There are plenty of films turned into franchises in this
world whose end results offer lackluster movies that don't make you want to
revisit the characters and events unfolding on screen. And then there are
movies like this one that make you wish they'd just get on with it and start
filming the next one so you could enjoy it just as much.
The film opens with Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt in a
prison in Russia. His team breaks him out along with a contact he made in
prison only to drop him off and then find out what they're next assignment is.
Of course it's a near impossible job for them to pull off but that's what they
do. A terrorist has the means to launch a full scale nuclear attack on the
world if he gets the launch codes. These codes are locked up in the Kremlin and
Hunt and his team, should they decided to accept their mission, is to get hold
of the launch codes first.
Of course they accept the mission. Would there be a film any
other way? Using disguises and some nifty new tech toys, Hunt and compatriot
Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) make their way into the Kremlin only to discover the
codes have already been lifted. Not only that, Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist)
the terrorist, has set a bomb inside the Kremlin that explodes just as Ethan
and Benji attempt to escape.
Ethan is knocked out by the bomb and wakes to find himself
captive of the police who blame him for the attack. He escapes custody and
finds himself picked up by the IMF Secretary (Tom Wilkinson) and his assistant
William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). The Secretary tells him he will have to turn
him over to the authorities. That is unless he suddenly escapes and heads for a
secret train equipped with the tools he'll need to find the real culprits. Of
course this mission is off the books and unauthorized which is where the term
ghost protocol comes up. Before he can finish, the Secretary is killed in the
car and Hunt and Brandt escape to head to the train car where they meet up with
Benji and Jane Carter (Paula Patton).
Hunt explains the situation to them and offers them the
mission. Yes, they accept and things begin to move forward as the team heads to
Dubai where they know Hendricks is about to purchase the last of the equipment
he needs to launch his attack. In the famous sky reaching hotel located there
the assassin who killed the agent with the original codes (and Carter's
boyfriend) is about to make her exchange with Hendricks. But the team has a
plan to make con both parties and retrieve the information. Of course things
don't go as planned and suddenly we get the chance to see Ethan scaling a glass
windowed building in an attempt to over ride the hotel elevators.
So you get the idea here? To give all the rest away would be
to spoil what happens and the thrills and spills that the makers of this film
obviously worked long and hard to bring together. The details offered so far
are nothing more than the set up that makes the action sequences that follow
all that more spectacular. They ruin nothing so don't fear that a spoiler alert
was needed. Much of that information could have been gleaned from the trailer.
With all the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE films the thing is to get
into it, to enjoy it, to toss out any concepts of reality and believability and
just have a good time. This film offers a fun time at the movies in spades and
will make you tear up at the right times, clench your fists when the bad guys
seem to get away with things and make your palms sweat as you watch the team
almost blow the whole mission on more than one occasion. On top of that you
have two underlying stories fomenting beneath the obvious one that wrap
themselves into the main plot and then find themselves resolved before the end.
One of the best things is that the film ends without a clue
as to another film being made or even considered but left open enough that
should they decide to do one they can. As a fan of all four films this is once
when I hope a franchise does continue. The films have all offered great entertainment
value and enough mystery to keep you guessing until the end of each. GHOST
PROTOCOL falls right in line with the earlier offerings.
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