Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise is the guy who didn't get invited to the party. Somehow he heard about it and showed up anyways. He tried to be funny and charming but no one was buying it so he resorted to hurting himself to entertain the audience, eventually winning them over. And when I mean hurting himself, I mean going all-out with life endangering moves that no one could be unimpressed by. And that's why you keep slipping him notes telling him that a party may be coming up soon because you wouldn't want to miss what he might try next.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is continuing the new tradition of reviving a series long after it's designated trilogy time has ended. And while some series needed to stay dead (Indiana Jones) other ones have actually become better with the 4th or even 5th films (Fast Five). Ghost Protocol falls into this category and the fourth installment is by far the most realized and entertaining in the entire series. I would rate number 3 as the next best.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back as everyone's favorite secret agent. The only real returner to the series is Benji (Simon Pegg) who had a brief role in the third one but was entertaining enough that they kept him on. Some regulars show up later on but two newbies take the coveted extra spots on the team: the token hot girl Jane (Paula Patton) and mysterious Brandt (Jeremy Renner). I believe Renner is being bred to be the new star of the Mission Impossible series because hey, he's already going to be the next Bourne, why not play every spy Hollywood has to offer?

Hunt is on the trail of Cobalt, a nationalist Russian who believes that the path to peace is total nuclear war. Cobalt is one step ahead of Hunt, having already acquired a nuclear device and the ability to shoot it. He also bombs the Kremlin and sticks the blame squarely on the IMF, Hunt's CIA-ish overlords. The United States disavows the entire IMF, branding Ethan and the team terrorists. So without backup and government funding (besides the considerable stash they already have) the crew must figure out a way to stop Cobalt.

James Bond called, he wants his gadgets back. Mission Impossible called back, they said maybe you shouldn't have gone off the deep end and made two crappy movies where the only gadget is a smartphone and a defibrillator. Ghost Protocol wins. I've never been more pleased with the gadgets used: an amplifier that distracts guards, a tarp that copies an image completely hiding a hallway from prying eyes, and superglue gloves allowing Tom Cruise to Spiderman the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

This is the part where I would soil my pants

And even better, the face making machine from the third film, which made it way too easy to impersonate someone, breaks down and they're forced to go in without it. I was awed, impressed and kind of turned on. Testosterone flows through this film like a roid-raged deadweight lifter. I lost count of how many scenes have Tom Cruise running like a full-grown mountain lion was chasing him. Except he would be chasing the mountain lion because Tom Cruise doesn't play by the rules.

This fourth entry is fantastic, Simon Pegg is hilarious, Renner is a great addition, Patton looks great in a dress and Cruise is out there, brutalizing his body, to give us the very best in action sequences. The stylish directing of Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) is evident throughout the film and the beautiful camera work doesn't waste any scene.

Except for one. The very last one, where they have to nicely wrap everything up. But they didn't need to. And it just kept going. My friend next to me quietly pleaded, "Please stop talking." But Cruise and company just kept on chatting. It was awful.

But that is the only bad part in a film that is doing its very best to impress you. Luckily it succeeds and if this is the future of the series, I can't wait to see what they do next.

3.5 out of 4 stars

-Christopher O'Connell