'Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol' a Fine Addition to Franchise

"Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" begins with an operation gone wrong in Budapest, followed by a prison break in Moscow. The IMF team will also visit Dubai and Mumbai before saving the world once again.

The twist in this fourth offering of the franchise, itself based on the popular 1960s spy drama, is that the entire IMF has been disavowed, having been blamed for the blowing up of the Kremlin. Add to that an insane mastermind who wants to start a global thermonuclear war and one gets a delightful roller coaster ride of a movie.

The old series was a pleasure to watch because each episode depicted the intricate unfolding of a plan that would distract and deceive that bad guy of the weak, usually making him defeat himself in the end. The movie series has largely eschewed that formula, opting for the more traditional spy/action drama with lots of stunts, car chases, explosions, and gun fights.

That is not to say that all the high tech equipment is not there. But in this movie, unlike in the series, the gadgets have developed a tendency to malfunction. Thus the IMF operatives, led again by Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, have to rely on training, experience, and their wits to save the day.

The plot is somewhat formulaic and familiar, as we have seen it before in several Bond films. Hendricks, the insane mastermind played by Michael Nygvist, is trying to get what he needs to launch a nuclear missile to start the end of the world, which he thinks is going to lead to a new, better world. The character is somewhat lower keyed that-say-Ernst Stavero Blofeld. But his motivations are similar.

Because of the fact they have been disavowed, Hunt and his team have to improvise and muddle through while every man's hand is turned against them. There are a number of hair breadth escapes and twists, caused by equipment going wrong at the worst possible moment, as well as by people showing up when they ought not to. And there is the obligatory can we disarm the nuclear weapon before it explodes, destroying everything.

All in all, this is a fine addition to the series, two or so hours well spent being entertained in the dark.

Source: Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, Yahoo Movies