60 Second Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
January 11, 2012 4 Comments
When did all movies start getting named like academic papers, with titles invariably followed by subtitles? It seems a bit ponderous, but despite the weight of the name, Hollywood still kicks academia’s ass when it comes to explosions, car chases, and aerial feats.
It’s getting harder and harder for me to separate Tom Cruise from the characters he plays. It’s that Cruise Intensity that makes him a movie star. Here he is from a recent documentary, on his way to an audition in his early years:
The latest Mission Impossible goes back to the Bond formula, conniving to bring back Cold War tropes. The Russians as adversaries! The threat of nuclear war! The psychopathic enemy who is somehow able to use reason in every facet of his life except for his insane desire to kill off humanity! Ridiculous foreign people who are easily fooled by the pretty pretty ladies!
The movie is largely about technology, and using advanced technology to fight other advanced technology, which makes technology itself kind of ominous. And attractive. And specific. Would you like to drive through a blinding Dubai sandstorm in a luxury BMW? Or would you prefer to save the world with an iPhone that inexplicably never drops its signal?
And do you remember the rise of the action movie catchphrase, in the 1980s? Well, maybe it started with Dirty Harry in 1971, and maybe it’s time to retire the action movie catchphrase. I swear, this was the action phrase given the greatest weight in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol (and I quote):
“I’m taking that briefcase.”
Final verdict? MI4 had lots to ridicule, but was also highly entertaining, with a steady dose of adrenaline-induced fun.
– All of the 60 Second Movie Reviews can be found here.
About Matthew
One thing it has on Bond: sparkly, crackly queer flirtation between men.
Didn’t you hear Cruise yell “Hot Targets!”?
Nothing with Simon Pegg in it can be that bad.
I admit that it was touch-and-go for a while in “M:I – GP”, but I was able to overlook the bonkers technology, goofy Apple product placement and improbability of Ethan Hunt being alive after the final action sequence in the ten-years-hence futuristic car park to sit back and enjoy the insanity of it all. Brad Bird knows action, that much is clear.
Better villains next time, though: When are we going to get a rogue financial institution trying to start World War 3 to jump-start their stock price?
I have to agree that Simon Pegg is that man that makes everything taste better! And your idea of a new-and-improved villain makes me think of how Pegg already played that embodiment of corporate evil in Dr. Who, no?