Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Ethan Hunt and his team must stop Russian Nuclear launch codes from falling into the hands of terrorists.

As an action film goes, it was fine. Lot's of explosions and fights and car chases and daring improbable stunts but not a lot of logic. The usual. Spoiler for instance why don't you just go and see if the door to the server room is opened rather than climb on the outside of the world's tallest building? End Spoiler You never do get a sense of the bad guy. He's just someone with a briefcase you have to track down. They tried to give the film some dimension by adding in Ethan Hunt's back story, but that was like adding a trailer to the back of the maserati. Not that this film is a maserati. The best thing about the film was Simon Pegg. He added some much needed levity into this very serious film.

As a Mission Impossible mission, I still think they need to watch the series and figure out why it was popular. In the TV show it seemed they were successful because they tricked and fooled and were more clever than the bad guys. You never get that sense in the movies. It is just a race from one big action piece to the next.

And then there is Jeremy Renner, the man who could be at the center of a bunch of tent pole movie series. They want him to take over for Cruise in the Mission Impossible series. He took over for Matt Damon in the Bourne movies. And he is the Avengers and Thor. It must be good to be Jeremy Renner at the moment. Can't wait for that Hurt Locker sequel.

[Drunk Monk]

Of the MI movie franchise, this one felt the most like the original TV show, which isn't saying much because the prior 3 MI flicks had nothing to do with the original TV series except for a dance mix of the theme song. I liked the idea of the IMF finally being disavowed. The Dubai stunt wasn't the finale, which I also liked. I also enjoyed the footage of Dubai as it seems exotic, rich and a place I've never been. The international flavor, ala Bond, was fun and I especially liked that it came back to SF in the end. The dust storm was underwhelming after the 3D IMAX swordfight in Flying Swords at Dragon Gate. The new girl was disposable, so much so I'm not even going to bother finding out who she is. I kept wanting Renner to ask for chems ala Bourne Legacy. The villain was Michael Nyqvist, who I just saw in Abduction playing almost exactly the same role, so I didn't feel shied on his character; it just felt like more of the same. I totally agree with Greg in that Pegg was great. And Tom was Tom. It's absurd, as usual, from the opening scene (where the heck did that airbag come from?) but it moved along at a steady clip so there wasn't time to think too much. The Mumbai scene, well, Anil Kapoor is a major Bollywood star with over 100 films to his credit, so I could see them trying to play to that market. He was last seen in the US playing sort of the same character (rich Indian dude) in 24. But they didn't go anywhere near Mumbai. I've been to Mumbai. No way do they have a parking lot like that. There wasn't any cows. Mumbai is lousy with cows. It was way too clean in that Hollywood set sort of way. If I were Indian, wanted to see Anil in a Hollywood movie, I would have been laughing my ass off at how absurd the depiction of Mumbai was. In the end, it was distracting - worse ways to kill 2 hours - and I would have enjoyed it much more if there were swords in that parking lot. Would that have been a major logic leap? I think not. And it would have added so much value to the finale fight.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

So, I'm reading DM's review and all I could think was, 'There was a part of the film in Mumbai and San Francisco?' Scary. Either this is a testament to how memorable the movie was or how bad my memory is becoming. Although I remember Dubai and Moscow very well. I think partly that I remember Dubai because that is the part my old construction crew cohorts did.

[Drunk Monk]

After watching IM4, I was like 'wtf happened in IM3?' Fortunately I reviewed it here so I could check my DOOMemory banks. IM1 I remember because it was Depalma and they totally mucked up Phelps. MI2 had that absurd motorcycle duel and it was John Woo. IM3 was J.J. Abrams, which I knew, but forgot I knew. I also forget Maggie Q was in it.

[Drunk Monk]

Like I said, Mumbai didn't look anything like Mumbai, and even though you haven't been there, there's no reason for you to remember it beyond it being an exotic local. Only people that have been there bother to call it Mumbai. Most Westerners still call it Bombay. And the SF shot is at the very end when SPOILER the nuclear warhead chips the top of the transamerica pyramidEND SPOILER so that's totally forgettable.

As for me forgetting Maggie Q, that's a really bad sign. :oops:

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

If you asked me at gunpoint to give you the plots of the four prior films, I would be lying face down in the dirt with blood leaking from my temple.

That being said, I enjoyed this incarnation of the franchise. I think everyone is finally figuring out what an Mission Impossible movie is supposed to be. Or, probably, I'm just forgetting what made the series cool.

It's another round the world romp. From London to Morocco with points in between. In this case, the IMF force has been closed just as they are about ready to blow the lid off the syndicate. The Syndicate is the Mirror World version of the IMF force. They are out to do bad. Although they could do with a more menacing lead villain.

There were plenty of twists and turns and insane stunts. Much like the previous incarnations, Simon Pegg was the best thing about this film. Although in general the tone for this film was much lighter than previous films, too.

And dare I say it, I liked this film much better than Spectre, which wasn't that hard to best.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

The strongest of the franchise so far. Enjoyable.

[Drunk Monk]

As Serenity was to Star Wars Rebels, MI5 was to Spectre. IMF/00 being shut down as obsolete, Bond/Hunt goes rogue, helped convertly by secretary moneypenny/Renner & techie Q/pegg, working to uncover spectre/syndicate. This was funnier so more enjoyable. Tom & Simon had good comic chemistry (Craig is too serious as Bond now) - the humor covered the gaping plot holes.

S & T had both seen it before. I was trying to explain to T how the original series wasn't so bombastic - few fights or car chases - more psychological tension. She says she prefers when spies are more methodical so I'm going to make her watch some of the original series. Netflix used to have it but now it's only on iTunes in my platforms.

[King Bob]

Couldn't bring myself to see this one. Every TC film I see is worse than the last. And now he just sort of gives me the creeps.

[Greg]

I agree with you about TC with the exception of Edge of Tomorrow, the Groundhog Day of SciFi adventure films. It was on this weekend and I almost sat down to watch it for the tenth time because I enjoy it so. But I resisted and watched The Kingsman for the fifth time . . .