Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol ☆☆☆☆

Now, I am not generally a Tom Cruise fan. Although I think his Lestat (Interview with the vampire) is still possibly the best incarnation of a vampire on screen, his general acting is pretty much the same in each movie. In real life I actually have no problem with him, I'm Atheist so not really that judgemental on Scientologists because, in essence, I don't 'get' any religion or faith so Scientology is as bizarre to me as Catholicism.

I have seen all three Mission: Impossibles prior to Ghost Protocol, but I have never gone out of my way to do so. In fact I think I have only paid to see Tom Cruise movies twice in my life (War of the Worlds where I was very disappointed the aliens did not go 'ooo-lah' and Minority Report). And having been not exactly overwhelmed by the previous three adventures of Ethan Hunt it took my sister basically rabbiting on about Mi4 so much that I gave in and watched it. Of course the addition of Jeremy Renner didn't hurt either.

My problem with the previous Mi's was that EVERYBODY seem to die except Tom Cruise.
Just to warn - mini SPOILER coming up.
Now in Ghost Protocol refreshingly not that many die, and the team he gathers around him seem to fair pretty well. I mean the Kremlin blows up and kills countless people but, you know, its the team that counts really.

So the plot, Ethan Hunt is busted out of a Russian prison by Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) and Paula Patton (a new one for me but she has been in Deja-vu and Precious) who are part of IMF, the super secret spy organisation from the USA that Hunt also works for. Pegg's Benji was previously in Mi3 and has now been upgraded to Field Agent, which automatically makes you fear for his life as British people are normally the enemy or get killed.
The mission, should Hunt choose to accept it, is to retrieve a set of nuclear missile launch codes that had been stolen a week before from another IMF agent, played all too briefly by Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost). Unfortunately whilst infiltrating the Kremlin it gets blown up and the IMF (and Hunt) framed for its destruction. So the IMF initiates Ghost Protocol where everything to do with the organisation disappears, including the agents, so Hunt has a decision to make - take the blame and go to prison indefinitely, or try to find out who is behind everything and stop nuclear war....no prizes for guessing which one he goes for.

Hunts new team consists of Pegg, who is quite funny and provides most of the comic relief, Patton - a woman who has lost someone dear to her and is bent on revenge, and finally Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker, Avengers), an analyst from IMF who is caught up in the mission by being in the wrong car at the right time.

I have much love for Jeremy Renner and I think without him I would have been even less likely to watch this film. His and Cruises' fight scenes (both with other people and each other) are well choreographed and executed, and Renner even gets to be the funny man a couple of times.

There are some extraordinary stunts going on in this film which are worth watching it for, including a well publicised one where Tom Cruise is climbing up a hotel in Dubai, of which I have seen the behind the scenes footage and he performed all of it bar a couple that involved broken glass. I actually had my hand on my mouth a few times.

As for the plot, yes its quite typical of a Mission: Impossible movie, in fact of any action film, and the special effects are pretty damn good, although at one point it does look like Cruise is trying to out-run a sandstorm. The back story isn't too laboured, Cruise's missing wife gets only a couple of mentions, and it was quite refreshing watching one of these films where he wasn't constantly looking out for the damsel in distress.

I did really enjoy the film, its director Brad Bird has a handful of hits under his belt now and made the move from animation to live action quite well. The cast had a lot to do with my enjoyment as without Pegg or Renner I think it would have been too generic, Patton did not add all that much to her role and you almost wonder what Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Colombiana) was doing which meant she could not be in the film.
The bad guy is played well by Swede Michael Nyqvist (orginal girl with the dragon tattoo films) but again its nothing extraordinary.

Watch this film for the stunts, Simon Pegg's third arm (not a euphemism I promise), and Jeremy Renner floating in mid-air Mi1 stylee. Its worth the four stars alone for those three things.