The latest installment of the "Mission: Impossible" film franchise is yet another satisfying entry in one of the more continuously successful series out there. I've found each of the first three films to be solidly entertaining, and while this one has a bit of a slow start, it ultimately ends up as yet another solid outing for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and company.
As far as the story goes, Hunt and his team (Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg), are forced to go off the grid when the IMF is implicated in a terrorist plot and the entire organization is disavowed. Rogue scientist / professor Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) has stolen a set of Russian nuclear launch codes and hopes to incite nuclear war with the notion that decimating the human population will be good for mankind in the long run. Hunt and his team of course have to stop Hendricks at all costs. The catch though is that because the IMF has been shut down, they have no connection to their bosses back in Washington, and no backup of any kind.
I'll get the bad out of the way first, and I've alluded to it already: the first 30 minutes of the film did not grab my attention in the least. I found the pre-credits prison break sequence to be a bit underwhelming, and while the traditional "light the match" opening credits--accompanied by Lalo Schifrin's classic theme--are fun, the following sequence which involves Hunt and his team infiltrating the Kremlin I found to be downright boring. I'm not sure what contributed to this, and I intend to see this film in theatres again (because the rest of it is so good), so maybe I'll be more drawn in the second time around. But once unexpected things start happening and Hunt and his team are forced to go rogue, the film definitely amps up and doesn't let up once all the way up through it's thrilling climax. The impressiveness of this series has always been more in the gadgets (though it thankfully never goes for a pre-Daniel Craig James Bond level of gadgetry) and the stunts, rather than in spectacular action sequences...the exception being the John Woo-directed second entry. Stylistically this film is probably most comparable to M:I-3, which probably makes sense since the director of that film, J.J. Abrams, remains a producer on this one. But the scale of the action and stunts is definitely upped here as director Brad Bird--in his first live-action outing following animated hits "The Iron Giant," "The Incredibles," and "Ratatouille"--has come up with some showstopping set pieces, particularly a sequence involving the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world's tallest building. This is probably a sequence seen on the biggest screen possible, though as I'm not a fan of IMAX (I think it eliminates the impressiveness of wide-screen for something akin to a giant full-frame television), I wouldn't necessarily recommend that format. I saw the film on a fifty-foot wide screen sitting five rows back and the Burj Khalifa scene definitely gave me a sense of vertigo.
Overall, "Ghost Protocol" is yet another solid entry in the series. The stunts are spectacular, the action is intense, and the gadgetry is fun. This is about all you can ask for from a "Mission: Impossible" film, and this one definitely delivers.
"Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol" is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence.
Running time: 133 minutes.
Released domestically on December 16, 2011, by Paramount Pictures.
3 stars out of 4.
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