 3 minutes. Unfortunately, he
was still underwater at 3 minutes so it
appears he has drowned. Ilsa shows up
& tries to rescue Ethan past the 3 minute
mark.

They get out & Ethan recovers. For some
reason, Ilsa shocks Dunn & steals the Syn-
dicate details & runs away. Ilsa meets with
members of the Syndicate & they get on
motorcycles. Ilsa knocks down all the other
motorcycles & departs on her own.

Ethan & Dunn are chasing Ilsa in a car, fol-
lowed by the Syndicate motorcycle gang.

Sidenote: 1:15 into the movie, guns being
fired at Ethan & Dunn as they stop follow-
ing Ilsa and go elsewhere being followed
by some of the Syndicate motorcycle gang.

They're about to be shot by one of the mo-
torcycle gang after backing up & flipping
over several times, but are saved by Wil-
liam & Luther hitting the guy with a Sports
Utility Vehicle.

Now, Ethan on a motorcycle is chasing
the motorcycle gang that's chasing Ilsa.
Ethan catches up to Ilsa but as he rounds
a corner, Ilsa stands in the middle of the
road & Ethan has to crash his motorcycle.
Ilsa rides away.

Jumps to another scene. 51 minutes left
in the movie. They're in a hilly desertlike
terrain, William, Luther, & Dunn get out
of their SUV. Ethan is sitting somewhere
(a restaurant?) as William, Luther, & Dunn
approach.