Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: Movie Review

There comes a time when a film series dares to try out new things. The best example (and easiest to compare) are the countless Bond films. You can clearly see the stylistic distinction from the superhuman-like villains of the first films, to the comedic and experimental vibe of "Moonraker" and to the gritty, realistic portrayal of the latest Bond, Daniel Craig. While experimentation does flourish at times, some leave the core audience dumbfounded. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" works flawlessly on the former. It is triumphantly the best film out of the four - a balance of what you normally get in a serious spy film, with comedic shots every so often and ridiculous stunts and action sequences that will leave you breathless, if not in awe. If this was the next evolution for the fabled "Mission: Impossible" series then this was definitely the right and biggest step to take.

IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed by an assassin hired by Cobalt. The assassin was able to get a package containing Russin nuclear launch codes when she killed Hanaway. Hanaway's team leader, Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) extract Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) from a Moscow prison who is recruited to lead Carter and Dunn to infiltrate the secret Kremlin archives and locate files identifying who Cobalt is. During the mission, a bomb destroys the Kremlin and the Russians think Hunt and the IMF masterminded the attack. The US president activates "Ghost Protocol", a black operation contingency that disavows the entire IMF. Hunt and his team are to take the blame for the attack but they will also be allowed to escape from government custody to track down Cobalt.

The biggest (and most obvious) change that "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" does is inject more humor to a "Mission: Impossible" film. For us, this had the biggest impact on how the movie satisfied us overall. It is more than 2 hours long and yet, we never felt it slowing down. Humor (fabulously delivered by Simon Pegg) was used to lighten things up when things may get too long, too complicated or just those times when conversations are predominant over the endless action sequences. And speaking of the action sequences, they were just epic in design, in scale and delivery. While they tended to be ludicrous at times (especially the Burj Khalifa scenes and the sand storm car chase), it's completely forgivable as those over-the-top stunts actually made the film a fun thrill ride. The story was actually good, definitely better than most action films, yet became cheesy at times. On the acting side, the various actors also brought their game up. The weakest of the bunch was Jeremy Renner but we think it was more of his character being dull and lame rather than his lack of acting chops. In the end, "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" is one beautiful movie - visually-stunning, with proper pacing and a good plot to boot - it is a no-holds barred film that anyone will enjoy.

Rating: 4 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- the action sequences were just epic in scale
- the plot was better than what you usually get in action films

Why you shouldn't watch it:
- while the action sequences were epic, some of them were absolutely ludicrous even for an action film
- Jeremy Renner's character was weak and uninspired