Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011):

Starring:

Tom Cruise - Ethan Hunt

Paula Patton - Jane Carter

Simon Pegg - Benji Dunn

Jeremy Renner - William Brandt

Michael Nyqvist - Kurt Hendricks

Vladimir Mashkob - Anatoly Sidorov

Samuli Edelmann - Wistrom

Anil Kapoor - Brij Nath

Lea Seydoux - Sabine Moreau

Josh Holloway - Trevor Hanaway

Miraj Grbic - Bogdan

Tom Wilkinson - IMF Secretary (Cameo)

Ving Rhames - Luther Stickell (Cameo)

Director:

Brad Bird (Ratatouille; The Incredibles; Iron Giant)

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Flixster: 85%

Synopsis:

When a bomb destroys the Kremlin, the IMF is blamed and its members labeled as terrorists intent on inciting a global nuclear war. Ethan Hunt and his team must unravel the conspiracy. 

Review:

To go with the current trends of furthering trilogies into quadrilogies or more here comes Mission Impossible 4. When they extend some of them, they are really just grasping at straws with the studios desperately trying to bring in money from things that were great before so they hope that another one will be great (see Men In Black III). Sometimes they fail miserably (Indiana Jones 4) & sometimes they completely surpass expectations (Fast Five). I had my doubts about seeing this at first. Wasn't quite sure what to expect. Tom Cruise is NOT one of my favourite actors, yet he is in a lot of movie's that I love. So now that he will turn 50 in July, wasn't sure that doing an action film of this magnitude after doing some non-action roles was the right choice. However, I was gladly mistaken. Sure maybe he has an old man body now, with saggy pecks & no definition. Maybe he is starting to get the "Shawn Michaels" look. (His eyes are starting to wander to the middle) but he is still somehow able to pull off some major physical action throughout the entire film. Great action sequences, even paying homage to earlier Mission movie by having him hanging from the side of a building Ala the cliff scene in #2. Awesome fight sequences all around, great shoot em ups too. Cast is full of great actors from top to bottom. You've got the top level actors like Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg & Tom Wilkinson in a cameo role. Then you have established foreign actors like Indian actor Anil Kapoor, who is best known by us whitey's as the host of the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" In Slumdog Millionaire. This brings me to the best performance of the film by far which is Swedish actor & the man who is the BETTER & Original Mikael Blomqvist in the Swedish version of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" & subsequent sequels, Michael Nyqvist who really does bring you back to the days of evil European super villains from the 80's & 90's. Does a really good job. Simon Pegg ads great comedic relief like he did in #3. Lost cast member Josh Holloway (Sawyer and/or Ford and/or Lafleur) has a smaller role but it's great to see him in mainstream film. A few babes are also involved in this film. Paula Patton (who you might know from Hitch & Deja Vu) is super sexy & you have new comer & sexy French actress Lea Seydoux. The plot however did kind of feel like I have seen it before & was slightly unoriginal. I will inform you now that the final showdown between Cruise's character & Nyqvist's character is unbelievable. Without giving it away it is incredibly done & takes place in a car garage in Dubai. The film is shot in great locations all over the world including Russia, India & Dubai. Director Brad Bird, who oddly enough is known for his animated films, transitions to major action films with flawless precision. Going from animated to action cannot be easy, also taking over the reigns of an established franchise, give mad props to Mr. Bird. If your looking for a great action film. SEE THIS FILM!!

96%

Lead Acting: 14/15
Supporting Cast: 14/15
Plot: 9/10
Compared To The Genre: 10/10
Cinematography: 20/20
Intrigue: 19/20
Extra: 10/10