Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible series. However, that's changing.

I LOVED the Hell out of the first installment and I still think it's the best in the series. It has a complexity while staying relatively simple (compared to the rest) that I don't think any of the other adventures have captured. And while I liked the third installment, I did not think it was the end-all, be-all that so many made it out to be.

My main problem with the series has always been Tom Cruise.

Let me explain, because I'm not a Cruise hater. Yes, I think he's nuts, but I also think he's a great actor who is extremely entertaining. Some of my favorite movies include Cruise, i.e. Vanilla Sky, Legend, Top Gun, Jerry Maguire, Days of Thunder, etc.

The problem I've had with Cruise and Mission: Impossible is that he's a very charismatic one-man show. I don't know if Cruise himself demanded the attention he's gotten from these movies or if it was the studio that has only ever green-lighted the projects if Cruise was in them.

Did Cruise just want his own American Bond series or did the studio project this? Because AT THE END OF THE DAY, Mission: Impossible was always a show/story about a TEAM.

So it's taken me quite a bit of time to warm up to this main character of Ethan Hunt who can almost seemingly do everything on his own. Don't like it. Want a team. And not just a team, but an ENSEMBLE.

We can debate about how these movies have given me more of what I want as the episodes have gone by and how that may or may not have been due to Cruise's involvement as he's become more of a producer within the productions. The point is:

Ghost Protocol is GOOD.

No matter how you feel about any of the Impossible movies, they've always had amazingly strong and brilliant directors behind them. The first was directed by Brain DePalma, the second by John Woo, the third by J.J. Abrams, and Ghost Protocol is the first live-action venture from the genius that is Brad Bird.

Don't know who Brad Bird is? He's the guy who gave us:

AND:

He's a visionary director who NEEDED to step-up and make a live-action feature. His visuals and ideas demand it.

The whole time I was watching Ghost Protocol I reflected back on a review that I think might have been written by Harry Knowles (from Aint It Cool News) that basically said that the Incredibles was a movie that featured a plot device that any modern day Bond movie WISHED it had. I thought the same thing of this movie. Coupled with the action and characters, it was all just a gigantic plus of fun.

Besides the fun of the set-pieces and over all storyline, there was another part to this movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and that I was worried about from the outset:

Jeremy Renner

First off, I've though Renner was a good actor for years, having noticed him in bit parts years before he was finally graced with Oscar attention. But that's just it, once Oscar notices you, so does Hollywood and regardless of whether you deserve it or not, they come knocking at your door for every part imaginable.

Renner is perfect proof of this (as one could argue, so is Matt Damon) as he's going to be in all sorts of projects in the next year from Hawkeye in the Avengers to the new Bourne character in whatever they call the new Bourne movie. He's even in a new, gritty, updated fairy tale story that has the elder Hansel and Gretel going into the forests to hunt witches.

Usually he plays the hard-ass tough guy (which is one of the reasons I don't like him for every project imaginable because he doesn't play tough very convincingly and only comes off as a douche to me) like in the Town (phenomenal movie btdubs).

In Ghost Protocol, one could argue that Renner plays against type and everything you've seen from the trailers is wrong. He does this really interesting thing with his voice and he downplays everything to the point that he comes off like this totally nice, soft-spoken, extremely sympathetic character that you root for and love. He does something really remarkable here. He doesn't play a sidekick to Cruise, but he doesn't compete with him either. I found myself disbelieving how much I liked him.

Renner has finally sold me as Hollywood's go-to guy. He's THAT likable in this movie.

Believe the hype. The guy has got the goods and I'm glad he's not just a one-trick pony...I was going to be worried about his portrayal of Hawkeye for a second there...then again, Hawkeye's kind of a douche, so whatever.

I'm getting off-track.

Bottom line, check Ghost Protocol out. It's a fun flick.

I don't look like this NOW, so basically I'm in trouble when I hit my fifties...

8 / 10