By Marc S. Sanders
When JJ Abrams took the reins of IMF adventures with Mission: Impossible III, he brought his penchant for meet cute romance between Tom Cruise’s super spy and his love interest Michelle Monaghan. It worked well as a new dynamic in the high-octane series. In the follow up film, noted Pixar director Brad Bird takes over with his own touch of tongue in cheek wry humor courtesy of Simon Pegg, as well as a little bit from Cruise and some side characters.
This is a great installment opening with a fun prison break moment accompanied by some Frank Sinatra in the background to earn your appreciative grin. An energetic credit theme sequence featuring Lalo Schifrin’s adventurous theme song follows with a spark on a fuse. I get so wired when I hear the Mission: Impossible Theme. From there, Bird offers up challenges like putting a spin on the now familiar ID retina scan by any typical spy computer. There are shootouts, of course. More running – lots of running courtesy of Tom Cruise – a sandstorm, a Kremlin covert operation and a climactic chase for a briefcase within a weird multilevel movable parking garage filled with cars to crash, bash, and drive off high level platforms.
The main centerpiece reaches for the sky however with the world’s tallest (I think) building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. I love this scene. Not just because Cruise is doing the stunt of climbing the glass tower himself, but it screams of hilarious moments that belong in Bird’s other great accomplishment, his Incredibles films. The photography is unbelievable in this sequence even when watching it on a 4K flat screen at home. This one scene can be taken out of the context of the film and treated like a short story adventure. The goal that Ethan Hunt is trying to accomplish is to quickly hack into the building computer. Seems so trivial for the enormous lengths he goes through, but then we wouldn’t get the scene!!!! So, scale that glass Ethan and let’s see how you get yourself out of this one. A highlight of not only the film series, but Tom Cruise’s amazing career.
Simon Pegg is hilarious against the reluctance of Cruise’s straight man along with an out of touch Jeremy Renner. There’s a sticky glove that won’t work for Cruise as he scales the outside of the building, but Bird milks the joke while also using Renner, who is of no help but invites nervous glee and desperation.
Especially with Ghost Protocol, the film seems to begin, conclude, and then begin again. Over and over, the players are explaining what must happen or needs to be done, or what the next step in the mission is. So, there’s a lot of stops and starts with exposition through the course of the film. What does it all spell out? I hardly care. All I know is the heights of danger are that much bigger, because all IMF agents, including Ethan Hunt and team, are now disavowed following an attack on the Kremlin in Russia.
I don’t try too hard to piece everything together in the M:I films. Other than Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Abrams’ film, the villains have not been altogether memorable. The breathtaking action is much more fun than the stories. Though this film talks a little too much, something is always happening. This occurs in nearly every installment of the franchise, save for John Woo’s short-changed Mission: Impossible II.
This is a franchise that hasn’t self-destructed. Cruise and company choose to up the ante with each new installment. I hope the films continue on that course.
2 UNPAID MOVIE CRITICS!!!! 