Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: Movie Review

Cast: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist

Director: Brad Bird

Your mission - should you choose to accept it.

Ethan Hunt's back in the fourth Mission Impossible outing - and what a return to form for the series.

When Ethan and his team are blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin as he carries out an undercover mission, the whole crew is disavowed by the US Government. However, it transpires the bombing is the work of a secret operative hellbent on unleashing nuclear war on the world.

So Ethan - along with his core crew of computer expert Benji (Pegg) and spy Jane (Patton)-  are forced to go rogue and clear their names, as well as stopping terror being unleashed on a global scale.

When it comes to the plot, this latest Mission Impossible is really nothing out of the ordinary; at the end of the day, it's an American secret agent forced undercover and facing overwhelming odds takes on a Russian agent and a mad scientist hellbent on nuclear destruction.

But what they've managed to do with this is turn it into a tightly produced, restrained and tense thriller which will have you on the edge of your seat.

From its opening scenes, where you're thrust directly into the action, it's clear Brad Bird and Tom Cruise have ramped up the stakes in this latest (seeing it on an IMAX screen will help too) when it comes to packing together a zippy film which is suspenseful, tense, adrenaline filled and slick in the extreme.

By dialling down the team to just four members as well, it gives the film a tauter, tighter edge and really does up the ante for character work; Simon Pegg's on great form as the edgy, nervy, quippy computer techie, Paula Patton's impressive as the get the job done spy who almost comes undone; and Jeremy Renner's got an air of mystery as Brandt, who is unwittingly caught up in the action. Nyqvist brings a cool crisp menace as Hendricks, the baddie of the piece.

But it's Cruise who impresses too - his aged Ethan, world weary in scenes and in control of others is a much improved Hunt that we've not really seen in the past films. The slightly harder edge makes him a great leader and gives the flick a much needed point of focus.

Plus throw in some truly impressive global set pieces - including an eye popping sequence on the exterior of Dubai's building, the tallest in the world - as well as some truly astounding technology and gadgets, and you've got the right recipe for a perfect thriller.

The only minor niggle is the film comes a little undone in its final climax, a jaunt to Mumbai which doesn't really pack the punch it needs after some two hours of thrills and spills - and it gives it the feeling of being a little longer than maybe it needs to be.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is the best of the franchise; your mission - and I dare you not accept it - is to catch one of the best action films of the summer while it's on the big screen.

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