Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see this movie in IMAX.

So, now that I have completed my recap of the Mission: Impossible series, on to my review of the latest entry in the franchise.

And, in short, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is not only the best film in the series, it's a legitimately awesome action film. Yeah, the series is still shallow, and it can still be quite absurd at times. But Pixar director Brad Bird knew exactly what he was doing when he sat in the chair of his first live-action picture. Taking over for now-producer J. J. Abrams, Bird (along with Abrams' Alias writers André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum) takes Abrams' intent from Mission: Impossible III, and significantly raises the stakes, putting Ethan Hunt and the world of the IMF into even greater peril than last time around, through the manipulations of a dangerous extremist who seeks to rebuild the world by destroying it in nuclear fire. Bird's direction of the action sequences is nothing short of stunning, and he takes every last drop of potential from Nemec and Appelbaum's script and utilizes it to its fullest extent. The film uses the latest technology to elevate the technical finer points of the series to new heights, and while Hunt is cut off from the IMF this time (Tom Wilkinson briefly appears as the IMF secretary, continuing the tradition of Jon Voight, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Fishburne in a star cameo), he definitely has his most memorable group of supporters this time around. While Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian was the best villain and most well-acted role in the series, Jeremy Renner's William Brandt is by far the best character. By giving Brandt a shade of ambiguity and a serious moral dilemma, Bird and Renner make him more of a character in one film than Ethan Hunt has been in four. Don't get me wrong, Tom Cruise is in top superstar form here, and succeeds despite a more limited range of emotions than he had last time. But Renner just completely steals the show, and perfectly validates the idea of Brandt taking over for Hunt in the future. Paula Patton as Agent Carter and the returning Simon Pegg are also infinitely more memorable than Hunt's previous team members, with Pegg's increased screentime allowing him to give Benji Dunn a lot more comedic value this time out. The one place where Ghost Protocol actually fails is in the villains. While Michael Nyqvist (of the Swedish Millennium Trilogy films) is a solid actor and definitely tries to lend some character into the villain of Kurt Hendricks, he's more villainous in conversation than he is onscreen. Nyqvist simply isn't given much to work with, and despite Hendricks being a weak villain, he's actually probably better than Dougray Scott's Ambrose from M:I-II. Lea Seydoux's Moreau is certainly an able and sexy femme fatale, but she doesn't get enough screentime to leave an impact, and Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and Josh Holloway (Abrams' Lost) are essentially wasted in bit roles. The film also unfortunately suffers from a regrettable lack of Luther Stickell, as Ving Rhames gets a mere cameo here, and Michelle Monaghan's makes Rhames' feel like a secondary part.

However, the film's greatest strength lies not in its story or script, but in its presentation. Bird wisely chose to shoot partially in IMAX instead of 3D, and his decision is justified by the beautiful and breathtaking sequences. This is one movie that must be experienced in an IMAX theater to get the full impact, as the scenes on the Burj Khalifa will leave you dizzy and drained.

So yeah, Ghost Protocol is easily the best in the series. There's always room for improvement, but I feel Mission: Impossible on a definitive upswing. If Bird does choose to return for the reportedly fast-tracking Mission: Impossible 5, I hope that he can give us a story and antagonist that this long-running series truly deserves, a mission that everyone will accept as an action classic.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - 4/5 stars

Mission: Impossible Film Recap

It may be worth it in the long run, but initially these missions may be difficult to accept.

Mission: Impossible has become one of the most enduring series of films ever, despite a merely moderate reception, diminishing returns, and straying so far from the TV series that it was based on in the first place. My own personal feeling about the franchise are mixed as well, and as it has happened, I've just seen. This review will mainly cover the first three films, before I write a full review for the fourth.

The first film was a decent, not great, spy romp, that suffered from the flaw of attempting to be too smart for its own damn good. The movie went for convolution and mind-numbing plot turns at all costs, including losing my interest in the story and characters. Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt was merely a device, not a character, and the rest of the group (with the possibly exception of Ving Rhames' tough techie Luther Stickell) didn't fare any better. Jon Voight's IMF head/villain was forgettable at best, and Emmanuelle Beart as his wife even more than him. The plot was impossible to fully decipher, and as a result, became just plain boring. It's a damn shame that revered screenwriters like Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Steven Zaillian (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) were unable to bring something more remarkable out of this (Though I expected no more from co-writer David Koepp, the half-good half-hack behind the idiotic dialogue of The Lost World and Spider-Man).  However, the direction of Scarface'sBrian De Palma (despite being the ABSOLUTE WRONG CHOICE for this series) manages to give the proceedings a steady, fast-paced hand, that manages to keep it both entertaining and intriguing enough to squeak a passing grade. Though only by a tiny little bit. My star rating for the original Mission: Impossible: 3/5 stars

Mission: Impossible II, despite being largely fast-paced, well-directed, well-scored, and exciting, falters in the exact opposite way of its predecessor. De Palma was replaced in the director's chair by John Woo, a man less known for his gripping spy thrillers and more for his straightforward, yet exceedingly well-done, action fare like Face/Off, The Killer, and Hard Boiled. Robert Towne returned as screenwriter, adapting a story by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. I feel I should note that Moore and Braga wrote the script for Star Trek Generations. What does THAT tell you about their scripting prowess? (And yes, I know they wrote First Contact, but I feel that most of that praise goes to the direction of Jonathan Frakes) Towne, under Woo's guidance, fails to deliver yet again, as as opposed to the failures of the first film's script, it's sequel fails for being too damn STUPID instead of trying too hard to be smart. In sharp contrast, the second film is a dumb, dumb, DUMB action movie, that completely ignores 85% of the first film's conventions, and sets out on its own, more-tread path, with a plot, cast, and script that makes it feel less like an M:I sequel, and more like a poor ripoff of a John Woo movie that happens to be directed by the man himself. The poor cast doesn't help either. Cruise plays Hunt completely different this time around, erasing the minimal character development from the first and actually dumbing him down more. Thandie Newton is unsuitable for her part and isn't given much to do with what she could bring to it, and there's a reason Dougray Scott isn't known for his prolific career as being a big-budget movie villain. Hunt's IMF team is even less memorable this time around, with only Rhames getting away unscathed. However, I'd still call it the first film's equal, as the movie is still ultimately more satisfying, if only for its empty thrills. My star rating for Mission: Impossible II: 3/5 stars.

After two veteran directors were given the helm to the first two films, first-time director J. J. Abrams of Alias and Lost TV fame was put in charge of Mission: Impossible III. And what be most shocking of all is that he handily bests the two vet's efforts, and delivers the most satisfying film in the first trilogy. Mission: Impossible III takes the best qualities of its predecessors, and merges them together to create a coherent, well-written, action-packed, and FUN summer blockbuster. Instead of Robert Towne writing the script, Abrams turned to his in-house writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who, regretfully, also wrote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but hey, Abrams helped write the shit script that eventually became Michael Bay's other turd sandwich, Armageddon, back in the day), and they manage to easily beat the efforts of the veterans, taking the best qualities of the first two M:I films and eliminating the majority (not all, not by a long shot) of the flaws. They also, finally, attempt to write Ethan Hunt an actual character, and this allows Cruise to give a better performance overall this time around. Maggie Q, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers also fare better than Hunt's previous IMF members, Rhames continues to deliver solid work, Michelle Monaghan does OK as Hunt's wife, and even Simon Pegg gets a couple of good comic relief scenes as IMF tech guy Benji Dunn. Still, Philip Seymour Hoffman absolutely steals the show here. Hoffman is an actor of quality which this series was sorely lacking up till him, and his Owen Davian is FUCKING SCARY. He casually speaks of murdering Hunt's wife in the most painful and humiliating way possible, and still retains his usual Hoffman quirks while delivering the best performance in the entire series. Still, M:I-III ain't anywhere near perfect. The script, despite being better than its predecessors, trades in plot incoherence for cornball comedy (when mounting the top of a wall, Cruise actually utters "HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL". The movie also drags in the third act, only picking up once reaching the climax foretold in the first scene. And despite these improvements, it must be noted that it still is absurd as hell. It's not as stupid as M:I-II, but it also lacks the ambition, however failed, that the original had. So, it's the best of the first three, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. Mission: Impossible III gets 3.5/5 stars.

Ghost Protocol review incoming very soon, possibly tonight.

How I Met Your Mother - "Tailgate" Review

PUZZLES! Go for Barney.

So, as it turns out, while most of America's TV networks resorted to boring reruns this week, How I Met Your Mother decided to broadcast a New Years' episode, the first since the first season, if my memory serves me. And for the most part, "Tailgate" delivered, not as a particularly funny episode, but one heavy on nostalgia and inside jokes to previous seasons. By far, my favorite element of this episode was the unexpected resurrection of Ted and Barney's ambition to open a bar from the season 4 episode "Three Days of Snow". They even brought back Will Sasso as Doug, from the season 4 ep "The Fight", and named the bar "Puzzles", such as in the previous episode, as the name itself is puzzle, of course. However, before I really get into this one, I should recap how I've felt about the season at large. Unlike a large portion of the HIMYM fanbase, I am against the idea of Barney and Robin together. I seem to be the only one who remembers that a good portion of season 5 dealt with how Barney and Robin were absolutely wrong for each other, and how being together destroyed them and turned them into miserable saps of their former selves. Barney got fat, and Robin grew homely and unkempt. And yet, the writers seem intent on pushing them together constantly, if only because they need someone to be Barney's bride for that future wedding they've teased us about so much. As such, I like Kal Penn's character Kevin more than most people do. He's not the best guest character the show's ever had or anything, but he has good comedic timing and him and Robin make a pretty good pair. I liked his involvement with Barney and Ted's bar in "Tailgate", and think he's been a successful addition to the show. More than Zoey was last season, anyway. I was unopposed to Marshall tailgating at his father's gravesite, and thought the emotional arc of this episode worked, especially when Lily reconciled with her father, but overall, I think that a year is long enough for Marshall's recovery from his dad's death. His character arc has been about it for the better part of the last year, and now, I think it's time to move past it and onto him becoming a father himself. For me, however, the highlight of this episode was the return of Sandy Rivers. His sad, drunken antics were highly amusing, and I laughed my ass off, when Kevin went into the bathroom and Sandy said "You must be from the escort service. The scenario is 'high school wrestling match'" (Sandy bends over tub, I die laughing). Robin getting to go on New Year's was also a nice step forward for her character after the dark turn her story took in "Symphony of Illumination" (Have I mentioned that I LOVED that episode yet? Some hated it, but I dug the way Bays and Thomas played with the viewers' expectations there), and there was a hint to her brighter future ahead. So overall, How I Met Your Mother succeeded with a lighter episode than the previous ones, and kicked off 2012 in fine, if not perfect, form.

"Tailgate" - 3.5/5 stars