Tom Cruise returns in the fourth entry to the Mission: Impossible franchise, shot across Dubai, Prague, Moscow, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Vancouver.
After wrongly accusing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) for the terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, the President initiates 'Ghost Protocol' causing the immediate termination of the entire IMF agency. Forced to go rogue, Ethan teams up with a bunch of fellow IMF fugitives in order to clear his name and prevent another attack.
Newbies to the series include Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) and director Brad Bird, the animated movie giant (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles) making his live-action feature debut.
The fourth impossible mission, a stand-alone entry with minimal ties to previous instalments, is a lean, effective action flick. Far more entertaining than the latest Bond, the focus here emphasises the team aspect of the original television series.
Not that Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (real name, no kidding) is a minor player. This is very much his show (especially during the lose-your-stomach IMAX sequences scaling the world’s tallest building, in which he apparently did his own stunts). Surrounding him in the field, however, is a solid ensemble of espionage: the amusing Simon Pegg, the sexy Paula Patton and the mysterious Jeremy Renner.
Director Brad Bird, making his live-action debut after the fantastic Pixar hits The Incredibles and Ratatouille, stages simple yet effective chase scenes, fist-fights, break outs and break ins. An Incredibles-eque score from Michael Giacchino keeps the mood buoyant, while a tight edit keeps proceedings tense and engaging.
Sure, the villain is a bit weak and there isn’t much re-watch value, but I found Ghost Protocol to be a fun night at the cinema. It gets the basics right, isn’t over-ambitious and the plot (albeit thin) keeps ticking forward with setbacks for the team around every corner. I wouldn’t be averse to seeing another outing with the same team in a few years’ time.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
Great article! I watched Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol when it came out and it’s one of the best movies I’ve saw in a long time. I thought the action scenes and stunts were some of the best. I’m glad my coworker from Dish mentioned using the Blockbuster@Home service, to offer me a sweet selection of new movies and all the TV shows I can handle. An extensive library containing, thousands of movies, games and TV shows makes movie night rock. We get DVDs to my door, or I can stream right to my iPad or TV while I wait for my next delivery. This has allowed the family to enjoy movies anytime they like.
Would recommend to anyone. Saw this in IMAX, the scenes with him on the skyscraper were tough to watch!
Having seen the other 3 MI films, this one was seriously pretty average, lacking the novelty value of the first while not being quite as much of a train-wreck as the third. So I was completely gobsmacked to see this received 97% on RottenTomatoes... Sure, this was high budget, plenty of 'exotic' locations, and there were brief moments of levity from Simon Pegg. But the plot was so paint-by-numbers a five year old could have followed it. Perhaps the grittiness of the Bourne trilogy and the Daniel Craig Bond films have set too high a standard for spy films, but this just felt so... bland and contrived. Not recommended!
Fantastic big screen action entertainment - take note Mr Bay! Brad Bird leaps effortlessly from animation (IRON GIANT and INCREDIBLES) to live action and it really works. MI3 was the best so far in the series - JJ Abrams did a great job and the villain was sheer class (Philip Seymour Hoffmann). MI4 lacks a great villain - but delivers by the B52 payload in terms of action set pieces and sheer bang for buck. Great big screen popcorn munching action cinema. Now, can someone PLEASE sit Michael Bay down and explain how it's done!
This would have to be the best Mission impossable so far.There are plenty of twists in the story to make it interesting. It has a good cast,all with their own different personalities,which does make it fun at times.There are still plenty of high-tech gadgets,some which always seem to work in the nick of time. A little on the long side but still ok.
One of the big-studio highlights of the year—it's smart, snappy and stylish fun just in time for the holiday.
Wall-to-wall action in a spectacular, if repetitive, fourth series entry.
This is a good value, bang for your buck, old-fashioned blockbuster that makes up in action what it lacks in soul.
The film is delivered with a lot of style and panache.
A few damp squibs aside, Bird’s sensibilities make for the most animated Mission to date. Don’t see in IMAX if you’re a vertigo sufferer, though…
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 15th Dec 2011.
Release date: December 15th 2011.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
