Light the fuse.
✯✯✯✯ 1/2
JJ Abrams and Brad Bird make a fantastic couple, and this film is living proof. Taking his own directorial cues from The Incredibles, Bird takes the series forward and upward, in a bid to reinvigorate the franchise with a fresh breath of new life. And, oh how he ever succeeds.
As I mentioned when I watched the third installment, Ghost Protocol is much more focused in its villain's threat than the older films were. The antagonist is still bent on the total annihilation of the world, and yet he knows the complex inner workings of our heroes and their organization, to the point where they are driven into an apparent inexistence. Bird takes some of the tropes from the classic Mission Impossible entries and puts a fresh new twist on them- things break, plans change on the fly. It gives a better sense of urgency and a greater possibility of failure than other entries have brought on.
Naturally, with a title like Mission: Impossible, there are several breathtaking scenes featuring practical stunts performed by Cruise himself, not least of which is hanging outside of the windows of the Burj Khalifa. There's no sense of safety in these scenes, and knowing that Tom Cruise did these stunts himself with nothing but wires brings it to Mad Max levels of insanity. There's a lot of action to be had in Ghost Protocol, and the story certainly doesn't take a back seat to these adrenaline-fueled moments.
I can't help but feel that this is a series that is progressively getting better with each installment. Barring the first film, everything after M:I2 seems to buildup, the threats and stakes getting higher, the feats seeming all the more impossible. As I get ready to go to the theater to watch the latest installment in this franchise which has surprisingly not burned out, I can't help but wonder how Cruise managed to up his game with the new sequel. Perhaps hanging off the side of a moving airplane and diving into deep water will prove to be even better and more exciting than the sequences in this film. I've only been truly disappointed in one or two Cruise films thus far, and I've no doubt that Rogue Nation proves to be the best M:I film yet. Let's just hope that I'm right this time.
I can't help but feel that this is a series that is progressively getting better with each installment. Barring the first film, everything after M:I2 seems to buildup, the threats and stakes getting higher, the feats seeming all the more impossible. As I get ready to go to the theater to watch the latest installment in this franchise which has surprisingly not burned out, I can't help but wonder how Cruise managed to up his game with the new sequel. Perhaps hanging off the side of a moving airplane and diving into deep water will prove to be even better and more exciting than the sequences in this film. I've only been truly disappointed in one or two Cruise films thus far, and I've no doubt that Rogue Nation proves to be the best M:I film yet. Let's just hope that I'm right this time.