MI4: Ghost Protocol is pretty sweet!

After watching Young Adult at the sneakeasy* last week, I couldn't resist the urge to sneak into Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. Besides having a long name that is nevertheless fun to say, Ghost Protocol is directed by one of the best storytellers in animation: Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, Ratatouille), and it was just starting as I was leaving Young Adult. It's like they WANTED me to sneak in and see it!


And I'm glad I followed the sparkly dust of synchronicity, because MI4:GP was awesome! It starts out with Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run) and fine ass Paula Patton (Deja Vu, Jumping the Broom, Idlewild) breaking Ethan Hunt out of a Russian prison. The movie hits the proverbial ground running and moves ahead at full speed from there without stopping.

Before long, Hunt and his team are on the track of a faceless Russian terrorist named Kobalt, who manages to frame Hunt and the entire IMF for a bombing of the Kremlin. Hunt doesn't bat an eye when he learns the President has enacted Ghost Protocol, disavowing the entire IMF in one shot. Sure, it cuts him off from hundreds of other agents and billions of dollars in technical support and safe houses... yeah, he knows Kobalt is planning to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon and no one else can stop him. No problem... He got this...

No matter what tabloids are saying at any given time, it's all hate: Tom Cruise is the mother effing MAN! He's only getting better as the definitive American answer to James Bond.They let Pegg's character Benji off the leash as a field agent this go-round, but he's still short on badassery and long on jokes. The plot holes were of tolerable size and placement for the genre, and there were tons of cool locations, cars and violence to make up for them!

Brad Bird does a commendable job keeping all the balls in the air.  The movie sags in the middle, but only slightly. And it's a beautiful-looking piece of work. If you're on the fence about watching it, I say check it out.