Mission: Impossible (Ghost Protocol)

Like the new direction and I'm eager to see Brad Bird's work

Looks ok...I loved the original entry and LOVED MI-3 with JJ Abrams directing. KInd of hoped JJ would be at the helm with this one....but looks good. The girl appears to be from the movie Deja Vu?

All 3 of these in the series have been solid with part 2 being the least favorite but still intriguing.

I thought the first was closest to the spirit of ths show, except making Jim Phelps the bad guy did not sit well with me.  While 2 and 3 are not bad, they are more of the Tom Cruise spy movie rather than the ensemble it is supposed to be.

 

On a side note, NetFlix streams the entire TV series in HD and is immensely enjoyable so one can see how the IMF works as a team.

 

I hope the latest installment goes in that direction... based on the trailer, it is possible.

Sonofabitch, it's Sawyer!

I thought the first one wasn't even close to the spirit of the show. It had Tom Cruise as the master spy with a bunch of hired guns to help out and not a team of spies working together on the same side. The movie seemed to make it pretty clear in the first 10 minutes that it was going to be pretty much only about Cruise.

I saw the trailer for MI-4 and I was intrigued but since 2 & 3 were even more Tom Cruise front and center, I figure this one won't be any different, which sucks because Simon Pegg is in it.

When the trailer first mention Ghost Protocol I thought it was going to be a trailer about a movie based upon the Ghost Recon video games.

Actually, I thought out of all three M:I movies, the third one did the best job of showcasing the "team effort" in the various "ops", particularly the Vatican infiltration.

I'm looking forward to Ghost Protocol. I just hope it isn't as bad as the second movie. Ugh.

 

My big thought about it is this - in this film, it looks like Tom Cruise is being framed for something he didn't do, and on the run. Which is pretty much what happened in the first film and the third film. It'd be cool if they could do one of these where that particular plot element wasn't part of the storyline.

True, but consider that three of the four Alien films followed the same basic storyline:

Fighting an alien/aliens, deciding you can't win, so let's just blow the place up and get to our escape ship just in the nick of time, but wait, the Alien snuck on board, so now we have to kill it by blowing it out into space.

 

Yes, it may be a tired formula, but it's one that has proven to provide an entertaining story.

 

The second M:I may have had the more unique story (and I had no problems with that aspect of the film), but to me it was the worst of the bunch just for the sheer number of eye rollingly absurd stunts, and Woo's tendency to suddenly smack his "signature" in the middle of a sequence (doves, slow motion, etc.).  The style got in the way of the story, IMO.

 

Will be interesting to see how this shapes up.  I'm intrigued for sure, but will try to keep my expectations in check.

we also have mi:2 to thank for giving us hugh jackman as wolverine since dougray scott wasn't released in time.

I didn't see a thread for the next film in this series so I'm posting a comment here if it's OK. I caught the trailer for M:I 4 last weekend and, while I love the films so far, I can't say I'm thrilled about this next installment. I hope the rap music playing over it isn't an indication of an "urbanization" of the series. And Ving Rhames was nowhere to be found - was he dropped from the film ?

Moderator's note: Luis's post has been moved from another thread.

Ving Rhames is listed in the cast according to IMDB.  It would be a shame for him to be missing.

 

As for the music, thankfully since music is often not completed until just before release, the music used in the trailers is 99% of the time not indicative of the final product.

 

In fact, Michael Giacchino is the composer for this film and I have the highest regard for his musical style.  I have not heard anything of his that I didn't enjoy - even his lone track for "Cloverfield" is a fun listen.  He has a more "old school" orchestral style than most other composers working today.  I wouldn't sweat it one bit.

When I saw the trailer for this film in front of "Transformers 3" I thought it had been edited by someone with a bad case of ADD. That is saying something considering that I then sat through a 2.5 hour movie that looked like it had been edited with a meat cleaver. Is Brad Bird actually directing this thing?

I definitely think you are wrong calling John Woo a lousy director.

For what it's worth, I believe that directors are rarely involved in cutting trailers so the marketing department might be the ones with the case of ADD rather than the filmmakers. That being said, it's also possible that the movie is as rapidly (and poorly) edited as the trailer.

Granted, his Hollywood output has been less than stellar, but I blame the Hollywood machine for that. Hollywood looks for directors with unique vision and then tries its level best to pummel out whatever made them special in the first place. Look at Wolfgang Petersen. Das Boot is a great film. He goes to Hollywood and not one of his films has ever come close to the greatness that was DB.

I was fortunate to just catch this at a preview showing.

 

Pretty damned good, I must say.  Plenty of humour, although I wonder if that's to everybody's taste in the M:I oeuvre?  Not being someone who watched the original TV series, I don't know whether it's appropriate or not, but it would have fit a Bond movie.

 

And just to pick up on some critiques of earlier installments, this didn't play as superspy Hunt with a few hired hands: the rest played their part.  Quite a bit of heart in it too, although to say more would be spoiler-ish -- is this to be the discussion thread or review thread?

 

As for Rhames -- minor spoiler but it's already been mentioned in the press -- his appearance is just a cameo.  And there's another cameo right at the end, which lends this movie some of the heart mentioned above.

 

Action sequences: when you get to film for real outside the tallest building in the world, expect plenty of it.  And with BMW product placement so front-and-centre (the preview screening I attended was organised by the local BMW importer), expect plenty of vehicular mayhem as well.  In a good way.

I agree with this. Strip away all of the background of the Hunt character and it more or less followed the format of the show. Everything from the party scene where Billy Crudup's agent relays the mission to the beat where the rigged car explodes and covers their escape could have been an episode of the show.

I saw a limited screening last night.     Since I didn't have to sign anything that says "don't talk" etc. and no one said anything of the sort, all I can say is this: it's the best MI film so far, and it's not even close.  Not even close.   The pace is breakneck, the action actually works rather then just seeming like moments to derail your thought, it's an integral part of the story; and the camera work is fantastic.

 

I'm sure others will disagree, but strong recommend here.   It's one of the better action films I've seen all year.

Glad to hear such positive things. I've never been much of a fan of the M:I movies (the second was, perhaps, the worst movie I have ever seen), but, like many movie aficionados I know, I am very curious to see Brad Bird's live-action debut. His three animated films were all outstanding.

 

 

I'm seeing it tomorrow, and I've been excited about it ever since Brad Bird signed on. If that man refuses to do one thing, it's to do stupid things in his movies. All three of his animated films are smart films. I trust that this is true with MI:GP, and it sounds like that trust has been well founded.

 

I really like the first film, though it has dated fairly badly. The second films is forgettable. The third film was really solid. But I suspect that I'll be agreeing with Matt after tomorrow that the 4th is the best, simply because I know Bird will deliver.

 

Hey leave Face/Off alone. That flick is Citizen Kane compared to the rest of that dreck.
 

 

So far probably the best action film for me this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

This is a big action flick with some bits of personal motivations sprinkled throughout to keep us invested in the newly put together IMF team. It's filled with spectacle and moves rather briskly, almost too briskly, but I still appreciated the pacing as it could have settled into a maudlin tone otherwise. I saw it on IMAX and the larger IMAX footage on the screen does work to bring you along right into the various action sequences and the sound system delivered on the kinetic and dramatic impact of the audio from explosions, and collisions.

Director Brad Bird has a nice visual eye and it shows in his live-action debut by appreciating the scope of the perilous situations and giving the viewer enough visual evidence to heighten the dramatic tension. Tom Cruise brings his reliable portrayal of Ethan Hunt, and the script saddles him and his team (Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, and Simon Pegg) with challenges that rarely go as planned, a final objective that is nigh impossible to achieve, and that keeps things flowing.

It's sheer movie entertainment, delivered on its promise and premise of the Mission Impossible franchise, and will be a crowd pleaser for the holiday audiences.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Bit disappointed about Ving Rhames having just a cameo appearance in Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, as (and correct me if I'm wrong) he had been in the first three modern day Mission: Impossible films (a two-part story from the original TV series' second season, "The Council", was released in cinemas as Mission: Impossible vs The Mob).

 

Actually quite like the second film in the series with Dougray Scott. One of the highlights for me in that film was the motorcycle chase.

 

But anyway, going back to the fourth film...may see this at the cinema eventually.

Brad Bird delivered, big time. Saw this in IMAX, and the Dubai sequence on the skyscraper is eye popping. There's a shot where the IMAX camera passes over Tom Cruise's head and out the window, slowly panning down, and it's dizzying on the big screen. And kudos to Bird for not going 3D. Simon Pegg is terrific, and the movie is a lot funnier than some of his comedies (Run Fatboy Run comes to mind). I liked that while his character was comic relief, he was also (mostly) a competent field agent and a full fledged part of the team, and at no point does the comedy detract from the action. The mix of action and comedy reminded me more of The Incredibles than the previous MI movies, which is a great thing in my book. If the movie missed anything, it maybe lacked a strong villain -- certainly nobody to rival the incredible performance Philip Seymour Hoffman logged in MI:3. Also, while Jeremy Renner was fine in the movie, the material didn't really let him shine as he has in Hurt Locker or The Town -- wouldn't want to upstage Mr. Cruise, now.