More of the same.

Rating: 7/10 (31 March 2017)

Maybe it's because I've watched the first four M:I films in the last three days, but I'm starting to tire a little of the formula. I had high hopes that director Brad Bird's fourth instalment would continue the upward trend set by the other sequels, building on what had gone before, but it merely offers more of the same—which doesn't make it a bad movie, just not as satisfying as it might have been.
The film starts with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) escaping a Russian jail so that he can join an IMF team on a mission to infiltrate the Kremlin, which holds files that can identify the Russian extremist known as Cobalt. While they are there, Cobalt detonates a bomb, and the blast is blamed on the IMF agents, who are immediately disavowed. Hunt, accompanied by agents Jane (Paula Patton, supplying the eye candy), Benji (Simon Pegg, supplying the comic relief) and Brandt (Jeremy Renner) must now find Cobalt without the backing of the IMF before he can attain the codes needed to launch a nuclear missile and start WWIII.
As with part three, the pace for Ghost Protocol is pretty fast, with plenty of spectacular action scenes, but at 133 minutes long it all becomes a vacuous blur of high speed chases, shootouts and far-fetched stunts, with Cruise flashing his s**t-eating grin at regular intervals. The much touted sequence atop the Burj Khalifa tower is worth the price of admission alone, and the final smack-down in an automated underground multi-storey garage is rather ingenious and suitably gritty, but the other action set-pieces are largely forgettable.
Fans of the series thus far will no doubt have an enjoyable time with this undemanding slice of big-budget escapism, as did I, but don't expect anything truly outstanding.