Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - 3 smiles

“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” is relentless in amping up the adrenalin with its eye-popping stunts, explosions, high-speed chases and a whole lot of suspension of disbelief. It’s wall-to-wall action with a little story thrown and at 133 minutes, it can be argued that there’s too much of it. The last half hour, when the scene moves to Mumbai seems a little anticlimactic when compared to the spectacular segments in Moscow and Dubai. Director Brad Bird, better known for his Oscar-winning The Incredibles and Ratatouille), proves he can handle the action genre, too. The film’s best sequence is the vertigo-inducing climb up Burj Khalifa in Dubai, best seen on the IMAX screen. And star Tom Cruise handles everything thrown at him with consummate skill and cool self-confidence. He is the reason to see this movie. Well, Tom Cruise and all of the dazzling stunts

Ethan Hunt (Cruise) opens the film in a Russian prison. Techie Benji (Simon Pegg) and an agent named Jane (Paula Patton) engineer a breakout. Later, Hunt is told he needs to break into the Kremlin and steal some nuclear missile codes. When the mission goes bad and the Kremlin blows up, Ethan is blamed and the team is disavowed. As it turns out, a crazed nuclear scientist (Michael Nyqvist from the Swedish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) has decided the world would be a better place after a nuclear holocaust so he’s planning to start World War III. And Ethan and the team have to stop him, but without outside support (remember, they were disavowed). This leads to some globe-trotting and risk-taking with newcomer Brandt (Jeremy Renner) joining the team. But you’re not supposed to notice that the team manages to get all kinds of sophisticated equipment and suites in expensive hotels without any outside support nor do they have to pay for the many expensive cars they destroy. “Ghost Protocol” is a top-notch popcorn movie and a great companion for a free afternoon. 12/18/11