Plenty of action, but doesn't live up to all the hype

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2012)

¨Mission accomplished¨
The fourth installment of the Mission Impossible franchise has finally arrived after five long years. It's been so long that I really don't remember much of what happened in the latest mission, but it isn't that important because these movies stand on their own. The first Mission Impossible film came out way back in 1996 and now fifteen years later the mission continues with Tom Cruise as the lead character once again, although this time they brought in a new director: Brad Bird. Bird is known mostly for his direction in animated films such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille, but he proves with Ghost Protocol that he can make an entertaining action film as well. There are some really great choreographed action scenes in this film with good visual effects. The story is entertaining, although cartoonish at times. One thing is for sure, you won't be bored with this latest installment because there is plenty of action going around. I still don't think the film is as brilliant as many people are saying it is. It works as a summer popcorn movie, but it isn't much more than that. It definitely won't be memorable or even rank among my favorite films of the year, but I still enjoyed this action film. One of the problems I had with this movie was the pace of the film; the story is really long and at some points I felt it was dragging a bit. The final action scene was a little over the top as well and it felt like it would never end. There were also some corny moments in the dialogue from the screenplay which was written by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, but the film worked thanks to some entertaining actions scenes, and Tom Cruise proves he's an action star as well.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back in action once again with yet another mission that seems impossible, but this time he will have to work with a different team and without the help of the IMF division because it has been disavowed by the American President after a mission goes wrong in Russia and relations between both countries seem to hang by a very thin thread. At the beginning of the movie Ethan is in a prison in Moscow and has to be rescued by other IMF field agents, Benji (Simon Pegg) and Jane (Paula Patton). Once they free Ethan, the three team up for an important mission in Russia where they are ordered to infiltrate the Kremlin archives, but something goes wrong when someone else steals the files they're looking for and alerts the Russian police that Ethan is inside the building. Ethan manages to escape, but right after he does the entire building blows up and Ethan is the prime suspect, although in order to not stir up the public the Russian government claims the explosion was due to a gas leak accident. This is where the relations between the US and Russia government reaches its boiling point and Ethan must find the person behind the betrayal before a nuclear war begins. The search takes them from one location to the next so we get to see Ethan and his team climbing the world's tallest building in Dubai first and later ending up in Bombay. IMF intelligence analyst, William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), joins the team and embarks in this mission impossible.
There are plenty of thrills and emotional moments during the movie, but despite the fact that it's entertaining I still felt like there were some dull moments that could've been cut out from this over two hour long film. Tom Cruise is back doing what he does best; it's always good to see him in these action roles (despite the fact that he has a peculiar form of running) and he was great in the Dubai scene. Jeremy Renner was also a great addition; he's been on a real role ever since the Hurt Locker. Simon Pegg provides the comedy needed in these action films to break down the tension, and Paula Patton was much more than just eye candy; she could kick some butt. I also liked to see Michael Nyqvist in the villain role after his work in the Swedish Millennium trilogy. Mission Impossible had everything it needed to succeed: action stars, great action scenes, and some comedic relief, but I still felt like something was missing. I don't think this is the best film of the franchise, but it's still worth the watch. You will be entertained, just don't expect it to be one of best action films of the year. I had a lot more fun with Fast Five than I did with Ghost Protocol. I'm glad however that Tom Cruise is back making some entertaining movies and doing what he does best.
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