Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

My Grade:  A-

Tom Cruise is getting a little older, but he is back to risk his life for a fourth time as Ethan Hunt.  This time, though, he brings a fun new crew with him and takes them to fun new places.  This is a film that gives you exactly what you expect and desire:  mindless action that continually cranks up the intensity and keeps your heart pounding.  And it’s a good thing that it over-does the action because it is a bit lacking in the character department.  But the simple story and pulse-pounding action make this a fun trip to the theater.

    

The story is relatively simple which I don’t mind.  I actually kind of like it.  A lot of the recent action/thrillers involving government agencies and highly trained super spies tend to have needlessly complex stories.  Many of them are compellingly complex but some of them just make it hard for the audience to follow.  And when you are struggling to follow the plot, you can’t fully bask in the adrenaline rush which Ghost Protocol supplies to the utmost extent (almost too much, if that’s possible).

    

The writing team of Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (both reasonably prolific TV writers) take the advice of every screenwriting book and constantly complicate situations for the characters.  This adds drama.  When you think the characters are out of the bad situation, something else goes wrong.  Another good way to amp up the drama, is to add a time limit on the operation (which almost every scene in this film has).  I actually think Ghost Protocol may have set the world record for most brushes with death in 133 minutes of film ever.  It gets to the point where it is just about ridiculous... but that’s what we lovingly call escapist entertainment.

    

Where the writing lacks, though, is on the character development end.  As a disclaimer before I delve further into this shortcoming, I must say that I didn’t go into this film expecting (or really even desiring) deep characters.  I don’t think others did either.  But the flimsy attempt to add some emotion to the characters and their relationships felt very forced and somewhat trite.  The “secret” that Brandt (Jeremy Renner) tries to keep from Ethan is something that you could find in any other movie in the government/action/thriller genre.  It was a good try, but it didn’t do it for me.  And the driving force behind Paula Patton’s character, Jane, is cliche as well.  Seeking vengeance for a lost loved one?... come on, let’s try to be a little more creative.  I know it’s a strong urge and we may be able to find emotional ties with it, but it’s an overused, cheap trick to try and add some depth to a shallow thrills script.  I am very happy that they didn’t add some romantic B-story.  That is refreshing.

    

The new crew Ethan works with is great.  Adding Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker), Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz), and the lesser known Paula Patton (Deja Vu) was a great move by the casting department.  Jeremy Renner is always great and Simon Pegg adds some great (and much needed) comedic relief.  This film gets pretty heavy at times with all the explosions and gun fights, so it’s nice to have some laughs in there.  And the laughs are wonderful.  The timing is good, the jokes don’t seem tacked on, and they are genuinely funny.

    

I can’t leave this film without mentioning the highly talked about scene at the Burj Khalifa (or that really tall, cool looking building that Ethan Hunt climbs in the trailer).  That scene can be described in one word:  epic.  It’s an amazing setting and the way they use it is a perfect illustration of what we talked about earlier with piling on the complications for our characters (I don’t want to spoil anything but when you watch those scenes, you will know what it means to crank up the drama).  The one thing that I find troubling about the scene, though, is the “why” behind it.  The reason that their mission takes them to this building is non-existent.  So the “why” is that it would be a cool location for this type of scene.  That’s an acceptable reason, but it would be that much better if the plot actually called for that location.  Either way, it’s a great scene (or really a great series of scenes).

Overall, the reason this film is so good is that it gives the audience exactly what they expect:  shallow, surface thrills with amazing, awe-inspiring gadgets (which I didn’t get into because you have to see them to believe them).  My only qualm is that it makes some small attempts at trying to be more which don’t work out very well.  But, I guess there is something to be said for trying.