MISSION IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL
US, 2011, 122 minutes, Colour.
Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Lea Seydoux, Josh Holloway.
Directed by Brad Bird.
Who would have thought that from a popular TV series, such a popular franchise for the movies would emerge and survive for fifteen years? And, depending on how fit and able the now-almost-fifty Tom Cruise can keep up his athleticism, there could easily be another Mission Impossible.
This one moves at quite a pace – and, for those who examine plots for credibility and realism, there are the mysteries of how the team can move from Moscow to Budapest, Budapest to Dubai, from Dubai to Mumbai (and so instantly) without any obvious sources of money, bookings, let alone firearms, gizmos and other espionage paraphernalia that appear (also so instantly). Be that as it may, and otherwise the missions would be hardly impossible, it all moves along at a fairly cracking pace.
A mysterious death in Budapest leads to an elaborate prison escape in Moscow – which is where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise’s alter ego) is interned – and then a gathering of a new team for the missions. Since a mad professor (played by the Millennium trilogy’s star, Michael Nykvist) who has an ideology of survival of the fittest and wants to detonate nuclear warheads to sift out the survivors, the team have a lot to do to save the world. Which, of course, they do.
Simon Pegg is back to offer some British humour to the screenplay and some IT expertise. Paula Patton brings both action and glamour. They are joined by a mysterious adviser, Jeremy Renner, who soon gets into the swing of things and has to repeat that stunt of being lowered into a dangerous machine that Tom Cruise did in the first one.
Some of the scenes where shot for Imax projection and are worth taking the trouble to see on that giant screen: vistas of Budapest, of Dubai, of a desert sandstorm, as well as some of the action shots like Tom Cruise scaling the world’s tallest building or a fight in a very modern car-parking facility in Mumbai.
The director is Oscar winner, Brad Bird, who directed those popular Pixar animation films, The Invincibles and Ratatouille, as well as The Iron Giant. He has done very well by directing this like action variation on an invincible team.
What else can one say except that fans will feel that they got their money’s worth.
1. The popularity of the films? Fifteen years and four films? Drawing on the popularity of the television series? On Tom Cruise’s popularity? On the plots and effects?
2. A spectacular action film? The variety of missions? The locations, Budapest, Dubai, Mumbai (and the Imex versions highlighting the views of the cities)? The action sequences, the stunts (and the Imax stunts)? Editing and pace? The musical score, the television theme incorporated?
3. The strong cast?
4. The prologue, Budapest, the spies, the spy being attacked, his dive from the building, his escape, the assassin in the street, taking the plans? The later reconstruction of this scene and Jane’s coming too late? The meeting at the station, the contacts?
5. Ethan Hunt, hero, Tom Cruise, his age, athleticism? The past stories? His being in the Russian prison, the treatment, the guards, his cellmate? The organising and orchestrating of the escape? The plan, Ethan and his disregarding Benji’s orders, indicating to him on screen? The taking of the cellmate? Defying the guards, the timing, the hole and the descent into the tunnel, his being collected by the team? Meeting the team?
6. The team itself, Benji, his training, in the field, British, his skills at computers, clever, in action, his repartee and humour? Jane, feminine, her abilities? Strong?
7. The head of security, his assistant, Brandt? In the car, the interview with Ethan, the explanations, the secrecy, his being assassinated?
8. Hendricks, as a villain, his plans, his cover as a professor, the dangerous ideas, madness, his henchmen? His activities, the plan for the nuclear devices, for the codes? His pursuit in Dubai, the interview, pulling off his mask, going to India, the satellite, the timing? Ethan attacking him, the fight, his losing?
9. Brandt, his cover, the truth about his work, guarding Ethan’s wife, his sense of failure? In action? His skills? The confrontation with Ethan?
10. The team going to Dubai, easy travel, the plan for the double interviews, Ethan and his having to go outside the building, the danger dangling, his being pulled in? The spectacle? The setting up of the two rooms? Benji and his serving tea? The interviews and the criminals believing that they were speaking with the genuine people? The moving of the diamonds, the moving of the plans? The expert verifying the plans – the background of his being abducted, his family, his being killed in the corridor?
11. Going to the India, the lavish buildings, the car park, the party, Jane and her seductive manner, the playboy, going to his room, getting the codes? The carport, the fights in the carport – edited and spectacular? Timing? The drive, the satellite, Brandt and his being lowered into the core, Benji in control? Ethan and his fight with Hendricks? Saving the planet – the missile going off-course in San Francisco? The media reports?
12. Ethan in San Francisco, his wife not being dead, the explanations to Brandt, glimpsing his wife and her waving? Her safety?
13. The popular ingredients, action – and espionage themes and power struggles, madness and nuclear dangers?
