Directed by Brad Bird

In Budapest, IMF agent Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway) is killed by assassin Sabine Moreau (Lea Seydoux). His teammates, including Jane Carter (Pamela Patton) and newly field-cleared Benj Dunn (Simon Pegg), find Ethan Hunt to help finish what he started. But a grieving Ethan is in a Russian prison and has no interest in leaving…

This is arguably the biggest of the movies, crammed from top to bottom with witty set pieces and action. The prison break set to ‘Ain’t That A Kick In The Head’ for timing will make Hudson Hawk fans smile, and the closing three-way gunfight/missile diffuse/car fight feels tight and dangerous in a way the series hasn’t always managed. But this is the movie people remember for the Burj Khalifa sequence and for good reason. The image of Tom Cruise, one-handedly climbing the tallest building on Earth is terrifying. But what makes it work is the same thing that makes the entire movie work, humanity.

This is the movie where nothing goes right. Mask machines break, human needs collide with mission briefs, tech fails and the team are anything but. Hunt is driven in a way he’s never been before, terse and closed off. Benji is desperate to please, desperate to not fail and straight up desperate. Patton’s Jane is the team’s doorkicker and her combination of style and burly physicality is one that the series really should have returned to. Best of all, Jeremy Renner plays delightfully against type as William Brandt, a fussy, prissy IMF bureaucrat with far more field experience than he wants to admit. On their own, on the run and on edge, these four gifted misfits go all out, rarely succeed but never stop. This is the movie where the franchise’s later fascination with the IMF as a group of individualistic warrior monks is born and it’s enormous fun to see play out.

For all this, there are a couple of wrinkles it’s hard to shake. Julia remains the character the series has done the least favours for and her reduction her to a silent cameo in the middle-distance plays into every one of the worst stereotypes of the genre. Similarly, Josh Holloway’s Trevor Hanaway being killed is a nice switch up for inciting incident but still leads to the team’s single female character being the one who acts emotionally. It’s mile away from the unpleasant tone of M:I2 but still within eyeline of it.

Verdict: Despite that, Ghost Protocol remains a witty, often very funny entry in the series and the best is still to come… 9/10

Alasdair Stuart

 

Highlights: The prison break, the surprisingly great version of the theme. Jane and Field Agent Benji, Brandt’s introduction, the world building.