Luckily for Tom Cruise, “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” is one of his finest action flicks, just what’s needed to potentially restore some of this fallen star’s box-office bankability.
For director Brad Bird, though, the fourth “Mission,” rock-solid as it is, ranks only as his second-best action movie, after the animated smash “The Incredibles.”
Cruise may be the star here, but Bird’s the story, a director who’s only making his fourth movie and, remarkably, just his first live-action feature. This is the best of the “M:I” movies, far better than Brian De Palma’s original, No. 2 by John Woo and even the franchise’s previous high with No. 3 by J.J. Abrams.
Those three filmmakers had years and years of action stuff behind them with real, live actors. Yet along comes Bird to show that the talent behind his Oscar winners “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille” transfers mighty nicely from animation to the real world.
If you have the slightest fear of heights, grip the arm rests tightly and press both feet flatly to the floor during Cruise’s attempt to scale the world’s tallest building; even safe in your seat, an unnerving feeling of vertigo is bound to result as you stare down from the 130th floor.
For all the complexity of the action and gimmicks, Bird and screenwriters André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum (executive producers on Abrams’ “Alias”) wisely tell a simple, good-guys-against-bad-guys story. They keep Cruise surrounded by a tight, capable supporting cast in Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg, who co-starred in “Mission: Impossible III.”
Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is dispatched to infiltrate the Kremlin along with agents Jane Carter (Patton) and Benji Dunn (Pegg). But it’s all a setup by madman Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), who sets off a devastating explosion to cover his theft of a Russian nuclear launch device.
Cruise looks shaggy here, and sure, we could blame his bad haircut on the fact that Ethan’s just out of prison. But it doesn’t help an aging screen idol to look so unkempt; the “Mission: Impossible” world routinely defies reality, so would it have been so far-fetched for Ethan to stop by a salon before heading back into action?
Nyqvist, the male lead in the Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” shows hints of the unhinged villain he no doubt could play with relish. But he’s unfortunately shackled by a few brief scenes that never give him a chance to unleash his inner Blofeld.
“Ghost Protocol” ends with a talky epilogue that feels tacked-on and trite, though it offers a couple of cameos from “Mission” past. But whatever the movie’s shortcomings, director Bird more than compensates with a bullet train of action and an arsenal of cool gadgets.
PG-13. 2 hours, 12 minutes. At IMAX theaters; at more area theaters Wednesday.
