Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol-review

Shit! There go my keys.

If I were a Michael Bay fan I would be in love with this movie.  Why do I say that?  They rely a lot on racial stereotypes. The main character, goes though at least 5 big events that should have killed or crippled him. There is a lot of one liners and comic relief that is completely unneeded and unwanted.  Really this movie could have been stronger if it was just Tom Cruise passing the torch to Jeremy Renner.

I love the power glove. It's so bad.

On the plus side the talent is good and the effects are top notch. There are a lot of good scenes that are sort of gripping.  Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, hanging from Burj Khalifa in Dubai is a pretty stunning scene that looks impressive. I can honestly say that that is the first time I’ve ever seen it used in a movie, and considering it’s the largest man-made structure in the world that is sort of hardcore. 

As to the plot, it felt really pointless.  Ethan is broken out of prison by his IMF team. He goes on a mission to the Kremlin only to have it blow up around him. His team is blamed for it and he finds that he and his team needs to get nuclear launch codes from a older gent named Hendricks who plans on starting a total world war.  Some how in his mind he thinks this will cause world peace.  When your villain makes less sense than a James Bond villain it is time to consider a re-write.

The chaiwalah has done it again!

The biggest standout actors I remember were Jeremy Renner as Brandt, and Simon Pegg as Benji both played their roles well and were very likeable.  The biggest disappointments were Lea Seydoux as Sabine Moreau, a French assassin and Anil Kapoor as Brij Nath a rich and wildly over-the-top Indian businessman.  All these actors deserved WAY bigger parts than they got.  But Seydoux and Kappor really got shafted.  Both of these actors have done better things and shown much better range, Especially Kappor as the Regis Philbin type character Prem Kumar in “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir.

When I said earlier that this movie plays on racial stereotypes I meant in a very general sense.  Some times they will show the Kremlin and you’ll hear Russian singing and hear the stereotypical marching soldiers in a solid goosestep outside.  If it’s Dubai, it’s a herd of camels running through the sand. If it’s India you hear Bollywood music and see a bunch of dancing girls as if a musical is about to break out.  That is where Kapoor shows up as over-the-top billionaire version of Apu from “The Simpsons”.

The end of the movie feels empty and pointless. The fight scene is like something out of “Revenge of the Sith” with Yoda and Palpatine. At least the force would explain why an old man would be able to fight so well.  I have no idea why this guy is able to kick Ethan’s ass.  It’s all pretty bogus.  If you are a huge fan of this franchise then I’d give it a rental. However, I don’t think this one is worth the ticket price.