1996, Ethan Hunt and his team of highly specialised agents wooed us with their impossible stunts of dare devilry. They repeated the act, not once but twice again, in 2000 and 2006. And needless to say, followings the ancient Hollywood adage milk the franchisee dry, they are back again!
As mentioned in the opening sequence of the 1996 Mission: Impossible, should any of the agents get caught or killed, the US government will deny any links to them and leave them stranded, well guess what! The inevitable has happened!
Ghost Protocol has been invoked by the President of the USA, wherein the IMF has been disbanded and its members, disavowed. Left with no team, no resources and no plan, Ethan and his assorted team of Benji Dunn, (Simon Pegg, Ice Age 3, The Adventures of Tintin, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run), Jane Carter (Paula Patton, Precious, Deja Vu, Mirrors) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner, The Town, The Hurt Locker) go about saving the world from the hands of a mad Russian scientist Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist, Mikael from the Millennium series).
Ghost Protocol suffers from the same flaw as its predecessor, MI3 and that is lack of story and content. Unlike the first 2 films, directed by Brain DePalma and John Woo respectively, the JJ Abrams directed 3rd instalment and this one too, have no concrete story and hence lack the fluidity in the screenplay. So its from one set action piece to another. Each one bigger than the previous one.
Having said that, must add that there is much more of an emotional tug in this film than any of its predecessors. Enough of the negatives now!
However, one does not venture into the cinema hall to see a heart breaking drama in the MI series. One expects to see, how far can Agent Hunt push the envelope? To those millions of fans, this movie is one hell of a ride!
If the Kremlin explosion sequence gets your pulse racing, then the Burj Khalifa piece will definitely make you jump off your seat a la Hunt! One word, FANTASTIC. In that entire episode alone, the usage of the background score accentuates the energy and passes it on from Hunt to you.
Brad Bird, known for animated classics like The Incredibles and my favourite, Ratatouille, debuts in his first live action feature film, with Ghost Protocol. Not only does he manage to keep his cartoonish humour alive through Benji (Buck the Weasel in Ice Age 3) but also adds the oomph factor via Patton. But in terms of performances, it is the twice Academy nominated Renner, who steals the show. His rendition of an agent turned analyst, living in remorse and the subsequent confession in Dubai is a treat.
Bird does complete justice to the franchises and well deserves to be the only director in this series to direct 2 movies. Yes, MI:5...will be coming soon. Just hope they manage to bring in Ving Rhames back again as an addition to this team.
Josh Holloway, Sawyer from the Lost series adds a kinda spunk in his cameo as the slain IMF agent. But the maximum cat calls and whistles come (but obvious) when the multi millionaire Brij Nath (Anil Kapoor) comes on the screen. In his cameo where he manages to not only display his comic side but also the class that he exudes. For all the people that were running for his blood for not being given the due in the films publicity, they should now keep shut! Kudos to Cruise and Paramount for not going overboard in publicising Anil as the main protagonist in the film in the posters across the city. Anil does a role just like all the other Hollywood actors do. Like Michael Caine in Inception, Liam Neeson in Next 3 days or even Marlon Brando in Superman. And Anil is brilliant in his character.
What did not gel was that given the amount of detailing that Bird is known for, they somehow seem to have missed that out in bits here. For example, showing the mall in Bangalore as a Mumbai one is not a crime, but not managing to remove the Kannada fire exit signs on the door and the car park sequence, where all cars have American number plates! Even the fact that the ever intelligent and alert US government did nothing to protect its skies from an incoming nuclear warhead and just let it pop into its shores!
The film towards the second half does seem a bit too long, and the musical car park sequence could have been trimmed.
The film belongs to Tom Cruise, yet again. He lives Hunt every minute and manages to pull off the deadly stunts, supposedly done by him, brilliantly. His grim reaction to Renners countdown while on the Burj or even his charismatic smile at the Pier are ample examples of the star that he is. No one could have delivered the line with such charisma as him No one will leave this hotel alive. The film and its larger than life sequences are definitely worth your time and money!
Does it have The Y Factor: Definitely Yes!
Rating: 8/10 purely for the action thrills
http://www.yusufpoonawala.com/2011/12/mi-ghost-protocol.html
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