'Ghost Protocol' makes for an impossibly good time

Release: December 21^st, 2011

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton

Director: Brad Bird

Run Time: 2 Hr. 13 Min.        Rated: Pg-13

The world of espionage is a dangerous one for the spy. Threats from rival spies, being caught by the enemy the spy is infiltrating are two of the biggest threats for the spy.

And then there’s Ghost Protocol.

Ghost protocol is the spy’s own government disavowing him, and providing him no means of backup, and this is where we find Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

Hunt and his team are in pursuit of a terrorist and nearly corner him in the Kremlin, but instead they are implicated in a terrorist act that gives the US president no choice but to declare Ghost Protocol, disavowing the IMF and Hunt’s team.

Hunt and his team now have no backup, and are now considered terrorists making the mission to capture the real terrorist a truly impossible one.

With this being the fourth installment in the Mission Impossible series, many might write this film off as low quality attempt to get as much money as possible. For those thinking that need to see this film because nothing could be further from the truth.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol directed by first time live-action director Brad Bird is possibly the best installment in the series, doing more right than wrong.

I've always liked Cruise as Ethan Hunt, he giving the character a charm and electricity that works with the action packed nature of the Mission Impossible series. Cruise is the anchor of Ghost Protocol, and one might think that this consistency might feel old, but the film feels fresh and new.

Jeremy Renner is the biggest new addition to the film, and really works well off of Cruise. Renner's character Brandt is a mystery, but after a short while it's not hard to like him as a new addition to the team.

Brandt is a new addition to the team , but is he what he says he is, or is he working for the enemy, and really who can you trust? The great thing about Ghost Protocol is that it always keeps you guessing, and guessing until the end, and the it never becomes overbearing.

Ghost Protocol doesn't beat you down with questions, keeping it suspenseful and fun all at the same time. There has always been a nice sense of humor that runs through the Mission Impossible films, and in this installment the humor is far more present keeping this a little lose.

One thing that isn't very present in the film is the main villain.  That villain is Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), and he lacks both charisma and screen time. I tend to like a villain with swagger and this guy doesn't have it, he's just nutter butters and that's all that's necessary I guess.

What this film does have in great quantity is a cleverness in the areas of technology and action sequences, areas of a Mission Impossible film that really count.

The gadgets in Ghost Protocol are all interesting, but the most inventive one is a projector that replicates the image of a long hallway to fool a security guard in the Kremlin. The scene with the projector built a good sense of tension that really is a lot of fun.

The most fun in the film comes from a fight sequence in a mechanized vertical car park between Hunt and Hendricks. It's quick, full of action packed intensity, with just a slight touch of humor that makes for one of the more memorable sequences in the entire film.

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol on the whole is one of the more memorable missions in the series, and proves that making a quality fourth installment is not as impossible as one might think.   

Grade: A-