Mission: Impossible─Ghost Protocol

Since this was released on my birthay, this now becomes my new nickname. GP. Ghost Protocol. Get it? Geddit?

Whatever. Anyway, this is Brad Bird's live action directorial debut. If you dismissed him as a director of children's films, think again. This guy did The Incredibles, so he knows a thing or two about action sequences. And this film is proof of that. Good call also for choosing to shoot some scenes in IMAX, like The Dark Knight. This becomes evident from the opening shot of Budapest, showing the crispness and clarity of the images. Clearly, IMAX is the HD of film.

Trust me, this looks damn good in IMAX.

Now let us analyze the IMF team. Or rather, the Ghost Protocol team. That's because IMF is no more. It has been disavowed in its entirety. (I've loved the word "disavowed" ever since the first Mission: Impossible film.)

Being disavowed never looked this cool.

Ethan Hunt: Tom Cruise is growing old. Of course, by himself, you'd think he's still the eternally youthful Maverick from Top Gun. But side-by-side with Jeremy Renner, you can clearly see the difference. I think they put Renner in this flick so he can continue the franchise in case Cruise decides to choose not to accept any more missions.

"Wheeeeee!"

William Brandt: This is Jeremy Renner's M:I debut, but from what I heard, he'll be taking over the Bourne franchise. Will it present a conflict of interest for him, being Hollywood's action go-to guy? Will it put pressure on his career?

"What pressure?"

Jane Carter: Paula Patton is maybe the hottest IMF girl since Maggie Q. She kind of looks like Alicia Keys with higher cheekbones. And she can kick ass.

Benji Dunn: Simon Pegg returns from the previous M:I flick, and here he is promoted to field agent. The thing with Pegg is that the audience knows he's there for comic relief, yet somehow he might disappoint some fans who are expecting some slapstick sidekick action. Benji Dunn is a serious field agent with some funny moments, not a funny field agent with serious moments. Nice to know the difference.

"Well, this review says I'm more than comic relief, Cruise."

This film brings us back to the true roots of Mission: Impossible. My favorite film is still the first one, directed by Brian De Palma, because it captures the world of intrigue and espionage that differentiates M:I from, say, the world of James Bond. And we have a lot of great action sequences here, especially the Kremlin sequence,

Where it goes kaboom.

showing us some of the brilliant gadgets the IMF has,

And the product placements from Apple.

and also showing us that Ethan Hunt doesn't need any facial masks to be called a master of disguise. In fact, Hunt doesn't put on any masks for this flick. That task is left to Michael Nyqvist, who is enjoying a successful Hollywood crossover after his Swedish Millenium films. Good job, Nyqvist's agent.

And since we're on the subject of the supporting cast, I'd just like to say that Léa Seydoux (who plays the assassin Sabine Moreau) is cute, and Anil Kapoor's acting (which I loved since Slumdog Millionaire) was perfect. Too bad though that Tom Wilkinson died before he even got out of the car.



Mission: Impossible─Ghost Protocol. USA. 2011.

Rating: Seven and a half out of ten.




*some info from IMDb and Wikipedia