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