I don’t know how, and I don’t know why, but Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (MI4) slipped under my radar. I wasn’t really that excited until last week when the reviews started to pour in.
MI4 starts off with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) stuck in a Russian prison, for reason we don’t know until the end, and his team mates Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton), of the IMF, are breaking him out. After a successful break out, Hunt is then debriefed as to why he has been broken out. Their team member, Hanaway (Lost’s Josh Holloway) has been killed by an assassin on a mission meant to secure documents they were supposed to secure when Hanaway was murdered. Hunt, Benji and Jane are instructed to break into the Moscow Kremlin and secure files pertaining to a case only known as “Cobalt”. During the Mission the team realizes they are not the only ones trying to secure the documents, and the other team tips off security to Hunt and his team, and the mission is aborted. Hunt and the team escape just as the Kremlin is destroyed in a huge explosion. The IMF is blamed for the explosion, and Russia declares war on America, The president is forced to put “Ghost Protocol” into effect, which disavows the entire IMF.
With the IMF shut down, Hunt is approached by an IMF Secretary and informed of the shut down of IMF and is pushed into going “rogue”, and tracking down the actual culprits and ending this new “Cold War”. Ethan Hunt, and his now rogue team, are now joined by a “Helper” named Brandt (Jeremy Renner). So with no help, no back up, no extractions, the foursome must complete an impossible mission.
MI4 is exciting, thrilling and tense. There were certain scenes where I was literally biting my nails waiting to see what would happen. The group works so incredibly well together, Tom Cruise as the tough and quiet leader, Jeremy Renner, the newbie with secrets, Simon Pegg, the funny man who clicks incredibly well with both Cruise and Renner, and Paula Patton, the kick ass, sexy, female agent. The movie is filled with sub plots that keep you guessing and invested in characters you’ve even just met.
Some scenes, like the scaling of the apartment building in Dubai, are just breathtaking, and I wish I could have seen on Imax. The Plausability goes right out the window, but that can be expected in most action movies, some scenes make you go “Ya right” or “He should be dead” but it keeps it very exciting. Another issue with movies like this, is the bad guys always seem to melt into one another, and you can never tell who’s bad and who’s good until Hunt has put a bullet through their head.
The movie is set up for a fifth, and I really hope there is another because I was thoroughly entertained, as I’m sure most people will be, and I think the chemistry between the 4 characters is perfect so I hope they all come back. Might I add, Ving Rhames who was in the first 3 Mission: Impossible movies, makes a small, small appearance and I am glad it was small, I can’t take him seriously. While this movie does have it’s laughs, provided mostly by Pegg, it does it in a subtle and serious way, Just perfect.
For all those wondering, Michelle Monaghan, who played Hunts wife in the last movie, does have a story line in MI4, and it is handled very well.
I will give MI4 a solid 4 and a half 1/2 out of five, Brad Bird, who directed The Incredibles, hits it out of the park in his live action directing debut. A meant-to-be Summer blockbuster, that will surely win the top spot over the holiday weekend.
By the way, thanks for Helping me achieve over 1000 views on this blog, readers 🙂
-Mitch
Twitter: @mitchburns Email – Mitchburns_82@hotmail.com
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