Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
This could’ve easily been my favourite…
Pros – This is a fast moving film. Within the time Mission Impossible conducted a mission in Prague, Ghost Protocol begins in Budapest, breaks Ethan Hunt out of a Moscow Prison, fleshes out the first mission in Budapest and then destroys half of the Kremlin. The ‘Agent Hanway’ opening alone is enormous fun and – as the first film – plays as an exquisitely executed operation that goes wrong. There is no seriousness this time – no Gladiator music or crushing confessions of IMF deception here. Brad Bird plays with gadgets, as we would, with the humour of Simon Pegg returning to add a much lighter tone. Hunt is played as an older man, who’s considered a bit of a legend in IMF. The joy of Mission Impossible is how each film plays after another and the story continues as it seems Ethan’s honeymoon was spoiled by six Serbian killers – paving the way for a solitary life for Hunt and the introduction of Will Brandt (Jeremy Renner). Note, it is Brandt who does ‘the drop’ in Ghost Protocol, not Hunt. The baton is being passed, slowly…
Cons – Luther Stickel is a cameo. This guy was in Langley and Sydney. That deserves a medal – and a key role in every film – unto itself. The villain ‘Cobalt’ (Michael Nykvist) is irredeemably dull. Considering how great Philip Seymour Hoffman was in M:I-3, you’d think they’d have created an equally sinister role. To top it off, the final fight that seems to be set in an enormous car vending-machine. Not only does the fight seem to be too difficult for Ethan Hunt (He’s hardly against an IMF agent here – he’s a slightly over-weight mad man) but the finale manoeuvre, as Hunt drops the car vertically, and barely surviving is nothing compared to the Dubai set-piece. In fact, Hunt doesn’t even kill the villain – Cobalt, inexplicably, kills himself. It peaks in Dubai and never manages to come close to how slick, tense and fun that sequence is for the final hour.
Haaseline says
Agreed, but you could have mentioned Brian DePalma as #1 Director
Chris Hbk says
Everyone has their own opinion…
I agree that the final hour of MI4 is poor, but I would go further and say that I can rarely get through it after the Dubai scene. Renner’s acting is atrocious; “She was not, the mission, Jane!”
I also hated how they gave half the plot away with the opening credits and theme music in MI4… surely that’s a bigger crime than what you mentioned about the start of MI3?
For me;
5 – MI2; awful action filled with no substance.
4 – MI4; overrated, poor acting, too much comedy and not enough venom after the great job done by PSH in the previous instalment.
3 – MI5; only seen it once but I actually feel it could rank higher after repeat viewings… Had a good balance to it.
2 – MI; Great film, agree with all your pros and cons.
1 – MI3; I appreciate I’m in the minority with placing this at the top, but it’s so much darker and grittier. Better acting than all the others bar the first instalment, a variety of scenes, conflicts and revolations.
cjohnston says
again (as a post below articulates); opinions will and do – vary.
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.I dug what Brad Bird brought to the table with GProtocol until about twenty minutes left in the film when the wheels inexplicably fell off.
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For me, Rogue Nation is easily the BEST one out of the franchise..