A mission worth accepting

There is always an allure that's attached to stories of secret agents. It's an adrenaline-blasting life for these heroes, filled with globe-trotting adventures, espionage intrigue, elaborate tasks and slick gizmos. Deranged villains bent on world domination seem to be one dangerous step ahead as the good guys try to catch up to them and thwart their devious plans.

Director Brad Bird (Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles) bestows all of this in his recharging of the Mission: Impossible film series, which is based on the 1960s-1970s television show of the same name. In the fourth entry, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, we're given a spy-thriller that comes packing with a brainy script, appealing leads, thrill-a-minute action scenes and death-defying stunt work.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team attempt to obtain a suitcase of codes that could help them locate a person-of-interest, nicknamed "Cobalt," from the Kremlin in Moscow. Before they are able to complete their mission, a bomb decimates the building. The blame is immediately placed on Hunt and his crew, and they are now forced to work in the shadows. They learn that "Cobalt" is Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), a Swedish-born Russian nuclear strategist, who wants to incite a global nuclear war to begin the next stage in human evolution, believing that only the strong can survive. It is now up to Ethan and his team to stop Hendricks before his plans come to fruition.

As highly expected for a Mission: Impossible film, the cast arrives locked and loaded. Cruise doesn't show any hint of slowing down, and is as on-the-go as ever. He gets pulled into most of the film's action-hero stuntwork, and follows through with as much dynamism and daredevil attitude as he carried back in 1996, when he accepted his mission in the first chapter. Jeremy Renner's character as William Brandt, an intelligence analyst, pulls us in with his quiet demeanor in his first scene, and manages to hold us as we try to figure out what he's hiding from the other characters. Paula Patton's role as IMF agent Jane Carter is very much in the tradition of a Bond Girl, being a tall and statuesque beauty that can bring the hurt to any fight. Simon Pegg is a hoot as the team's techno-whiz.

The action sequences fizzle with zing. The scene with Ethan climbing life-risking heights outside the Burj Khalifa hotel in Dubai is a highpoint, both for the movie and literally. The IMAX screen is the premium way to view this part. With the eye-popping heights of the screen and the
tower, you get that nervous and exhilerating feeling in your stomach you have when you peer out a window from a skyscraping building. The cinematography by Robert Elswit will make you want to grip your armrest like a child on monkey bars who is afraid of falling, as Ethan runs, jumps and swings his way through perilous elevations. The face-off between Ethan and Hendricks in a Mumbai car factory is one of the film's several superlative fight sequences, and is joyfully reminiscent of a scene in Cruise's 2002 sci-fi adventure, Minority Report.

Brad Bird could soon take a place at the table for Hollywood's go-to action directors. His Pixar superhero novelty from 2004, The Incredibles, gave audiences a sample of his aptitude for coalescing whiz-bang action thrills with layered narratives. With Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol being his first whack at a live-action project, it's clear that he can direct that type of storytelling as well as animated storytelling. The way Bird directs his action scenes allows them not to become too overblown, and they don't pummel the audience into a fit of migranes. They have the right length and style.

Andre Nemec's and Josh Appelbaum's screenplay evenly distributes the action scenes throughout the film. It has a fine stop-go pace, which allows for an action sequence to happen, and then it ends to permit more story information to come out and let the film move forward. It never gets boring because of this. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol isn't another dumbed-down action flick. It respects the fact that this type of film can still have an intricate story and an immense entertainment factor. If future installments can be as smart and fun as this one, I'm ready for the next mission.

This review will now self-destruct.

Final grade: A-