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| MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE GHOST PROTOCOL (2011)
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SBD Star Rating:
by Nik Khosla
View Credits | See Other Reviews
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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol has received positive reviews from critics with many citing it as the best installment of the franchise. Brad Bird, the animation director behind The Incredibles, makes his live-action directing debut. Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, who is broken out of a Moscow prison at the start of the film by IMF cohorts Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) Agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton). The mission does not go according to plan and the team is blackballed when Ghost Protocol is invoked: The United States government disavows the team and Hunt and company are left to their own resources to save the world. Along for the ride is desk-agent Brandt (Jeremy Renner) as the team track a rogue “specialist in nuclear end-game theory” (Michael Nyqvist) who’s acquiring launch codes with the intention of provoking an atomic apocalypse. The action spreads from Russia to Dubai via Mumbai, culminating in a death defying scale up the tallest building in the world, the 163-story Burj Khalifa. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone comments "this is Cruise's show and the actor brings the role a startling athletic grace and becoming maturity. If someone asks you what a true movie star is, point to Cruise." Manohla Dargis of New York Times is similarly positive saying the film "gets back to action basics with globe- trotting, nifty gadgets, high-flying stunts and less loquacious villainy." Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times praises the directing saying "Bird has done a stylish and involving job here, turning in an entertaining production that's got considerable visual flair, especially in its action-heavy Imax sections." Nick Pinkerton of Village Voice comments "If the M:I films are immune to the tarnish on the Cruise brand, it's precisely because their spectacle requires us to be impressed by Ethan Hunt, not to like him." Overall the film is likely to be a success and as Andrew O'Heihir of Salon.com says "the most exciting action flick of the year, by a huge margin." |
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