Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol – The Review

When I was kid I liked watching Mission: Impossible. I have no idea who the characters are and I don’t remember much about the people in the series but I believed the hype. This was when GMA still featured foreign shows in the primetime lineup which pretty late 80’s if I remember it correctly (I think it aired every Wednesdays alongside Jake and the Fatman and 21 Jumpstreet but I could be wrong).

I am admittedly a Tom Cruise mark. I think the mark of a good actor is that he brings instant starpower whenever he’s involved. Remember his Les Grossman bit in Tropic Thunder or when he played Austin Powers in Austin Powers? I love A Few Good Men, Cocktail, Born on the Fourth of July, Jerry Maguire, Valkyrie, Rain Man, Risky Business, and the first Mission: Impossible trilogy. There are a lot of Cruise films that escape me as of this moment but I’m not here to review his filmography.

Cruise returns to the big screen as Ethan Hunt in the fourth instalment of the Mission: Impossible series. Simon Pegg, an actor I completely adore, returns as Benji Dunn. Pegg had a small part in the third instalment of the series – getting it after doing the insanely awesome Shaun of the Dead movie. Jeremy Renner, the guy who played Hawkeye in the Thor and the upcoming Avengers movie and Paula Patton – the girl who acted in Precious and in the upcoming sequel of Who Framed Roger Rabbit complete the good guys in this version.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

What I Liked:

First of all, the overall feel of the flick is old school. The opening sequence and credits paved the way for that build up. That lighting up the fuse to execute destruction sequence will be a wonderful peg for the graphic stuffs I want to make. This Mission: Impossible instalment isn’t like the second that relied on heavy rap metal music and John Woo’s action-ness or the third part where it had a lot of cheesy moments (Keri Russell fan here). The movie concentrated on the action and I liked how the action scenes weren’t all gory and was done intelligently. I liked how they combined a lot of things which made this reboot cool like the part where Renner’s character mimicked the old ceiling hanging scene.

I think Renner’s character is a prelude of bigger things to come. Cruise is set to turn 50 in 2012 and I doubt if the Ethan Hunt character will do a lot of circling and leaping in the next instalments. Yes... I believe there will be other instalments because of the end parts that I don’t have the audacity to spoil.

The action scenes do not disappoint. The scenes ranged from basic to cool but the level of intensity did not wane. Cruise brought out the thrill when he scaled that big Dubai building as well as the sandstorm battle he had with the main antagonist. Even the prison escape scene and that battle where they messed up a lot of cool cars brought the flick’s swagger to full throttle.

Tom Cruise was like a superhero in the film but it didn’t hurt the integrity of his character. It did help that William Brandt (Renner) and Jane Carter (Patton) are flawed and Benji Dunn is a complete goofball. Simon Pegg is awesome in this flick. His jokes weren’t forced and they his timing was spot on. My love for this film is affected by his presence and in some ways I’ll also give credit to that horny playboy Indian guy.

And what’s a spy film without the gadgets? The gadgets here are flawed and I really enjoyed Ethan’s struggle on the Burj Khalifa. The most awesome gadget he displayed though was the illusion projector he used during the Kremlin heist. It was funny how Cruise and Pegg exchanged their awesomeness in that scene. And yeah, I did notice the Minority Report ode Tom Cruise had at the end of the flick. It felt cheesy in some ways but hey, Cruise had a connection with it right?

Finally, the film managed to mesh the old M:I movies from the current version which brings me the notion that there will be another trilogy in the near future.

What I Hated:

I just hate one stupid American action movie cliché scriptwriters and producers make. This is not just for the M:I flicks but for action movies in general. I don’t think it’s that bad but with the popularity of the James Bond and the Bourne flicks, I think it’s cheesy to have the characters journey from country to country. It’s like I am watching the male version of Eat Pray Love. It’s like the producers just want to tour using the film production as scapegoats. I really it when terrorists jump from country to country. Can’t these bad guys just stick to two countries max?

So basically that’s my problem. It’s mindlessly feeble right?

The Verdict:

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol is a very entertaining movie. Tom Cruise brought his best in this movie and the cast also delivered.

This film is watchable in 2D, 3D, or whatever format is available for a more awesome viewing.

Game over.