Rated
PG-13 (Sequences of Intense Action and Violence)
Running
Time: 2 Hours & 13 Minutes
Cast:
Tom
Cruise-Ethan Hunt
Paula
Patton-Jane Carter
Simon
Pegg-Benji Dunn
Jeremy
Renner-William Brandt
Michael
Nyqvist-Kurt Hendricks
Léa
Seydoux-Sabine Moreau
Vladimir
Mashkov-Anatoly Sidorov
Anil
Kapoor-Brij Nath
Josh
Holloway-Trevor Hanaway
Miraj
Grbic-Bogdan
Tom
Wilkinson-IMF Secretary
Ving
Rhames-Luther Stickell
Directed
by Brad Bird
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| Don't look down...don't look down...don't look down... |
Despite
their over-reliance on established film franchises as a major source of box
office revenue rather than actually taking
the risk of coming up with original, creative new ideas and stories, I must
grudgingly admit that I am continuously impressed with Hollywood in keeping
said franchises long past their prime with fourth, fifth, and even sixth installments. If you take a look
at the top-grossing films of 2011, the first seven are all sequels and this trend is unlikely to change unless audiences vote
with their wallets. Now, I am not against sequels, prequels, spin-offs, or even
remakes but only if there is a genuine need for one from a creative standpoint
unless it was already announced by the studio that there will be a follow-up if the story is too broad to be compressed in a
single film such as Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel
novel to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy “The Hobbit,” to be released in
December 2012. Unfortunately, this is not the case as sequels are usually
green-lit based on how financially successful the original was and often times,
audiences end up being fed garbage like “The Hangover Part II.” When Paramount
Pictures (who is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary) announced a
fourth installment in Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” franchise in early 2010,
I was skeptical that any good would come from it as it appeared to be a
desperate attempt by the controversial actor to reclaim his box office clout,
which has waned since the infamous ‘couch incident’ back in 2005 and his strong
ties to pseudo-religion Scientology. Although it received positive reviews from
critics, the third film, “Mission Impossible III,” failed to ignite the
domestic box office with a lukewarm $134 million and it appeared the series was
finished. Not anymore as Cruise is back as IMF agent Ethan Hunt in “Mission
Impossible Ghost Protocol,” which has surprisingly received overwhelmingly
positive reviews with 93% on Rotten
Tomatoes, a franchise best. “Ghost Protocol” does not break any new ground with
its largely episodic and pedestrian plot but the film more than makes up for it
with several thrilling action set-pieces and suspenseful moments, representing
a rare trend where each successive follow-up improves upon the previous film.
During
a prologue set in Budapest, IMF agent Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway) is darting
across a rooftop while dodging two enemy gunmen. He manages to elude them but
is suddenly shot dead in an alleyway by a beautiful blond woman, who takes the
satchel that Hanaway was carrying before shooting him a few more times. Former
IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is currently imprisoned in Moscow when he is
freed thanks to the efforts of Hanaway’s team leader Jane Carter (Paula Patton)
and newly-promoted field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Before making his
escape, Hunt also frees fellow prisoner Bogdan (Miraj Grbic), who served as his
informant. Jane reveals that she rescued Hunt because she needs him to help
recover a package containing nuclear launch codes that Hanaway was carrying
before he was killed by an assassin named Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux), who
plans to sell them to the highest bidder. Hunt accepts the mission and learns
that someone codenamed ‘Cobalt’ is attempting to acquire a nuclear launch code
device at the Kremlin. Under the disguise of a Russian general, Hunt
infiltrates the Kremlin with Dunn to look for information on Cobalt but is
forced to abort when someone hacks into their frequency and leaks their
location. Hunt and his team barely escape but a large explosion suddenly
engulfs and destroys the Kremlin. The attack is blamed on him and his team and
as a result, the entire IMF agency has been shut down with its existence
disavowed. The IMF Secretary (Tom Wilkinson), accompanied with his chief
analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), reveal that it was Cobalt that hacked
their frequency and that his true identity is Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist),
a Russian-born Swedish nuclear physicist who is looking to instigate a global
nuclear war to restore what he calls ‘ecological balance’ to the Earth by
culling the weak. The Secretary informs Hunt that he and his team must stop him
at any cost but due to ‘Ghost Protocol’ being initiated, he will receive no
backup or support and that if he is captured, he and his team will be branded
as terrorists.
“Mission Impossible,” based upon the popular 1966 television
series created by Bruce Geller, is a strangely inconsistent franchise as other
than the character of Ethan Hunt each installment has little to do with each
other as they contain stand-alone stories featuring a different supporting cast
each time. “Ghost Protocol” marks the first time where the main character acknowledges
previous events and disproves the long-standing theory that each film takes
place in its own separate universe or alternate reality. As with the three
films before, the MacGuffin-based plot is relatively straightforward despite
its attempt at appearing more complex than it really is with its twists and
turns. It feels as if all the locations and action scenes were planned out
beforehand with the story thrown together at the last minute, making for its
episodic nature as expositional dialogue are delivered in-between set-pieces.
J.J. Abrams (who serves as producer this time) tried to develop the character
of Ethan Hunt in the third film in order to make him more well-rounded and
sympathetic but this approach has been largely jettisoned as “Ghost Protocol”
is essentially a 2 hour race-against-the-clock chase around the world. What
makes this fourth installment so enjoyable and dare I say, memorable, is Brad
Bird’s (making his live-action debut) confident direction in filming the
larger-than-life action set-pieces, immersing the
audience by playing up the fact that anything could go wrong and keeping them
from noticing its by-the-numbers story. Michael Giacchino also helps with a
much more heart-pounding score compared to the previous film. In fact, there is
so much action and fisticuffs being thrown that the plot comes dangerously
close to becoming insignificant and forgotten.
One of the main issues with the
second and third films is that it lacked any iconic/standout action scenes
compared to the original where Hunt had to retrieve a computer disk by
rappelling down a nigh-impenetrable room that would sound the alarm if he so
much as sweats or makes physical contact with the walls and floor. Bird tops
that by having Hunt crawl along the reflective windows of the Burj Khalifa, the
tallest man-made structure in the world, in Dubai like Spider-Man all in the
simple hope of hacking into the building’s server room. He then makes it back
to the room his team is residing in by running down the building with a
fire-hose tied around him and making a huge
leap of faith. Not content with resting on his laurels, Bird follows this up
with a visceral car chase through a blinding sandstorm. Describing it as
thrilling and suspenseful does not even do it justice and it has to be seen to
be believed. I anxiously wait to re-watch these scenes in glorious high
definition on Blu-Ray. In a clever nod to the first film, Brandt leaps down a
large cooling tunnel with no rope, the only thing keeping him from falling into
a deadly turbine and making a bloody mess is a remote controlled vehicle with
an oversized magnet and his magnetized chain mail suit underneath his clothes. The
large amount of tech on display would certainly make James Bond green with
envy, straddling the line between fiction and reality. From screens that
project holographic images based on the viewer’s angle of perception to contact
lenses that can take photographs and identify hostiles, the toys used add to
the fun factor of the film. Let’s not also forget the brutal fight scenes with such
highlights including the one between Patton’s Agent Carter and Seydoux’s Sabine
and the climactic battle with Hunt and Nyqvist’s Hendricks at an automotive
factory.
The acting is adequate for a film of this type but no one will mistake
it as a masterpiece with the dialogue used to keep audiences involved rather
than develop the characters beyond their functions. He may be pushing fifty but
Tom Cruise remains a credible action star and has always turned in a good
performance, even in his less well-reviewed films. Cruise has a certain unexplainable
appeal and continues to remain as one of my favorite actors. Honestly, all that
attention his off-kilter public behavior received is unfair as people should
judge him by his work, not his love life. Although Jeremy Renner’s character
was initially believed to be replacing Ethan Hunt, this is not the case but if
it does comes to pass, I cannot think
of a better actor to succeed Cruise. Renner has the physicality and enough
acting chops to be an action star but the final word will arrive once his
spin-off “The Bourne Legacy” is released into theaters in August 2012. Paula
Patton and Léa Seydoux look incredibly sexy and badass as they go at each other
with nothing but their fists. There’s some drama involving Patton’s character
but the film spends too little time on it for us to care. Simon Pegg is of the
few cast members to return and he provides a nice dose of comic relief that
keeps the film from being overly serious. They may not amount to much
individually but the cast works well together and have a surprisingly natural
rapport. As for the villain, Michael Nyqvist (Mikael Blomkvist from Sweden’s
“Millennium” Trilogy) is not as memorable compared to Philip Seymour Hoffman
but it’s due to the fact that he has relatively little screen-time compared to
other cast members.
“Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol” had a limited IMAX
release on December 16, 2011 before going wide five days later on December 21.
Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes as
critics hailed it as ‘stylish, fast-paced, and loaded with gripping set pieces,
the [film] is big-budget popcorn entertainment that really works.’ Those who
saw the film in IMAX will have been treated to approximately thirty minutes of
footage shot with IMAX cameras and also a six-minute preview from Christopher
Nolan’s highly anticipated finale to the Batman saga, “The Dark Knight Rises.” I
did not see the film in IMAX mainly for cost-saving reasons but if you are
able, it is the preferred format to experience all that action in its full
glory. Shot on a production budget of $145 million, the film has earned $390
million worldwide and counting. It has already surpassed the domestic gross of
the previous film and will most likely overtake the original soon. When it
comes to plot, “Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol” does not re-invent the wheel
but it surely benefits from Brad Bird’s presence with his direction of some of
the best action scenes I’ve ever seen. If only every action film was this fun
and enjoyable.
Final
Rating: 4 out of 5
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