Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011, PG-13)

Directed by: Brad Bird

Grade: C

I have never been that much of a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise, and in watching every one of them, I wanted to bang my head against a wall.  The majority of movie critics have named the franchise as a rare movie series where each sequel improves upon the last, but oh how I must disagree!  I suppose then I must, if somewhat briefly, overview my opinions on the previous films:

The first Mission Impossible, I thought was a passable action film, considering that it offered the some of the goods but came dangerously close to the highest levels of improbability.  Granted, Brian de Palma is not one of my preferred movie directors.  C.  The first sequel, Mission Impossible II, did reach those highest levels of improbability, considering that it was headed by John Woo.  A lot of the movie had me laughing.  Seriously.  So while Mission Impossible II lacked straight enough coherency, at least it might be suitable for the most serious of action movie-goers.  As far as I am concerned, it was barely hanging onto the edge of a very high cliff.  C—.  The third sequel, Mission Impossible III, film debut for J.J Abrams, I thought was an improvement on either predecessor, as it found slightly more of a human anecdote amidst the most unbelievable propositions of action and stunts.  So while I still found more than a lot of Mission Impossible III hard to accommodate, it managed to leave the series on an enhanced note then either precursors. C+.

In that case, the fourth installment, Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, is an unnecessary and much overrated feature, but director Brad Bird keeps it on par with the rest of the series: not much superior, and not much shoddier.  Some of the action sequences are spine tingling and fun to watch, such as the illustrious sequence where action-star Cruise is hanging for his own dear soul on the highest-building in the world, for example.  Others are all the more improbable and exhausting, like the sand storm action scene.  It’s the character driven scenes, which usually come right after an action scene, that are all routinely scheduled in the film’s plot structure, and therefore don’t give much of a resonance to us. 

By way and large, Ghost Protocol is no better nor worse than the other installments.  It has all the ingredients that make up a Mission Impossible film: cool gadgets, the masks, never-ending dubious action sequences and star Cruise to lead the way.  So though who enjoy these movies will be surely entertained.  Just remember that I’m not an enthusiast of the Mission Impossible films either.  C