Mission Accomplished with Honors

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2011)

The first scene of Mission Impossible 4 features the niftiest spy gadget ever- a pellet sized object, which, when it hits the ground becomes a full size mattress to cushion the impact of a 50 feet fall, also allowing the opportunity to the agent to take down assailants during the fall. You know from that scene on that you are in for a very special "cruise".
Apologies for the pun, but Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is an impossibly fast film, so much so that the first time you get to time to think is around the halfway mark, when Tom Cruise successfully scales up and down the world's tallest building, manages to switch diamonds and nuclear codes, takes on a sandstorm of epic proportions only to let his nemesis slip out of his hand. While we all saw this coming as there were more minutes to the movie, what is special here is the relentless, adrenalin charged pace.
The plot's wafer-thin and incredulous itself- a demented Hendricks (played by Michael Nyqvist), wants to annihilate the world so that it can start all over again, and hence is in earnest need of some nukes. And all that stands between his quest and world obliteration is Ethan Hunt and his cronies. And what a fun gang is this one- Tom Cruise might have been stereotyped earlier in his career as a chocolate hero, but this series has infused fresh life in him, making him a stupendous action star despite his diminutive proportions. Even at 50, he proves he can give the young upstarts a run for their money with his kicks, punches, and manic chases. Paula Patton's Agent Jane is chameleon-esque- deadly one moment, and sexy vixen the other. Simon Pegg's Benji keeps all of us smiling, while brooding Jeremy Renner maybe an Academy Award nominated star, but here he does let down his hair a bit in the second half to go with the unbelievable flow.
The world is the playground for our heroes as the movie, which starts at Budapest, involves a jailbreak somewhere in Russia, an explosion in Kremlin, a lengthy chase sequence on top of the 830 mts Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, climaxes somewhere unnamed that the director wants us to believe is India, and ends quietly in the US.
"Blue is glue and red is dead", says Benji as he hands over a pair of spiderman gloves to Cruise for a gravity defying, heart in the mouth stunt sequence in the movie, which perhaps bests all in 2011. In fact the entire movie is a showcase for technology- cool gadgets, prototype BMWs, and adds a heady concoction of action in the form of death-defying stunts, fisticuffs, martial arts displays, gunfights, car and foot chases.
Which brings us to the weaknesses- as in most Hollywood action thrillers, everything is sacrificed at the altar of entertainment, with plans and super-plans executed to perfection with impeccable timing, and things going wrong only when the director decides to make life slightly difficult for our intrepid heroes. Anil Kapoor's "Hollywood" purported career defining role is perhaps the worst role he has taken up in his stellar resume, its worse than his turn in Tashan ;) And why the need of the India angle is any of the scenes were not going to be shot here? But the biggest flaw would be casting a dramatic actor of Nyqvist's stature in a pure action villain role. Check his intensity out in the Millennium trilogy and you will see what I mean.
Director Brad Bird has incredible credentials indeed, for afterall he directed the Pixar superhit The Incredibles, in addition to the charmingly funny Ratatouille, and what his animation background brings to the table is vivid imagination, so useful in filming the spellbinding action sequences.
To round off, Mission Impossible 4 is not only perfect weekend fare, by shaking and stirring some Bond and Bourne, it raises the bar for big budget action thrillers...Don't fiddle away your time this weekend, go watch,MI-4 and thank me for it later :)