Film Review - Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol is the fourth film in the Mission Impossible film series and once again Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, special agent for the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) and after a bomb goes off at the Kremlin in Russia, Hunt and his team played by Simon Pegg, Paula Patton & Jeremy Renner are disavowed, leaving them on their own to find who was really responsible.

Alright, now I went into this movie with next to no expectations, having not really seen the other films in the series nor was I really all that impressed with the previews for the film, but along I went and after two and a bit hours in the cinema, how did it go?

Well, lets just say that I'll start with the positives first, mainly the score by Michael Giacchino which combines very well the original MI theme which was composed by Lalo Schifrin and a beautiful Russian choir that reminded me of Basil Poledouris's choir for the Hunt for Red October, there's also a gripping scene involving the world's tallest building in Dubai that frankly, you need to see for yourself to get the full impact.

But the overriding feeling I got from this film was that I was bored, bored out of my mind, this joke of a plot feels like it was ripped from Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, not only that all Cruise seems to do in this film is "running, running, running, running, running, running, running" and boy does that get tiresome after a while.

But you know, there are three fundamental reasons why a spy film is good, very good, how do I know, let thee count the ways:

1. A Charismatic Hero: Yep, what you need first is a charismatic hero that the audience is willing to follow around on their mission, my favourite James Bond film is the Living Daylights for one reason: Timothy Dalton, he was suave, he was dashing, he moved with great grace and most of all he had that dark side to him which the Bond of the books always had, here Hunt is an uncharismatic bore and Cruise's age REALLY shows on his face in the film, frankly I hope its his last as I doubt he could continue on as an action man for much longer.

2. A good villain: I have said this before and I'll say it again folks, WRITE A FUCKING DECENT VILLAIN, Jesus Christ it can't be that hard now can it, I mean all the best action films succeed on this regard and here all Hunt and Co deal with is a bunch of Russian nobodies that you can't identify and aren't that threatening, apart from the fact that they hit people well and can shoot guns, whoop de fucking chook.

3. A proper plot: To use what is probably my favourite spy movie of all, 1990's The Hunt for Red October, as an example, the plot of that film concerned a secret Soviet sub that had a special silent drive system that could prove devastating if it fell into the wrong hands, here the gizmo of interest concerns a satellite that for all I care could power the Death Star, again some piddling missile has no threat, something Red October had in spades.

To be completely frank, do not see this movie, it's boring to sit through and a waste of your money, rent the Living Daylights and the Hunt for Red October instead, they're MUCH more worth your money than this tosh, .5 out of 5.