(MOVIE REVIEW) Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol

Fifteen years. That is all that I can think about when I look at this movie. This franchise has been active, in movie format, since 1996. That is impressive. It is even more impressive when you look back at Tom Cruise fifteen years ago and see that he looks the exact same as he does today. Maybe those Scientologists are on to something, huh? Or, as I have stated in the past, maybe Cruise really did get turned into an ageless vampire in Interview with the Vampire. Either way, whatever he is doing works.

Plot: After recently being freed from a Russian prison, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team are given a new assignment. When that assignment leads to them being falsely accused of blowing up the Kremlin, the US Government decides to shut down the IMF and enforce Ghost Protocol (which means that all field agents are left on their own). Hunt and his team take it upon themselves to go on a mission to clear the name of the IMF and to bring the true perpetrators to justice. The odds are stacked against them and completing the mission is unlikely….but nothing is impossible.

This movie, to me, is a rare thing. It is an action movie that doesn’t rely only on the action to keep people interested. It actually has a good bit of comedy mixed in (thanks to the always funny Simon Pegg).  It was nice to see a full new team put together for this movie and I could see, if they keep making them, that William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) take over the franchise and Ethan Hunt becomes the director of the IMF. As the franchise will need to have a younger person in that role at some point. Sure, Cruise still owns the role, but on the schedule that they currently make these movies, Cruise will be 55 by the time that the next one comes out. That may not make for the most believable superspy.

Worth the admission? Absolutely! This movie is a perfect mixture of funny, intense, and full of high tech gadgetry. It has a little something in it for everyone. I’m also glad that they didn’t add the gimmicky “love interest” story in like they usually do in movies like this.  If you haven’t already made your weekend plans, make this movie part of them.

Note: I think I was most excited to see Josh Holloway (Sawyer from LOST) in a big budget movie. He doesn’t star in the film but he did have a solid part. I wouldn’t bring this up, but I am on a LOST “kick” right now and was surprised to see him in this film.

Did you like the new team as much as I did?