logan j. fowler and bill bodkin look at the fourth installment of the spy series …
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided: Theater (hopefully).
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has been on my “must-see” radar for a while since I first laid eyes on the trailer. It has some important key factors that places it closely behind The Muppets as my most anticipated for the fall movie season. While I haven’t seen a Mission Impossible film since the first one, this one has Brad Bird in the director’s chair. Big deal? Oh yeah. The guy has given the world three amazing animated films with the Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles, the latter being my favorite movie ever. Even with that element thrown into the pot already, Ghost Protocol’s cast has me severely interested. Simon Pegg? Josh Holloway? Jeremy Renner? It’s like a who’s who of my favorite actors, all together in one film. Cruise may be the lead, but these three dudes — along with director Bird — are the reasons behind my strong desire to check out Ghost Protocol come release. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch in the theater around when it drops.
— LJF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LQnQSrC-g
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided: Theater.
The Mission: Impossible series is one that’s been maligned by a poor second film and serious amount of public dislike of Tom Cruise. Case in point: Who actually saw the third film? Probably not a lot of people, and that’s a shame, because it’s actually a solid movie.
With that being said, Ghost Protocol should wipe away any ill feelings audiences have towards the series and its star. After viewing the trailer, it looks as though the series has returned to its roots — big time action, plot-based suspense and littered with an overly talented cast. The addition of the always solid and badass Jeremy Renner, the expansion on the comedic role of Simon Pegg and with Lost‘s always-charismatic Josh Holloway as a man of mystery, makes MI:4 more of an ensemble piece than just the Tom Cruise show and that’s why the first film worked so well. Ving Rhames, Jean Reno and Jon Voight were all vital, interesting and well-developed characters instead of the flimsy, underdeveloped IMF force that has accompanied Ethan Hunt (Cruise) on his last two missions.
With the cast tantalizing film nerds like me, the action is what is going to sell this to mainstream audiences. The Dubai building scene is the closest thing to the famed wire-work sequence in the first film. It’s something you really, really want to see, especially since you know Cruise did his own work. Also, the plot where the IMF team is branded terrorists and are being hunted, also really has sucked me in; again because it reminds me of the first film’s plot. We’re not given a lot of clues in the trailer thus enticing us to want to get into theaters and find out exactly what’s going on.
— BB
