Dec 28, 2011

BP Film Review: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

(Image from Movieweb.com)

IMDB Plot Summery 
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

Expectations…
It’s kind of a funny thing. I’ve never really thought much of the Mission Impossible movies. I thought they were fun to a degree, but I always felt they were just a little too over-the-top, and just found it tough to take them seriously. But after several years of pretty much every action movie being over-the-top (each one trying desperately to out-top each other) I actually found myself looking forward to revisiting the franchise that, in my opinion, got the ridiculously-exaggerated-action-sequence ball rolling.

Entertainment Value…
Being that the days of expecting action heroes to stay relatively grounded in reality are gone, part of the appeal of the Mission Impossible movies will now mainly be seeing just how “impossible” (hence how visually amazing) the missions will get. As far as entertainment value, Ghost Protocol does not disappoint.

Overall…
Mission Impossible; Ghost Protocol is essentially a live-action animated movie. Everything about this film, from its world-destroying villain to the high tech toys, and elaborate action sequences seem to be taken straight out of a comic book plot (which is not necessarily a bad thing). As mentioned, I’m convinced all expectations for this, and future Mission Impossible films will now revolve around visuals and their overall “thrill ride” experience, which Ghost Protocol has plenty of. It was a nice change to see that a lot more attention is given to the rest of the members of the IMF team (IMF is the agency Super Agent Ethan Hunt works for) allowing for a little more emotional attachment to some of the character (but not much). Needless to say, the plot is pretty unextraordinary, a simple “stop the bad guy from destroying the world”, with a few twists introduced mainly to justify another action sequence. Overall, I would say a ticket buying audience accepting Ghost Protocol for what it is obviously intended to be ( a visual thrill ride), and not expecting much more (a grounded in reality spy thriller) will enjoy a very entertaining and amusing movie going experience.

The Good…
Ghost Protocol is a thrill ride featuring some pretty amazing visuals.

The Not So Good…
The Plot can be hard to follow due to several relatively unexplained twists, and confusing character motivations.

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