Tom Cruise reprises his role in 'Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol': movie review
鈥�Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,鈥� the latest installment in the 16-year-old series, is one of the best. It marks the live-action debut of director Brad Bird, the highly imaginative mind behind those animated marvels 鈥淚ron Giant,鈥� 鈥�The Incredibles,鈥� and 鈥�Ratatouille.鈥� He makes the transition smoothly, perhaps because so many of the highflying stunts in this film are essentially out of "The Incredibles鈥� playbook. The movie, although it will be available in standard formats, is best enjoyed in IMAX, where the big death-defying hijinx and the panoramas of places like Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are literally eye-popping.
Tom Cruise is, of course, back as Ethan Hunt, who we first see breaking out of a Russian prison with the help of Simon Pegg鈥檚 computer whiz Benji Dunn, another holdover from the previous escapade. Soon joining in are no-nonsense Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and agent William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). When a secret mission inside the Kremlin goes terribly wrong and part of the edifice is blown away, the IMF team is declared 鈥済host protocol鈥� by the US president 鈥� i.e. they鈥檙e on their own.
Even without any official backup, the impossibilists have a ready arsenal of space-age hardware at their disposal. They鈥檒l need it. They are attempting, after all, to bring down a mad genius (Michael Nyqvist) who wants to reboot the world by triggering a nuclear winter.
The film鈥檚 centerpiece stunt is Ethan鈥檚 clinging with suction gloves to the side of Dubai鈥檚 tallest building, 123 stories up. Cruise reportedly did his own stunt work. If so, I can only imagine what the insurance on this film cost.
Some of the action gets repetitive, and the Mumbai sequences would have been better if Mumbai, and not just the interiors of a zillionaire鈥檚 fancy hotel, had been utilized. But 鈥淕host Protocol鈥� is a very good thrill ride and Cruise is better than he鈥檚 been in a long time. Despite all the calisthenics, he seems relaxed 鈥� even while dangling sky high.聽Grade:聽A- (Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence.)
