Film Review: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

 
starring Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg

Watch the trailer #2 for M:I - Ghost Protocol

(source: trailers)

[Warning! ... for those who haven't seen this movie and don't want to be spoiled...]

Brief Synopsis
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

Just saw Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and I love, love, loved it a lot! It far surpassed my expectations as I loved and enjoyed watching all 3 previous M:I films with Tom Cruise especially the first one and the third one, but this one is my new favorite and the best in the M:I series, thus far. I was and had been waiting and anticipating for this much anticipated sequel to be made and released as soon as possible. When they announced that they were making one and casting some new actors for new characters to team up with TC's Ethan Hunt, I got excited and especially glad that Paula Patton was chosen to join the cast as I loved and enjoyed her in Precious (see my review here: Precious: Based on a novel Push by Sapphire) film as well as her other two films, Mirrors with Keifer Sutherland and Dejavu with Denzel Washington). More on Miss Patton in a bit.

I must say this 4th film was absolutely AMAZING, a lot more fun and entertaining to watch than the previous 3! It was fast paced, had plenty of action, suspense, witty dialogue, pretty cool gadgets, intense fight scenes, extreme and dangerous stunts in Dubai (particularly when he was climbing in that tallest building!) that the awesome (and still super handsome) Tom Cruise successfully pulled of, and the wonderful chemistry between him and his co-stars. This film really blow away my expectations, it delivered and didn't disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and enjoyed every moment of it. I loved this film from start to finished. Definitely one of the few best action/adventure films of 2011 I've seen.

Tom Cruise is still awesome as IMF agent Ethan Hunt. He was amazing in this film. I was amazed, very impressed, and scared all at the same time for him, with all the dangerous and extreme stunts he did on this one especially when he climbed up to the Burj Khalifa tower, the tallest building in the world. Gotta give props and kudos to him for doing such a fantastic job on this film. Hope he'll return if there's another M:I movie made after this as it won't be the same without him and won't be as awesome as this 4 M:I films had been with him in the lead. I just love him in this films.

His new co-stars and new IMF team mates in this film except for Simon Pegg as Benji (the computer expert in the team, he was in the previous film) such as Jeremy Renner as Brandt (the former field agent turned analyst turned agent again) and the lovely Paula Patton as agent Carter (a field IMF agent) were great in this film as well. They all worked very well with TC's Ethan Hunt and had a great chemistry as a team. Simon Pegg's Benji was hilarious and a comic relief in this film. Jeremy Renner's Brandt was somewhat mysterious, but interesting addition to the team. And Paula Patton's agent Jane Carter was a welcome addition to the team (and Miss Patton as the only female lead in the team was great). She was a kick ass in this film and did a great job! Love her scenes in Mumbai, India when she kept turning on Anil Kapoor's character after she pretended (well, she's undercover) to be so interested with him, but yet kept slapping and hitting him, lol.

There were so many awesome and memorable scenes in this fun, entertaining, and adventurous spy film. Here are some random, humorous scenes and memorable lines from this movie...

• When Ethan's about to climb out of the window: Benji tried to give him a friendly, supportive little good luck punch in the arm but Ethan walks away. lol 
• "That was hard work!" when Benji returns from changing the hotel numbers. lol 
• Brandt saying "Next time I'll seduce the rich guy"
• When Benji's face interferes with the hallway hologram scene in the Kremlin...the whole scene was hilarious!
• When the sticky glove went red and died on Ethan and he had to throw it off, only for it to get stuck on the window again and dying again. lol!
• When Benji told Ethan that "Blue is glue and red is dead" about the sticky gloves Ethan had to use when he was climbing that huge building in Dubai... lol.
• Benji telling the security guard at the Kremlin (Egorov) he'll regret "this", lol.
• Sidorov telling Ethan it wouldn't be a good idea to jump into the dumpster outside the hospital. 
• when Ving Rhames acted as if he were going to pay for the beer, and gave Ethan the finger instead.

And many more! Plus more amazing and unexpected return of a couple familiar faces and characters from previous M:I movies made a surprising appearance in an interesting twist towards the end...and they just made this film even more awesome and complete with its brilliant and clever continuity of including a cameo appearances of Ving Rhames (as Luther who had previously appeared in all 3 previous M:I films, so nice to see him as I was looking for him in this film, lol) and Michelle Monaghan (as Julia, Ethan Hunt's wife, who's a doctor or was she a nursed...can't remember exactly... and was prominently seen in the previous film, M:I 3). So great to see them back especially Michelle Monaghan. Love her! I really enjoyed watching her with TC in the 3rd film and I was and have kept wondering if she'll ever return for this film. I've even heard from one of her interviews that if she was ever asked to return that she'll be happy to do so whenever they want her. Unfortunately, she was never mentioned at all as returning (with Paula Patton and the other actress Léa Seydoux, who played the female baddie in this film...as the only 2 female characters prominent in this film), it proved to be unlikely, other than the mention of her character's relation to the main character Ethan Hunt and when they kept saying about her demise...and she was never shown (such as top secret too) and it made me sad...but the interesting twist towards the end surprised and made me smile and glad to see her...as it made up for her absence for most of this film and to see her apppear unexpectedly and surprisingly (they really did an amazing job keeping this a secret...I so did not see that coming! That was pretty clever!)...I was almost disappointed that she wasn't in this film and her cameo appearance in the end more than made up for it and was a great tie in and continuity from the previous film. Even though she only appeared briefly, her character's appearance was pivotal to the story of this film and it added a satisfying conclusion along with Ving Rhames character. Although the ending was left wide open for a possible 5th sequel...I at least hope that Tom Cruise would return along with the new additions to the cast (Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg) and Michelle Monaghan would still be a part of it as well, be it small or another cameo apearance as I love continuity and the same actors that played them in this film (more so than the previous M:I films).

Overall, M:I 4 - Ghost Protocol (such a long title to type here...) was incredible, enjoyable, entertaining, fun, and adventurous spy film. It had great set pieces, action sequences, genuinely intriguing story line, well constructed characters and great chemistry between the actors/cast, great cinematography, great pacing, plenty of action, tons of extreme and dangerous stunts, witty dialogue, great direction, and a very nice twist, references, and continuity from previous films (especially the previous film) even the original 1966 television series. I highly recommend you see this film, if you haven't already. You won't be disappointed. It's an AWESOME film and worth watching (as well as worth the money you spent to see it) be it IMAX or just regular screens! It's a MUST SEE! Go see it!

My Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol film rating:  ! (10/10; A+)