Mission Accomplished

Rating: 7/10 (15 December 2011)

Greetings again from the darkness. You should know that as serious as I am about movies, I am perfectly comfortable accepting the Mission Impossible franchise for what it is ... a thrilling roller coaster ride of breathtaking stunts, outlandish missions, stunning visuals, bone-jarring fights, and above all else, Tom Cruise. Mr. Cruise is back in his element as Agent Ethan Hunt ... equal parts sleuth, cage fighter and super hero.
This is the fourth installment of the re-boot which began in 1996. Cruise was in his mid-30's then, and is pushing 50 now. In remarkable physical condition, he seems to take great pride in his ability to pull off these fantastic stunts. However, he tops them all here as he hangs from the world's tallest building - Burj Khalifa in Dubai. This is one of the most impressive action stunt sequences ever seen, with multiple camera angles that will definitely jar your senses if you are the least bit sensitive to heights. This alone is worth the price of admission.
No need to go into much detail as the plot/mission is as ridiculous as the others in the franchise. Ethan's team is made up of computer geek and walking one-liner Simon Pegg as Benji; Paula Patton (Precious) as Jane (must have a pretty woman); and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as Brandt, the world's most dangerous "analyst". This team is chasing after Michael Nyqvist (Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), who plays Hendricks ... a European loony trying to nuke the world for no apparent reason. To get to Hendricks, the team must go through a filthy rich playboy played by Amil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and a trained assassin played by Lea Seydoux (Midnight in Paris).
This latest installment is directed by Brad Bird, straight from Pixar via Ratatouille and The Incredibles, both of which prepared him for this first live action thriller. With an eye for action sequences and a feel for lapses in dialogue, Mr. Bird's first live action outing is quite impressive. Plus, he included an endless stream of gadgets, technology, fight scenes and crazy stunts. My only real complaint is that the iconic Lalo Schifrin theme song never really cuts loose like it should. Still, if you liked the first three, you will like this one.