Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol: Mike will kill me for saying this, but I actually enjoyed this MI more than MI3...granted the team doesn't have as much chemistry and the villain is a bit lame, it was just more watchable than the third installment for me. Three fails because it is too focused on the love story side and Ethan getting out of the game. It feels like a retirement picture at points. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the shizznog, and I adore him as Ethan's nemesis, but when compared to the watchability of Ghost Protocol, MI3 just lags.
Really, Ghost Protocol is a performance piece for Tom Cruise...to the point that it actually seems as if everyone else was told not to outshine him, particularly Jeremy Renner, who is capable of much better than this (see The Town). His side-story is weak and predictable and it's clear that from an acting standpoint he is trying particularly hard not to one-up Cruise's Ethan Hunt. Paula Patton isn't as fun as Maggie Q, but she does get some great hand-to-hand combat scenes in and Simon Pegg's Benji is a field agent now! Yay!
The action set pieces are outSTANDING and the ridiculousness level of the caper itself is at an all-time high reminiscent of something like Tom Clancy's The Sum of All Fears. Seriously. Someone blows up The Kremlin for Pete's sake. Nonetheless, for fans of the series this will more than suffice and as mentioned above the only significant drawback is a less-than-great villain. If Ghost Protocol had a baddie as wonderful and convincing as PSH from MI3 it would have just pushed it that much over the top. Lovie-dovie bits are-thankfully-only briefly mentioned and Cruise even gets to be in on the comedic relief at times. Any action-and gadget!-junkie will adore this film and it was definitely worth it to see it in Imax...(I can't believe I just said that)...however it really is good the second, third, etc. time around even on a much smaller screen in your own home. Pure Adrenalin. Pure Fun. What's not to love?
