That's what she said.

The team didn't do much?

He did a lot of things, but his importance was ultimately to push the button. Without the power, Hunt's mission was useless.

He uses the original theme at least a handful of times in the score.

- Opening credits
- When Hunt and Benji run down the stairs in the Kremlin to set up the fake backdrop.
- When the team enters the hotel room in Dubai.
- While Hunt is scaling the hotel in Dubai (right after he ditches the malfunctioning glove). - Best use of the theme outside of the opening credits.
- When Hunt jumps out of the window and repels down the building in Dubai.
- When the bomb hits the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco.

His score reminded me of David Arnold's scores for the Bond series during the Brosnan years. Not in terms of quality, but in the number of times he used the theme. I remember Arnold once said in an interview that when Bond does something that's "Bond-like" you should hear the main theme kick in and that was the approach he brought to his three Brosnan films. I actually thought Giacchino brought a similar approach to his score for Ghost Protocol.

Way...





...too...





...long.





There's a good 88 minute long movie buried in the 133 minute running time.

Good, mind you, not great.

The tone was way too unfocused to approach any kind of greatness. The first third of the movie approached the requisite respect for the mission, but then it careened off into an entire cavalcade of missions. After that there were nice set pieces, but the director lacked any faith in coherent storytelling that might cement them into the structure of the film. Brad Bird needs to force himself to paint on a smaller canvas.

It is also so disappointing to see Simon Pegg take these second banana roles these days - - he's a leading man through and through.

As to the rest- - Tom Cruise was fine as always, but needs better dialogue to really shine. Paula Patton is a seriously underrated actress - - the world needs to see way more of her. And as always, Jeremy Renner's amateur shenanigans are shown up by the pros.

Yes, this fourth entry in the series got the right vibe going in a couple of missions, but once again failed to capture the broader respect for the patented Mission: Impossible formula.


2 out of 5.

If only it could feature the same team work level of M:I-2, with such classics as:

-Ethan breaks into virus lab. Ethan gets in shoot out. Ethan makes daring escape. Aussie guy watches from helicopter. Ving Rhames sits in van.

-Ethan chases bad guy on motorcycle. Ethan has shoot out. Aussie guy flies helicopter. Ving Rhames shoots background baddies.

-Ethan has climactic fight with villain. Ethan shoots villain. Aussie sits. Ving Rhames watches.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Fantastic film. I didn't think Brad Bird would be capable, but he more than was. Tom Cruise is still an outstanding star, who I never doubted for a second. Glad he came up trumps again! Every set piece was executed beautifully! Nice humour, not too much, just subtle enough to still keep it action-focused. CANNOT WAIT FOR M:I-5!
A

I'm not surprised at the high level of ignorance regarding the Mission: Impossible formula - - after all, the series was on television almost half a century ago - - what I am surprised at, is people's willingness to parade it.

Ok, I am too young to have experienced the TV series, so PLEASE enlighten me.

I've seen the entire series on reruns. I can tell you it is nothing like the 2nd film. That's a James Bond clone that makes even the later Brosnan films look like masterpieces.

Team work is watching someone else do something, dontcha know.

The show's title says it all: Mission: Impossible.

The essence of the series' formula is a single (seemingly impossible) precisely planned and executed mission per episode.




Teamwork, while regularly featured on the series, was subservient to the mission. If a mission could be best accomplished with a single operative, it would be. In fact in many episodes, the majority of the team were focused on the extraction of the lead operative. In addition to teamwork, other recurring peripheral elements contributed to the success of the series - - the gadgets, including the famous masks; the musical score, featuring the propulsive theme; the opening credits, laden with revealing clips from the upcoming episode; the whole set-up of the mission with the tape recorder and manilla envelope of photos (all that was ever seen of IMF command); and the fiendishly tight denouement.

That was pretty awesome and easily the best in the series, IMO. Very entertaining. Paula Patton is gorgeous and Jeremy Renner is sexy-as-hell. I'd have no problem with him taking over the series. I'm glad this was a big hit so we'll get another one. I just hope they don't wait too long to do another or the goodwill from this one might wear off by that time.

B+

And that I would love to see. They need to put it in the next movie .

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

I've just watched this again since seeing it in cinemas in January last year and this holds up tremendously well. It's such an action packed spectacle, and it's slick and well-filmed. Brad Bird should definitely return for the sequel. He has an eye for action set pieces. I loved how they made Cruise still be the main man (because there was talk of shifting the focus to Renner). Pegg is brilliant as the IMF techie, so funny (and real intelligent humour too, not stuff like in The Avengers or The Expendables 2, which is much more silly). I liked everyone in this and I only noticed on this viewing that it was the guy from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as the villain. I think when I saw it last year I hadn't seen them yet. Who's the girl assassin? Wow. Hotness. There's certainly some lovely cleavage in this movie.



The Burj Khalifa scene still gave me sweaty palms even at home. Such a great, great scene, and it's layered with nervous comments and humour. All of the M:I movies are amazing, in my opinion, so for this to rank above the first and third (which I also adore and it takes nothing away from them), that's an accomplishment.

A+

I am a huge Cruise fan, yet this left me cold. I even gave it a second chance. I hate the fact the antagonist is so thinly conceived, and the action sequences, while beautiful, have this almost clinical quality.

The female assassin is played by the gorgeous Léa Seydoux, who also has small roles in Inglourious Basterds, Midnight in Paris, and Robin Hood.

I just watched Inglourious Basterds and I didn't notice her. What a coincidence. Who is she in it?

Oh yeah, I remember. Just looked it up, she's Charlotte LaPadite.

C/C+

I thought Ghost Protocol was pretty good. Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg stole the show, imo. The action and camera work was nicely done.

The final showdown in the parking garage, had me rolling my eyes.


M:I 3 is still my fav of the series.

Still think this is the best Mission Impossible movie, and I still think Brad Bird is the master of fun and pulpy spy movies.

Hmm, I would never call C/C+ "pretty good".

Ok

Update

Brandt: “You’re line’s not long enough.”

Ethan: “No shit!”

Man does that seem dull seeing it written out plainly. But as delievered in the film? It’s why Tom Cruise is a star. No one could ever be Tom Cruise/Ethan Hunt (and I’m not sure I’d want to be), but damn does he still somehow find a way to be completely relatable while climbing and falling from one of the world’s tallest building (which is still stunning even away from movie theaters). Maybe that’s why he does all of his own stunts? He goes above and beyond what’s necessary in his stunt work, all in an effort to make him seem personable? It doesn’t work all the time, but it does in this series and especially in this film.

Brad Bird and Tom Cruise (and Christopher McQuarrie) are a match made in movie heaven. Bird and McQuarrie are creative enough to come up with the spectacular stunts and Cruise is crazy enough to do them for real.

The common complaint with this series and especially this film are the villains, Ghotocol has maybe the most forgettable one yet. However, it can get away with it because it’s always moving and it’s never not entertaining. It’s also easily the funniest movie in the series, and it’s all the more impressive that they make it look effortless.

The only thing this movie could use more of is Luther. Even if Benji kind of takes on the same role as he does, Luther should’ve been there throughout.

This is the best Mission: Impossible film (to date) and the best James Bond film Roger Moore never got to make. Speaking of Bond, they probably won’t hire him since he worked on this series, but can we get Bird over there at some point?

A+

It came out of nowhere and turned out to be the best movie of the series. Its run in December was insane, starting from a limited release in IMAX screens and then expanding during the holiday season and pretty much created a perfect storm with great WoM, known series, something original after a year dominated by similar looking sequels. I remember the WoM was really good/insane on this which helped it overshadow RDJ's Sherlock Holmes sequel that year.

As for the movie the Burj Khalifa scene, the action, the back-and-forth spy work, the team building, team dynamics and specially the comedy all works. The two things that do not work here are the villain and over-the-top Anil Kapoor as the the Indian tycoon Brijnath. These are two very minor things because there is not enough time to think through with that this movie throws at you every few minutes and keeps topping its action scenes one after another. It was the most freshest and easily the best MI movies thus far.

A