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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
| Released |
26 December 2011 |
| Director |
Brad Bird |
Starring
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Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames, Josh Holloway, Tom Wilkinson, Léa Seydoux, Michael Nyqvist, Anil Kapoor |
| Writer(s) |
Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec |
Producer(s)
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J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk, Tom Cruise |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
133 minutes |
| Genre |
Action, thriller, adventure |
| Rating |
12A |
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An acceptable mission.
Oh but isn’t the cinema audience a fickle mistress? It was only a few years ago we were praying for respite from the silly spy movie, hoping for something a little more real, more gritty. And along came Bourne to wrestle the genre from the perma-tanned hands of Pierce Brosnan. For a while it was nice but there’s only so much moody staring one can take from an international man of mystery. Quantum of Solace put the final nail in the coffin by providing a villain whose fiendishness extended to diverting fresh water supplies in Bolivia. Dear god where’s Blofeld when you need him??
Well I’m glad to report that post-modernism hasn’t managed to pierce the shell of silliness that surrounds Mission: Impossible. This outing, Ghost Protocol, sees Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) taking the reigns and is gleefully old school in execution. So old school in fact, that the plot concerns some stolen nuclear codes and some plucky heroes infiltrating the Kremlin with the help of bad prosthetics.
The film begins with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) locked up in a Russian prison until his colleagues (Simon Pegg, Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner) come to his rescue and offer him a dangerous mission...should he choose to accept it. A set of nuclear launch codes have been stolen and the team must infiltrate the Kremlin to recover them. The job is a set up and when an explosion rocks the building, Hunt and his colleagues find themselves outlawed and alone trying to foil the plans of a rogue Swedish academic (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s Michael Nyqvist) who plans on triggering nuclear war.
It helps not to think too much about the plot, as there are quite a few aspects that patently don’t make sense and in fact the central point of the movie, that the team have been branded as terrorists and must now work alone is a red herring in itself. They are being pursued by a lone Russian detective in a trenchcoat and seem to have access to both technology and private jets. It’s hardly a desperate situation; James Bond managed for years without so much as an internet connection. Luckily, the execution is tongue in cheek, with a healthy dose of self-awareness and humour (mainly from Pegg). And most importantly, Bird proves himself to be an excellent action director, marshalling spectacular scenes with ease while never allowing them to become a meaningless swirl of CGI.
It won’t win any awards, but Ghost Protocol is a highly entertaining piece of fluff with heaps more charm than the average action blockbuster. An effective treat for the holiday season.
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Linda O’Brien |
