Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

Max & His Houseboy’s Return to the Cinema, Will the Upholstery Ever Be the Same?

Geronimo: Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bubum!

Max Phineas: Umm Francois, what in the world is Geronimo doing hanging from the ceiling?

Francois: Oh sorry, sorry, Max. We just got back from the new Mission Impossible movie and he’s been doing this ever since.

Max: Is it permanent?

Geronimo: Do dodo, do dodo *Starts swinging across room*

Francois: Geez I hope not.

Max: Well I’ll just get on with the review and *moves to avoid Geronimo* try to stay on task.

Mission Impossible 4 directed by first time live action director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Iron Giant) takes the franchise towards what it has been striving to be since the first film, a Team-based movie. Tom Cruise (The Last Samurai, Knight and Day, Tropic Thunder) reprises his role as IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agent Ethan Hunt who begins our story in a Russian prison. Following a breakout, Ethan is extracted and returns to the IMF in time for a new mission: stealing files out of Moscow Kremlin archives to identify Cobalt (a person of interest). Instead of going in alone Ethan is given a team comprised of technical field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg: Tintin, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Jane Carter (Paula Patton: Precious, Jumping the Broom, Mirrors).

Initially the mission goes quite well, but then quickly ends in disaster when a bomb goes off, destroying the Kremlin and much of the surrounding area. Blamed for the bombing, Ethan and his team are now wanted by the government and disavowed from the IMF. The disgraced team now has to culminate their limited resources, and their new member, Chief analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker, The Town, 28 Weeks Later) who seems to be hiding a deep secret, in order to clear their name and save the world from a nuclear war.

Geronimo: DO DO, DO DO

Max: *Ahem* The movie may run long for some (at 133 minutes it’s definitely a time waster), but every single scene is full of jaw dropping technology or some kind of insane stunt that will leave you breathless. While knocking you out of your socks though, most of the action is not glorified. When people fight in this movie it is brutal with a capital B. In the audience people were groaning, or covering their mouths whenever a fight took place, especially the last fight where I heard people muttering ‘Oh dang that looks painful’. That isn’t to say it’s not fun, it’s a blast and you will feel like you’re on the edge of your seat throughout.

The cinematography is also beautiful with wide, arching landscapes in the background, and large shots of Russia. There is a scene involving a sandstorm that is pure gorgeousness. The acting is great too. With three movies of background for Ethan Hunt, we’re allowed to learn more about the other members of the team and feel close to them. Tom Cruise is still an incredible actor and doing his own stunts makes him a much more manly man than I. Simon Pegg delivers all of the humor with his quick quips and snarky dialogue, while not once feeling out of place or annoying.   Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton also provide great performances with Renner seeming to act as the eyes of the audience as he is not used to all of the ridiculously insane stunts the team performs and is always asking the questions that we might ask, which is great. He also provides an interesting plot point in the movie that had me in shock.

Geronimo: *Swinging across the room*

Max: He’s starting to get real annoying, Francois.

Max:  The movie is great and there was very little fault I could find with it. The one thing that was very noticeable was that the movies main antagonist, Cobalt (Michael Nyqvist, star of the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy) was absent for almost the entire movie, only showing up for about 5 minutes in the beginning and again during the last 10 minutes. I completely forgot he was even in the movie as his henchmen had more screen time. That was the biggest problem, but really this movie is so much damn fun that it overrules the lightly negative. Full of action and a total blast, this movie is definitely one to go see in theaters.

Francois: Watch out! *Geronimo comes flying across the room*

Geronimo: Do dodo, do dodo

Max: That’s it  *grabs bat*

Geronimo: Do do d- *Aghhh* Ouch, stop it! That hurts! Nooo!