Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

UK Release Date. 26 December 2011
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 2 hours 12 mins
Director. Brad Bird
Cast. Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Léa Seydoux, Tom Wilkinson.
Rating. 62%

Review.

After J. J. Abrams demonstrated the potential of the franchise with Mission: Impossible III, the fourth instalment, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is somewhat of a disappointment. Thankfully, not as vacuous as Mission: Impossible II but Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol consistently fails to engage.

The film opens with an impressive set piece, an elaborate escape from a Russian prison [or, at least it was at that time, then Extraction 2 appeared on the scene]. An aborted mission inside the Kremlin, results in a devastating explosion inside the Russian citadel and the US, and in particular, the IMF take the blame. As a consequence, the US President initiates 'Ghost Protocol', which immediately disbands the IMF and disavows all of its agents.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol falls flat largely as a result of a confused narrative in an attempt to ascertain the identity of the nefarious nuclear extremist, simply known as 'Cobalt.' Following Philip Seymour Hoffman's chilling Owen Davian, the Cobalt character is largely forgettable. 

Directorial duties are handed to Brad Bird, for his first live-action feature film as director following the success of Walt Disney Studios' The Incredibles. Given the absence of a dynamic storyline or any semblance of structure the film steadily loses momentum, with new plot strands introduced in a vain attempt to ramp up the stakes, but succeeding in only losing focus instead.

Nonetheless, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the strongest film in the franchise at building a team. The IMF team of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), is joined by the Secretary of The IMF's  analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) - a character with an obvious back story aching to be unveiled. Building on the direction of travel of Mission: Impossible III, and harking back to the original television series, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol delivers the blueprint for the remainder of the franchise - an ensemble cast form an IMF team where each member of the team is crucial to the success of the mission. Impossible or not.