Review of 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'

mission_impossible_ghost_protocol.jpg Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back after a hiatus of several years in this latest instalment in the Mission Impossible franchise. Followers of the series will be pleased to hear that this film does not leave the audience scratching their head for the last half of the movie trying to figure out what is really going on. In this case, the plot is perhaps just a bit too straightforward.

Ethan, two other members of IMF Benji (Simon Pegg, playing the quintessential computer geek) and Jane (Paula Patton, playing the sexy member of the team) and Brandt (Jeremy Renner), a government consultant are framed for the bombing of the Kremlin in a botched retrieval attempt of some microfilm. The president invokes “ghost protocol” where they are completely disowned by their country - They are on their own. They pursue the insane terrorist responsible for the bombing called “Hendricks” who is bent on starting a nuclear war with the acquisition of Russian missile launch codes. The trail leads them to the tallest building in the world in Dubai with the set piece of the entire film as Ethan spends some time climbing up the side of the tower (in a sequence that is truly breathtaking and hard to believe it was actually done). The trail leads them onwards to the finale in India…

This forth movie still packs a lot of the thrills that made the first three so enthralling without the mind-bending tricks of those previous. This one is brought to us by Bad Robot - the same company behind Lost and the new Star Trek movie - J. J. Abrams and Tom Cruise are listed as producers (not too surprising - we see several faces here from other Bad Robot productions most notably “Sawyer” from Lost - Josh Holloway, Simon Pegg also being in Star Trek). The scenes at the top of the Burj Khalifa are certainly breath-taking as are the scenes in the multi-story car parkade. Simon Pegg brings a certain amount of welcome levity to the movie that is full of death and peril. A good lot of blockbuster fun. It is clearly not as intense as the first few movies but enjoyable nonetheless.

Rating: “A bit better than average”

Review Date: 2011-12-30


Directed by: Brad Bird

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Year: 2011

Length: 133 minutes

Genre: Action/Adventure

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229238/


Other reviewed films by Brad Bird: