Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

Five years ago Mission: Impossible III accomplished the improbable: a film that defied the law of diminishing returns, and eclipsed its two predecessors in nearly every respect. It was faster, smarter, and more daring. And while Ghost Protocol doesn't quite reach the lofty, exhilarating heights of J.J. Abram's movie, it's a fine addition to the series, and one of the best-crafted action movies of the year.

The film opens with Tom Cruise's secret agent Ethan Hunt languishing in prison after carrying out an unauthorised hit. His trusted team of crack IMF operatives soon bust him out, though, and he's thrown back into the field. But when his first mission back goes horribly wrong, the IMF is implicated in a terrorist attack on the Kremlin. And if that wasn't bad enough, a politician hell-bent of nuclear war has got his maniacal mitts on a nuclear warhead and a set of Russian launch codes.

In response the IMF initiates Ghost Protocol, and Hunt, along with three other agents, goes rogue in order to clear the organisation's name and stop all-out nuclear war.

While some of the raw elements might seem a tad generic, the underlying premise – an elite team on the run with limited supplies – is full of potential. But the range of possibilities are sadly left unexplored. While it's true the team is without the agency assistance – they can't requisition a satellite to track a mark, for instance – it never really impacts the mission. They aren't forced to survive solely on their wits, intuition or bare knuckles, since they always have bags and briefcases stuffed full of wonderful toys.

But these ludicrous gadgets create some of the movie's most memorable moments. Without a doubt, the standout sequence is the much-talked about Burj Khalifa scene, in which Ethan must scale twenty floors of the world's tallest building with nothing but a prototype pair of adhesive gloves. In a year when CGI has saturated the summer's best spectacle, it's refreshing to gawp and giggle at such audacious stunt work. This winter: you'll believe a diminutive man can run down the side of a building.

Perhaps you could level the criticism that the action scenes are too perfectly constructed. And while it's likely many of the film's best sequences predate the plot into which they were inserted fully-formed, in the final analysis who really cares?

Arguably the biggest innovation made by Ghost Protocol is its unorthodox choice of director: Brad Bird. Best known for directing some of the best animated movies of recent times – Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles – he's an interesting pick for the director's chair. He infuses scenes with a frantic energy, yet unlike so many recent action movies, the audience is always fully informed as to what exactly is going on, so tightly orchestrated and precise is the action.


The film's major problem, however, is the conspicuous absence of a strong, menacing villain to taunt and threaten Ethan Hunt. Perhaps this is all the more pronounced since M:I3 undoubtedly had the best villain of the series in the formidable guise of Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian, who stonily stared down Ethan Hunt, vowing to track down his beloved and make her bleed until she called out his name. In comparison, you'd be hard pressed to remember a single line uttered by Michael Nyqvist's banal terrorist Hendricks. The film spends no time with him, developing his character, or examining his motivations. It doesn't derail the movie, but it does imbalance what is otherwise a poised script.

The focus this time round is very much on the team, bonding through adversity with an eye presumably on future sequels. And it could be a profitable investment. The chemistry between the four agents is easy and compelling, with Simon Pegg's recently-promoted Benji providing genuine comic-relief that offsets the suspense rather than irritating one-liners that fall flat.

Although this is the fourth Mission Impossible movie, it remains difficult to feel emotionally attached to series mainstay Ethan Hunt. He's never really been developed as a character. And though part three did its best to rectify this, giving Hunt a wife and a vested interest in what was happening, Ghost Protocol sees Hunt back to doing what he does best - barking orders and executing directives. It's what he does best, but after the groundwork was laid down by Abrams it seems a shame that it wasn't capitalised upon.


This is partly due to the introduction of Jeremy Renner's Brandt, an office-bound analyst with an intriguing past. Although underused in this movie, he's a welcome addition to the franchise. Vulnerable and imperfect, he's the opposite of the unflappable Ethan Hunt. Even in the limited screen time given to this new character, he already feels like a more three-dimensional character. And if the hearsay proves true, and Brandt is being introduced for the time when Cruise decides to leave the franchise, it has a bright future, with a more relatable protagonist waiting in the wings.

Each of the Mission: Impossible films has carried the stamp of its impressive array of directors. De Palma created a taught thriller fueled by deception and betrayal; Woo took the series to its absurd stylistic limit, with some truly ridiculous action sequences; and Abrams took the IMF to a much darker, more brutal place, with scenes of prolonged torture and bombs inserted directly into brains. Bird lightens proceedings, and focuses his efforts on a series of brilliantly-executed, overlapping set of missions. It's commendable that a series 16-years-old can still surprise and exhilarate in the way part four does.

Although Ghost Protocol is not without it's shortcomings – it lacks a potent antagonist and doesn't build upon the character work laid down by part three – in a year of lukewarm and gaudy blockbusters, it's nice to have an action film that knows how to orchestrate the incredible and capture the impossible.

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