Film Review: ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,’ starring Tom Cruise & Jeremy Renner

I’ll be honest and admit that I was never a big fan of the Mission: Impossible movies. My family loved them, and I remember as kid trying to be convinced into sitting and watching them. Hence, when I saw the first trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol I was very surprised. A Mission: Impossible film had finally piqued my interests. I couldn’t help but feel excited to see the film. When I did see it, the Mission: Impossible franchise seemed to do the impossible; it made me love one of its movies.

This new installment begins with breaking Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) out of a Russian jail. Immediately after, Hunt and his team are ordered to steal important documentation from the Kremlin. However, once in the middle of the mission, they realize they have been set up and leave the building before it blows up. Hunt and his team are now targeted as terrorists, and after being disavowed from the US government, it’s up to them to prove who the real mastermind of the bombing is and stop the villain from doing something even more terrible.

This movie is so ridiculously action-packed, and I loved every second of it. The stunts were incredible; that scene where Hunt is climbing that building is frightening and intense. The entire audience was sitting with bated breath, watching that scene and several others. Director Brad Bird directs those scenes with a swiftness and clarity that it seems so real, especially in IMAX. At first, Bird seemed like an odd choice to direct this movie. His previous films were Ratatouille and The Incredibles. Yet, he proved that he was the perfect choice to make this film, and I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it as well.

Tom Cruise is, in my opinion, one of the greatest action stars ever. He has the right amounts of charisma and audaciousness to play a character like Ethan Hunt and lead an action-packed film like this. The rest of the IMF team was excellently cast. Simon Pegg as the gadgets guy served us plenty of comic relief. Even Jeremy Renner was funny at some points and more than held his own next to Cruise. Same goes for Paula Patton, who was a great choice as the female team member.

Usually, I don’t care whether or not someone sees a movie in IMAX. But if you have the chance, this is definitely a film to see an IMAX. Much of the movie was filmed in IMAX, and those parts were very breathtaking (or breathtakingly scary) on an IMAX screen. I was almost convinced that I was hanging off a building with Cruise. Overall, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is everything an action flick should have: great stunts, story, acting and directing. If it made me a M:I fan, undoubtedly it would make you one too.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol starts playing in select IMAX theaters on Friday, December 16^th. It hits all theaters on December 21^st.