REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

 There are no spoilers in this review.

PLOT: The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.


THE GOOD: Brad Bird. Before Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird had not directed a live-action film before. The man who brought us The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille physically gets behind the camera this time and proves to us that he has what it take to make action movies with real actors.

Tom Cruise's religion doesn't allow him to believe in elevators, so he instead climbs the outside of buildings to get where he needs to go.

Action. There is a lot of tense and intense stuff going on in this movie that will hold your attention. Just when you think Ethan Hunt and his team finally have a grip on things, something else will suddenly come up causing them to fall another step behind.


THE BAD: Unoriginal. While I liked this movie, I didn't feel like it really brought anything new, original, or different to the Mission: Impossible franchise. After John Woo's M:I II, J.J. Abrams was able to speed up the pace a bit in the third film and bring back some sorely missed big twists. Without him, I'm certain that the franchise would have died. Abrams produced Ghost Protocol, so it's Bird who needs to come up with some fresh new concepts. Sadly, there was nothing that absolutely wowed me. Remember when Tom Cruise got slammed into that car after the explosion on the bridge in M:I III. That was freakin' awesome and never done so well before! The similar effect is attempted again in Ghost Protocol... twice. But I want something completely original. Climbing Burj Khalifa or fighting in an automated parking garage just seems like a gimmick to me. And it sort of is.

Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner have a staring contest to decide which one gets to bang the girl and which one gets stuck with Simon Pegg.

Bad guy's motive. I'm not going to reveal it here, but I found it had a lack of inspiration. You'll know what I mean if you see it.


THE END: Despite the unoriginal stuff, I found myself enjoying this film, but not as much as III. I mean, come on... how can you beat Philip Seymour Hoffman? Anyway, you couldn't do any better as far as action movies go at this time of the year. Ghost Protocol is action-packed and will leave you at the edge of you seat, and all those other quotes you hear movie announcers say. Check it out.


DISCUSS: What did you think of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol? What is your favorite Mission: Impossible movie so far? Did you enjoy the TV show?

ETHAN HUNT: "Quickly! I hope this 7-Eleven has a toilet because I am about to make a poop Slurpee in my pants."