Review: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol Begins A New Decade In The Best Way Possible
- Jul 25, 2018
- 2 min read
Five years had passed since Ethan Hunt’s last impossible mission graced the big screen. For all intents and purposes the franchise was dead. In an attempt to revitalize the series, a new film, with a new director, was released. And so we begin again.
Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), a terrorist with a plan to save the world by way of nuclear fire, has gotten access to the Russian missile launch system. While attempting to stop him, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton) are implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. The result is simple, the entirety of IMF is disavowed, leaving Hunt and his team, along with CIA straight man Brandt (Jeremy Renner) to save the world alone.
As a film, Ghost Protocol not only revitalized the Mission Impossible franchise but also cemented a new identity. More focused on showing off incredible stunts and fun gadgets than the espionage thriller plots prior films focused on, Ghost Protocol, is all about the fun. When Cruise isn’t fighting his way through Russian prisons he’s climbing the Burj Khalifa or chasing terrorists through sandstorms. It’s also a far more self aware film, to the point that it seems almost mocking. Gadgets consistently fail, the iconic masks are used only against the IMF, and the line, “mission accomplished”, is said with utmost entersty. It’s brilliant.
It also features some of the franchises best scenes, gadgets be damned. A double crossing double meeting (it’s difficult to explain), the previously mentioned scaling of the Burj Khalifa or a particularly exciting extended fight/chase through an automated car park. Things almost always go as wrong as possibly can without ending the film early, and the result is a film that’s always engaging. Hunt and his team succeed just enough that it always feels like they have a chance, but fail equally as often, leaving the entire film balanced on a knife edge, all the way to the end.
Ghost Protocol was the movie that Mission Impossible needed. It’s action packed, exciting, and a whole lot of fun. Director Brad Bird breathed life back into the series, restarting it in the best way possible. The future looks very bright indeed.
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