The latest entry in the popular Mission Impossible franchise has recently arrived in theatres. Now I’ll admit that the reason I rushed out and saw the film on opening night was to see the opening for The Dark Knight Rises. The more important topic however, is whether or not the film is worth seeing based on its own merits alone.
Ghost Protocol continues the story of secret agent Ethan Hunt, who is played by Tom Cruise. Ethan works for a spy agency employed by the United States government called the IMF (Impossible Mission Force). When we first meet Ethan in this film he is being held in a Russian prison for murder. A pair of IMF agents consisting of Jane Carter (played by Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg), bust Ethan out of his prison in order to gain his help in tracking down an assassin who killed one of their team members. While infiltrating The Kremlin, which is the Russian equivalent of the White House, in order to gather information on the assassin, the guards are alerted by another party of Ethan’s team. When Ethan and the others are escaping The Kremlin it blows up and he and his new team are framed for it. Because of this incident the IMF is forced to disband and Ethan and his team, with the help of William Brant (Jeremy Renner), who gets lumped in to the mission due to a case of wrong place wrong time, must find out who is really responsible for blowing up The Kremlin without any help from the agency and stop Russia from going to war with the United States.
While it is an action movie, it makes sure to take time out to slow things down work out a solid story and get the viewer to become interested in the characters. A lot of action movies like to just throw one mindless fight after another at the viewer in an attempt to get keep them entertained but they do this at the expense of any connection to the story or characters. Like a good film it builds up to action scenes using a combination of humours and dramatic ones. Benji handles most of the comic relief in the film thanks to the fact that he is new to being a field agent and so is slightly careless at times. Jane handles the emotional side of things since she is still struggling with the loss of her partner and is trying to get revenge for his death. The best scenes in the movie however, aren’t these; the best scenes are the ones that feature the film’s incredible stunts. The scene where Ethan must climb up part of the enormous Burj Dubai and then get back down might be the most impressive stunt I’ve seen all year. Stunts like that coupled with the great action scenes involving car chases, fist fights and shoot outs makes it as exhilarating as any mindless action flick.
The performances for all the central characters are done well enough. Tom Cruise obviously gives the best performance and makes Ethan a strong, smart and engaging character. I have to say that it is really impressive that even though he is almost 50 years old you never doubt that his character can handle whatever situation is thrown at him. Paula Patton gives a good performance and creates a strong female character that is useful for more than just eye candy. Simon Pegg does a fine job as a supporting character and is quite charming in his role as the anxious newbie. Jeremy Renner, while a supporting character, did a great job and was the most memorable out of everyone with the exception of Cruise.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a fun ride with a good cast and strong set of characters. The stunts are terrific and the action is intense. If you’re looking for a great movie to go see with some family and friends to kick off the New Year this is worth checking out, even without The Dark Knight Rises opening attached.
Score: 3/5
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