Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (9/10)

Paramount is an oddly run studio. When I went to the screening at Paramount for Benjamin Button (2008), I asked for a list of cast and crew. I was told there wasn't one. I asked why not. They said they were trying to save money.

The film had a budget of over $100 million and they were saving 25 cents by not printing out the cast and crew for critics? There's some sort of common sense here?

I didn't get an invite to a media screening for this, so I asked around. Nobody I know got an invite to a screening and Paramount's reply was that there "were no more," which is a Clintonesque statement that implied there had been some, but I couldn't find anyone who went to one. One person told me that the press day was in Dubai. That would be a helpful place to have it if you were trying to keep most reviewers from seeing the film since most reviewers are located in Los Angeles and aren't employed by people who can afford to send a critic to Dubai. And there were reviews that appeared opening day, so there were some favored critics who somehow got to see it before it opened. Generally when a studio acts in this manner, the film stinks and they know it, so they don't want unfavorable reviews to spoil the opening weekend, when they expect to get all their money.

But that's not the case here. I paid my way in to see it and it was worth the price of admission. The plot is ridiculous, but the situations and stunts are rewarding. The tension is non stop and the cast, Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton, does a good job, especially Patton.

All the Mission Impossible plots are, well, impossible, but this one is unusually outlandish, something about a bad guy who has stolen Russian nuclear launch codes and Tom and the gang have to get to the guy before he uses them.

It abounds with plot holes. The beginning in which Cruise is sprung out of prison and then invades the Kremlin has them coming so fast that you just forget about reality and realize what you're seeing is as realistic as a Donald Duck cartoon. But that's why you go to see Mission Impossible films, to see Cruise and his pals accomplish the impossible, taking on odds that are worse than a million to one; not once but time and again. Just as one example, they've been disowned by the U.S. government and are absolutely all alone, but, lo and behold, they actually hop on a freight train in Russia that has a car that is filled with all their space age gear, and then they find the wherewithal to get to Dubai with a bunch of high tech, sophisticated gear to confront the villain!

But, who cares? The cinematography is rewarding enough for a travelogue. The good guy vs. the world with a hateful bad guy is involving. This is another film where you should just leave your brain at home, relax, and enjoy it.   

Run time 132 minutes

OK for children.

Tony Medley is a film critic accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America. His reviews may be read in several newspapers as well as on Rottentomatoes.com, the Movie Review Query Engine, mrqe.com, and at www.tonymedley.com. In addition, he’s written numerous newspaper and magazine articles for publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Magazine, The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and Good Housekeeping Magazine.          

Tony Medley is a Silver Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), an ACBL-certified Director, and the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge. With over 100,000 copies in print, it is the best selling basic bridge book. He is also the author of UCLA Basketball: The Real Story, available on Kindle, and Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, first published in 1978 and now in its third edition with over half a million copies in print, the first book ever written about the job interview for the interviewee.