Review

Review Date: 26-December-11
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

The fourth installment in the surprisingly durable Mission: Impossible franchise boasts just the right amount of humor and personal drama to augment its relentless action. Tom Cruise returns as undercover agent Ethan Hunt, who is first seen languishing in a Hungarian prison having lost the wife he saved in the last movie. He breaks out with the help of old pal Benji (Simon Pegg), a gadgetry geek on his first field assignment, and a seasoned operative who is also grieving the loss of a partner. As played by Paula Patton, this operative is a welcome addition to the series, as strong as she is gorgeous with the uncommon (for Hollywood) sense to take off her heels before running. During a disastrous trip to Moscow Ethan loses his government sanction, becomes an outlaw, and picks up another agent with a gnawing secret (Jeremy Renner). Forged into a team with nothing left to lose (except, apparently, the wherewithal to acquire cars, planes, and Benji's gadgets), he and his fellows devote themselves to preventing a mad Russian (Michael Nyqvist) from launching nuclear armageddon.

From the heavily advertised scene in which Cruise scales the world's tallest building to a dizzying showdown inside an ultramodern car showroom, Ghost Protocol exhibits a joy in visual derring-do which must be partially creditable to the director. Brad Bird made the animated hits Ratatouille and The Incredibles and seems to have brought the verve of the latter to his live-action work. You can almost hear him chortling "Whip up a sandstorm!" as he prepares to shoot a car chase, reveling in the license of the blockbuster and the challenge of keeping it fresh. His energy forms a nice counterpoint to the (mostly) no-nonsense professionalism of the characters. Each Mission: Impossible movie has featured a different director thus far, but if Bird is willing, he might be the man to make the show go on.

Copyright © 2011 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.