Enjoy the workings of the mechanism

Rating: 7/10 (3 November 2019)

Watching Ghost Protocol is a bit look opening up a wind-up watch and observing all the little parts working away. There is a beauty to the structure that is interesting even though there's really nothing beyond that.
I hadn't meant to watch any more MI films after being underwhelmed by the first two, and only watched this because director Brad Bird has made some interesting movies (although he's written his best movies, and did not write this one).
Like the previous movies, the movie is visually monochromatic (even the Indian scenes use a limited color palette) and the characters are bland and muted. There are a lot of very popular action series I would describe this way (like the Bourne movies) so it's clearly something some people really like, but I like my action more colorful (i.e. Raiders of the Lost Ark or something by Jackie Chan).
What made the movie enjoyable was it's intricate action scenes, like a chase through a sandstorm and a fight in an automobile factory. Scenes like these were enjoyable pieces of clockwork, as is the script itself, which is a tightly constructed series of plans turning to disasters.
There is also a solid non-action sequence in a hotel that is the truest thing I've seen to the original TV series, which was not about action but was more of a series of fancy cons.
It's certainly not a great movie, but it is a mindlessly enjoyable one.