MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL

Reviewed by Patrick Gibbs

Grade: A -

Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, 
Michael Nyqvist and Anil Kappor

Screenplay by Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec

Based on “Mission: Impossible” created by Bruce Geller

Directed by Brad Bird

First off, I need to make it clear that I am a big fan of this franchise, and as uncool as it is to say these days, I like Tom Cruise as an actor and producer, and frankly, as an action star, nobody does it better. He brings a level of intensity and believability to his roles and both physically and mentally commits 100 percent, and regardless of what you may think of him as a person, he commands the screen in a way few stars can match. There, I said it. Disagree if you like, but you are wrong.

That being said, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE has always been an imperfect franchise. The first film, which was released in 1996 and introduced us to super spy Ethan Hunt, was tightly plotted and entertaining, but alienated fans of the series by making the main character, Jim Phelps, a traitor and murderer. Honestly, I was never terribly bothered by this, as I felt that Mission: Impossible was always a concept based series rather than a character driven one, and Peter Graves' Phelps was not exactly the most charismatic of heroes. There were also many who criticized the plot, based around the the theft of the CIA's “N.O.C List,” which matched the code names of the agency's “Non-Official Cover” agents with their true names, as being too hard to follow. I never found it hard to follow, though it does bother me to this day that the possibility of foreign governments or terrorists to match the code names to their true names is treated as such a potential danger, and yet throughout the film we see the agents referring to each other as “Jim” and “Ethan” in all communications (indeed, in the space of four films, I have yet to see an IMF agent actually use a code name.). The “too confusing” complaint lead to the more streamlined, accessible Mission: Impossible II in 2000. While they did succeed very well with creating a “MacGuffin” that was clear and easy to understand, yet compelling, in the form of the Chimera virus and it's cure, Belarafon, the film as a whole was odd mixture of dumbed down soap opera situations and ridiculous action. It was as if Hitchcok's NOTORIOUS and TO CATCH A THEIF, a Looney Toons “Roadrunner” cartoon and a daytime soap had all collided tragically at a four way intersection, and despite being the most financially successful installment of the series, M:I-2 is genuinely referred to with rolled eyes and perplexed shaking off heads (though I confess, I still really love that motorcycle chase, in all it's ridiculous glory. I kept waiting to see Ethan get pulled over by the police. “Freeze! You're under arrest for multiple violations of the laws of physics.”) The third film, released in 2006, returned to the formula of the original, almost too much so (if you look at it, the plot is exactly the same: Ethan gets framed, the IMF's resident B.I.C. (Bastard In Charge) appears to be the villain, but in reality, it's actually the one man Ethan thought he could trust.). It also has quite possibly the lamest MacGuffin since the mysterious suitcase in Pulp Fiction (for the uninitiated, MacGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock, referring to a device used to motivate the characters and plot in a film. For example, the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail.). In this case, the MacGuffin is a device called “The Rabbit's Foot,” which is never explained apart from a rambling monologue from Simon Pegg essentially stating “it may or may not be some sort of really bad thingy” (okay, that may not actually be a direct quote.) However, it also had great performances, with director J.J. Abrams exploring the human side of Ethan Hunt, and bringing in some genuinely compelling character based drama, as well as a charming IMF team, terrific action sequences, and some truly witty dialogue. It's a flawed but extremely entertaining film, and Abrams and Cruise made a very strong team.

Both Cruise and Abrams are back for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, though Abrams serves only as executive producer this time around, and hands over directing duties to Brad Bird, who is making his first live action feature, but is far from a novice. His previous credits as an animation director include The Incredibles, The Iron Giant and Ratatouille.

Ghost Protocol begins in Budapest, where agent Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway) is meant to intercept a courier working for a person of interest code-named "Cobalt," (only the villains use code names in these movies, but the good guys would never steal those lists, or they wouldn't be good guys). Hannaway's mission is cut short when he is shot dead by a freelance assassin, Sabine Moreau (Lea Seydoux), and his team leader, Jane Carter, (Paula Patton) must bring in a new agent: Ethan Hunt, who is languishing Jack Bauer style in a Moscow prison. Carter goes to Moscow to retrieve Ethan, and recruits him to lead her and newly instated field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg, reprising his role from the third film) on a special mission: to infiltrate the secret archives of the Kremlin and locate files identifying Cobalt before Cobalt can erase them and all records of his existence. Things go awry, however, when an unknown person broadcasting on the IMF frequency alerts the Russians to the presence of Hunt's team. Although Hunt, Dunn and Carter escape, a bomb destroys the Kremlin. Hunt manages to escape, and meets up with the IMF Secretary (Oscar Winner Tom Wilkinson) and an analyst named William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), who explain that the bombing of the Kremlin has been pinned on IMF, and that the President has initiated “Ghost Protocol” - disavowing the entire Impossible Missions Force and placing Ethan and his team under arrest. Ethan must team up with Carter and Brandt, with Benji in tow, to not only clear themselves and all of IMF, but to stop the threat of a nuclear war.

Despite once again having Ethan on the run, framed for a crime he didn't commit, Ghost Protocol manages to break free of the most tired conventions of the franchise (for one thing, there are no masks, thank heaven) and develop a story of it's own. Perhaps the strongest aspect of the film is the choice to finally commit to making it a true ensemble piece, focusing on a team rather than a James Bond style one man show, and in fact, the character arcs given to Brant and Carter are far stronger than the one given to Ethan himself, as the once young agent finally settles into the Jim Phelps role (the team leader Jim Phelps, not the traitorous Jim Phelps.). Cruise allows Renner and Patton to share a lot more of his limelight than he has given to previous team members, and while serious film fans should know after his Oscar nominations for The Hurt Locker and The Town that Renner is an actor with incredible presence, what they will not expecting is the comedic chops he displays here (Bird places a much greater emphasis on humor than we are used to in the series, and while Simon Pegg is obviously trusted with a lot of the comedy, Renner actually provides many of the films biggest laughs.). And Patton is almost a co-lead, the first fully realized female agent character in the series, more than capable of leading the team on her own if needed. If there is one thing I'm really sick of in Hollywood it is the backhandedly sexist attempt at fighting sexism by trying to pass off “look – she can kick the crap out of people and kill the bad guys and look hot while doing” as feminism. There is more to a strong female protagonist than the ability to hold her own in a fight, just as there is more than that to a strong male one. While Patton is given the best fight in the movie, she is also Ethan's match intellectually, and is not there to be his love interest. Instead, the two share a different emotional bond based on dealing with personal loss due to their choice of profession, and it is one of the more emotionally satisfying elements of the story. Patton provides far more than just eye candy (although after all of that high minded feminist talk, I have to say that I'd like to thank Bird and company for the early Christmas present of showcasing her in that dress in full IMAX, and before a female reader complains about that comment, please, take a moment to shut up and remember that, if you didn't pay to see the insipid Reel Steel just to see Hugh Jackman take his shirt off in IMAX, you certainly wanted to.).

And speaking of IMAX, Ghost Protocol is meant to be seen in IMAX. This is the first full length feature to shoot multiple extended action sequences with IMAX cameras, and the result is truly spectacular, in particular a sequence where Ethan has to scale a skyscraper, Spider-Man style. Let's hope this catches on as a trend and we see a few more movies shot for IMAX and a maybe few less needlessly converted to 3D.

Ghost Protocol is certainly not perfect – the drop in the budget after disappointing box office for part three is sometimes too apparent, some of the plotting is muddled and incoherent (par for the course for this series), and Ethan's character is not as fleshed out as it was in the third movie. In addition, Bird's animation background leads to a slightly more cartoony feel at times, but the difference from those elements in this film as opposed to M:I-2 is that Bird is well aware of it and embraces the fun of it, rather than trying to pass the silliest aspects of the movie off as drama ala John Woo. 
 
On the whole, this movie is what it is: the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. It's a very good one, but still, if the franchise does not appeal to you even at it's best, this isn't likely to win you over. However, you don't have to be a die hard Cruise fan to like this one, and if you do enjoy the series, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is rated PG-13 for violence, suspense and some fairly mild profanity.