Perdogg's review of "MI4:Ghost Protocols"

[Perdogg]

I had the opportunity to see the new Mission impossible movie since it opened 5 days earlier here in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Growing up, I remember when Mission Impossible was in syndication and would be shown in the afternoon after school. Even as an adult I have three seasons (1, 3, and 5) on DVD.

For those who never saw the original, the series revolved around a mythical agency called the IMF, or Impossible Mission Force. The team would be disavowed by “The Secretary” if caught led me to believe that this agency probably was part of the Department of State. The team consisted of specialists Barney Collier (Greg Norris) the Electrical-mechanical expert, Rollin Hand (Martin Landau) the Actor and Master of Disguise, Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus) the Muscleman, and Cinnamon Carter (Barbara Bain) the Honey trap. After season one, the team’s lead was James Phelps (Peter Graves) who replaced Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill of Law and Order fame). The show lasted for seven seasons, and eventually had a change of direction, crew, and even networks. After the spy genre die, the show started to reflect the current rise in crime in the US and focused on battling organized crime.

Mission impossible IV is the current sequel to the film series that started in 1996 with Hollywood mainstay Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The pre-title sequence starts out with an assassination in Hungary then switching to two members of IM Force (Simon Pegg and Paula Patton) trying to bust Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) out of a Moscow prison. It turns out that Ethan Hunt was ordered to be broken out of prison to prevent Russian nuclear codes from falling into the hands of a super smart Swede Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) who wants to blow up the world. This requires the team to go back to the Kremlin and get the matching codes before Hendricks can. Hendricks manages to steal the codes and cover his tracks by blowing up the Kremlin. Then the Secretary, who happens to be in Russia at the time, is ordered to invoked the “Ghost protocols” that dissolves the team during a limo meeting. In the process the Secretary is killed, leaving his executive William Brandt (Jeremy Remmer) to flee with Hunt and to join the team. From here the team, like the Fantastic Four, vow to stop Hendricks.

They concoct a plan to steal the codes in Dubai in the Burji Dubai, which leaves the audience with the only real suspense scene in the movie. The team then ends up at a swank party in Mumbai for the final showdown where at least we get to see very attractive Paula Patton in a gorgeous green dress. The Indian telecommunications executive is played by “Slumdog Millionaire’s” Anil Kappor. Who gives a comical performance not unlike Wayne Newton’s performance in the 1989 James Bond movie “License to Kill”. This all leads up to the final ending action sequence, which is so laughable and unbelievable and at no time will you ever feel “the mission” will fail. The problem this movie suffers for trying to do too much of the wrong thing. Simon Pegg is miscast and we don’t get any development of Hendrick. The movie lacks any quality that made “Mission: Impossible” good. It should not have had anything to do with “Mission: impossible”. If the writers really wanted a good movie based on the series they should have come up with something on the line “The Mind of Stefan Miklos” which was one of the best episodes of the series. One of things that made the original series so good was that you knew the team would succeed, but at least you had to sit on the edge of your seat and allow for the possibility of failure or see how amazed, not matter how realistic.

The movie as a brainless action movie is not all bad. All you see are explosions and gadgets, which are fine if that is all you, want to see. The refreshing thing about this movie is that there is no politics in this movie whatsoever. No Jumbos of Obama no digs at the Iraq war, and no digs at Vice President Cheney. Overall, if you want to relax your brain and just enjoy it for a ride, then go see this movie. If you are looking for a movie related to the original series, then decline the mission.

[ctdonath2]

“The movie lacks any quality that made “Mission: Impossible” good. It should not have had anything to do with “Mission: impossible”.”

For anyone not up to speed on the movies, that bit is key.

“Mission:Impossible” was the end of the series. Spoiler: everyone dies except Ethan. Series, as far as TV fans are concerned, is over.

That end spawned a similar, but different, movie series: “M:I-n”. There’s a main character named Ethan, and a lot of the gimmicks are the same, but otherwise it’s a different story line.

[Guenevere]

Thanks....I'm not a Cruise fan, but he 'delivers' on his movies and if I'm not mistaken (his weird Scientology antics notwithstanding) he keeps politics & stuff from his interviews....

I do want to see this...

..does anyone have a review of the latest Sherlock Holmes?

[papasmurf]

Thanks for the review. For me, all I ask for in movies and tv pprograms is to be entertained, and not brain washed. This sounds like it hits the mark.

[SunkenCiv]

:’) Thanks Perdogg.