Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol follows the action/spy thriller formula to the letter. There’s not even a hint of straying outside the genre’s tropes. But they do it oh so well. Fight moves I’ve never seen before. Stunning photography. Chase scenes I’ve never seen before. Cool new gadgets you’ve never seen before that walk the line between plausibility and science fiction. Cool cars. Hot women. Lots of bling from all over the world. I had a damn good time at this movie and can heartily recommend it if you are looking for a good action movie.
The movie is well cast. Never been a big Tom Cruise fan, but this is a good role for him and the supporting cast holds their own in every scene, especially Paula Patton who plays on of Cruise’s team mates. She’s just as bad ass as he is and is not the typical withering female that you find in Bond movies. Simon Pegg is quickly sealing his title of geek of choice in the A List Actors league. And Jeremey Renner could easily carry his own action movie franchise.
Of course all those explosions of famous land marks, car chase scenes, building climbing, computer network hacks don’t leave much time for character development. The few seconds of poignant character background development are laughable, “yeah, whatever” moments in the film. That’s fine. No great loss. For what it is, Mission Impossible: ghost Protocol is a bang up good movie.