David O'ConnellMission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
December 19th 2011 04:36
Rightly lauded for his work as a director of animation, Brad Bird has made a seamless transition to live-action filmmaking with what is, finally, another redeemable Mission Impossible franchise entry. He's following in the footsteps of some heavy-hitters too: Brian De Palma who helmed the series' mediocre but serviceable big screen debut, John Woo who made the lamentable sequel and J.J. Abrams, given the responsibility for retooling the series for a seemingly extraneous third film.
Bird’s three animated films are all exceptional in their way, especially his masterful debut The Iron Giant (1999), which is arguably still his best film. His work for Pixar followed with the crowd-pleasing The Incredibles (2004), and then Ratatouille (2007), a film he assumed lead duties on relatively late in the game and yet was able to transform into a highlight of the Pixar canon.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) delivers nothing out of the ordinary; it's essentially an overblown, cartoonish romp allowing star Tom Cruise to take off his top, leap tall buildings in a single bound, utilise the latest in snazzy gadgetry, and still find time to showcase his ridiculous running style. As Ethan Hunt he's seen in the opening sequence being freed from a Russian jail by his crew, but after a bungled infiltration of the Kremlin, in which a dastardly Euro-terrorist (Michael Nyqvist) gets his hands on some nuclear codes, his IMF team has its official status revoked.
Bird stages the set-pieces like an action veteran with Ethan’s vertigo-inducing spiderman-imitation up the side of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, a stomach-churning highlight. Hunt’s select team all contribute various complementary skills to the missions with Paula Patton’s Jane predictably used as seductive bait whilst just as predictably Simon Pegg’s expert computer hacker Benji provides the welcome comic relief. Jeremy Renner rounds out the foursome with his strong presence as Brandt, a shady analyst unwittingly entering the fold after his superior is murdering whilst conferring with Ethan, sending them all into exile.
Musically the film begins, as it should, with a suave rendition of Lalo Schifrin’s iconic theme before composer Michael Giacchino, as he did so brilliantly in Abrams’ film, unleashes a rhythmic barrage of pulsating ostinatos to underscore the frenzied action scenes.
The film is far from groundbreaking but the input from a new director has seemingly enlivened a flailing franchise – for the moment - with its emphasis on pure entertainment values. It does feel about 20 minutes overdrawn however, with the finale race-to-beat-the-countdown almost mundane in its predictability. Perhaps a relatively scaled down drama would have offered more of a true challenge for Bird as a live-action helmer. With the technical challenges of a mass-market action flick convincingly conquered, maybe now we’ll see him moving in that direction. Then again, if Ghost Protocol nears the verge of categorical financial success, you wouldn’t bet on it.
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
I am yet to put a review on Orble, being too busy, however, what got my goat was the missile, they totally abandoned reality with that one, which annoyed me more than the other nonsense, but, it isn't meant to be rocket science, as I put in my mag review, but, they could at least respect the intelligence of the average punter these days!
cheers
fog
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic