Directed by:
Brad BirdCinematography:
Robert ElswitComposer:
Michael GiacchinoCast:
Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Samuli Edelmann, Ivan Shvedoff, Anil Kapoor, Léa Seydoux, Josh Holloway (more)VOD (4)
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The IMF is shut down when it’s implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization’s name. No help, no contact, off the grid. You have never seen a mission grittier and more intense than this. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (13)
How peculiar that a director who had previously worked in the field of animation brought a necessary breath of fresh air to the action genre, which had become dependent on the post-Bourne chaos cinema style. Bird’s Pixar movies abound with astonishing action sequences built on the clarity of the scene, long shots and the interconnection of the action with the setting and its elements. Bird brings the same qualities to Ghost Protocol. Replacing animation with live action enhances the strengths of the medium, thus bringing back the attraction of physical action. At a time when blockbusters are rather cartoonish CGI mess with the deepfaked faces of live actors, Bird had Tom Cruise climb the façade of the world’s tallest building. Similarly, the brilliantly designed and always spatially uncluttered chase through a sandstorm is an expressive counterpoint to the cluttered mess of scenes composed of tremendously brief shaky-cam shots that have inundated big-budget action productions in recent years. In comparison with the dark, tense and sophisticated nature of the competition, particularly movies based on comic books, Ghost Protocol also offers a big, longed-for dose of exaggeration and light-heartedness. In addition to that, Bird manages to combine all of the aforementioned elements into brilliant sequences abounding with inventiveness, charming humour, physical action, playful interactions between the actors and a surreal upgrade of the technological gadgets. If what remained of the third Mission: Impossible in the audience’s memory was the playing with expectations and building of suspense with no action sequences, the fourth instalment does not rely on its twists and turns, as its action passages (not only the Burj Dubai and the robotic parking lot, but also the sequences in the prison and the corridor in the Kremlin) rank among the absolute best of the genre.
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The most compelling evidence for why we should adore Abrams. This Scientology production tinsel may have inherited most of its predecessor's hallmarks, such as adrenaline-pumping action and plenty of teasing of past films, but it neglected to add at least a drop of itself to it. Neither the BMW prototype nor the protagonist's breasts stay in your head longer than the legendary opening countdown lasts; there’s zero work with the villain, the plot isn’t very catchy, and the premature climax of everything that was already done in Dubai is Bird's sole responsibility.
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The concern that Bird, who undoubtedly has a liking for technology, would bury the franchise that Abrams jump-started under a pile of modern gadgets was unfounded. High-tech gadgets are the last thing that the participants in this experiential journey to the roots of the franchise can rely on, though they encourage the film’s most inspiring contemplation on the relationship between the copy and the original, between virtual action and its real consequences (the manifold duplication of reality – one sequence even involves the creation of a situation that is just coming together – smacks of a Baudrillard-esque simulacrum; the scene of controlling Brandt with a hovercraft works with an extreme form of computer simulation, when the life of a person depends on technology). ___ Inoperable technology and lack of time force the agents to come up with alternative solutions on the fly, which slightly undermines the otherwise unshakable certainty that everything will turn out well and no one important will come to harm. During Hunt’s perilous feat of skyscraper-climbing – a more adrenaline-fueled version of Harold Lloyd’s brilliant Safety Last! – my hair seriously stood on end a few times despite the cartoonish exaggeration when the protagonists laugh at the fact that if something goes wrong, in the worst case they will die. Animated films and classic slapstick can be “sensed” in most of the action scenes with animate objects (the gloves), brilliant gradations (jumping on the train) and geometric use of space (the climax with parallel use of multiple directions of movement). Even without the stereoscopic effect, the steep ascent followed by a descent induces nausea similar to that experienced on a roller-coaster ride. ___ Before Pixar started making action movies, the perfect balance of suspense and humour was the domain of Bond films, but after the reboot with Daniel Craig, the Bond franchise became more serious and cleared the field of expensive, bombastic entertainment for others. Mission: Impossible doesn’t have a comparably charismatic protagonist in Cruise, but the screenwriters do an excellent job with exaggeration within the bounds of tolerability and artful creation of BIG action-packed situations. Bird helps to patch the bigger holes in the logic (could they really not have waited for the Dubai deal to take place and then follow the people involved?) by directing the action scenes and the screenplay with self-referential moments (“light the fuse”, the recording doesn’t self-destruct, “Mission accomplished”). ___ Because of their status as undesirables, the protagonists lack a firm background. As a band of outcasts (as opposed to the individual renegades that are currently in fashion), they have to be constantly on the move and deal with their private matters while they’re on the run. It would benefit the film if they didn’t address those matters and thus disrupt the professional prioritisation of global interests over the characters’ own personal interests. Also, because of the flashbacks, which slow the film’s pace, the narrative is not the most cohesive. It doesn't keep us in constant suspense as to what’s coming in the next minute and it comes close to being another manifestation of the syndrome that afflicts so many contemporary animated films, in which the piling up of attractions replaces a more well-thought-out narrative structure. It also lacks a more loathsome villain (Nyqvist isn’t bad, but he isn’t given appropriate space) and a more impactful climax (just an airbag commercial followed by a theatrical “fizzling out”), but it’s still the fastest-paced action film made in Hollywood this year. 80%
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After an excellent part 3, Ghost Protocol falls a little short, but what it loses in violence and fatefulness, it gains in humor, elegance and a greater team spirit. The layering between action and story is most similar to part one, but this one lacks suspense and fear for the hero (the entire threat of nuclear war just doesn’t come across at all threateningly). The only exception is the middle part in Dubai which delivers the requisite genre entertainment to the letter, innovates and drives deep. Technical gadgets (although still faulty) play a much greater role than before and are (along with Pegg) the source of the best jokes. Jerry Renner with his snappy lines is also excellent, in a very different role than we are used to. And just a shame that Josh Holloway didn’t get much of a chance to warm up in this movie.
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In the last third, Ghost Protocol loses not only its breath, but everything else that made what came before so great – the comedic and intelligent sense of detachment, the likable cohesion of the IMF team composed of Cruise, Patton, Renner and Pegg, the way the screenplay inventively plays with clichés, the imaginative hi-tech secret-agent gadgets, the eye-candy action and the suspense. Dubai should have been the last setting, not the central one. And the main bad guy, played by the charismatic Michael Nyqvist should have been given more room to work. Ghost Protocol is enjoyable in its details, but as a whole, it’s only the third best film of the franchise after the first one and M:I III.
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