Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Review

Tweet The first Mission: Impossible was an excellent film. It had good action, a well put together cast and was an entertaining flick. I haven’t seen the second Mission: Impossible in a long time, but I do remember it not being able to match up to its predecessor. Thankfully, the third installment revived the franchise, with a great performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman as the film’s villain, and great action throughout. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol builds on the action of the third film, has a stronger plot and adds Jeremy Renner to the cast. In the end, it comes out as the best Mission: Impossible film to date.

Tom Cruise returns as the film’s protagonist, but the movie is not as centered on his role and character as the past Mission: Impossible films have been. Ghost Protocol is about the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team and with the addition of Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and a greater role from Simon Pegg, the team performs admirably both in their individual roles and together, demonstrating great chemistry, especially between Cruise and Renner. Renner has typically played a bad-ass in all of his flims, making his shift to the action genre fairly simple. His performances in The Hurt Locker and The Town were both fantastic and were rewarded with Oscar nominations, and his impact is felt no less in Ghost Protocol than it was in either of those films. As he continues to develop and evolve as an actor, I am hoping Renner will continue getting deserving roles and offering his fans terrific performances. He will no doubt be able to successfully adapt to the Bourne franchise in next year’s The Bourne Legacy.

Tom Cruise is back to his usual self in this installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, as the action star we all know him to be. His performance is entertaining and Ethan Hunt is his most beloved character (although I really enjoyed him as Roy Miller in Knight and Day, in which he delivered a comedic action-packed performance – he’s the guy). Cruise and Renner have great chemistry and are a joy to watch together on the big screen. As for the other two IMF team members, Paula Patton plays her role very well as an ass-kicking agent and Simon Pegg is excellent as the film’s comic relief. Unlike the jokes in Transformers, the ones in Ghost Protocol don’t go too far and are well balanced.

Brad Bird has done a spectacular job with the film. His only other three directed films are all animated (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille), and he makes the switch to live action commendably with Ghost Protocol. The action sequences are filmed perfectly (by the way, Tom Cruise performed the stunt sequence outside the Burj Khalifa himself) and I hope he stays on as the next film’s director.

Ghost Protocol is also scored very well, and the music is fantastic. From Dean Martin to Michael Giacchino’s orchestrated pieces (Giacchino has been pretty spectacular in recent years), the music and sound in the film adds depth and allows for a greater experience and enjoyment of the film.

You know what you’re going to get when you go watch a Mission: Impossible film. Some scenes are difficult to believe (in the first film, Ethan Hunt gets chased by a helicopter in a tunnel while outside on a moving train), but you shouldn’t be expecting 100% realism with these films. Go and enjoy the ride. It’s an exciting and thrilling film, with excellent action scenes that will leave you on the edge of your seat. I look forward to a continuation in the franchise, with more unbelievably ridiculous stunt sequences from Tom Cruise. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is one of the best films of the year (and it is the best action film of the year), and I urge you to go see it. It’s also a bonus if you’ve been able to catch it in IMAX and witness the opening scene from The Dark Knight Rises.

Score: 8.5/10

Drive Review

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The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is nearing its end for the year, and it’s a shame that I’ve yet again managed to miss seeing one of its films. One of the most anticipated films, Drive, has been receiving positive critiques since its first showing, and has Canadian actor Ryan Gosling in the driver seat. I’m thankful that its theatrical release is not too distant from its TIFF release because it’s a film that should not go unnoticed by the general public. The film is similar to the Quentin Tarantino-directed Death Proof, starring Kurt Russell. It takes some time for the action to begin, but once it begins, it really begins; don’t expect a simple shooting or getaway scene. If you can’t handle violent and gory scenes, don’t check out Death Proof or Drive. However, the difference in quality between the two films is like day and night. I’m not a huge Tarantino fan, who has typically directed lower budget films with a lot of dialogue. While Death Proof is literally just dialogue for the first hour or so, Drive has very little talking, and it focuses on the relationship between Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Both of them are good actors, and you will stay entertained even while waiting for the action to being. Besides that, I actually consider Drive to be a good movie, while Death Proof to be relatively boring and lower in quality.

In Drive, Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver who works on the side as a driver for robbers; they go in, steal what they’re after, and he drives them to safety. After one job goes wrong, and this happens almost an hour into the film, he ends up being chased and hunted, and has to find a way out for himself. Gosling does not do very much talking in the film, and there are many silent scenes where the actors are simply exchanging looks. It works well, and it’s a nice change from the bigger Hollywood films that try to use dialogue to add humour and end up going overboard usually. Quieter films are fairly rare nowadays, and they usually end up receiving more acknowledgement form the Academy than the dialogue-filled films. One example is last year’s 127 Hours, which had James Franco stuck under a rock for over an hour. It was nominated for Best Picture, and I wouldn’t put it past the Academy to nominate Drive, as it should. The acting was good all over, from Gosling and Mulligan, to Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks. The latter three are veteran actors and you’d expect them to give good performances. As for Gosling and Mulligan, even with their limited talking in the film, there is evident chemistry between the two which only makes their scenes together more of a joy to watch.

Ryan Gosling is impressing in that he is able to almost completely transform his character from the beginning to the end of the movie. As you’ll see, he is nearly speechless in the majority of his scenes, but he goes from a calm speechless to a vicious and dangerous “not to be fucked with” speechless. He is the main reason to watch the film, aside from the direction, and delivers a worthy performance that should be noted by the Academy members.

The direction by Nicolas Winding Refn is terrific, with the murder scenes actually being visible, unlike in most other films. And Refn was also able to make the muted scenes entertaining to watch, which requires more than just good actors in those scenes. The soundtrack was from the 1980s, another nice change from the majority of the films being released today. There isn’t much I can say about the writing because of the limited dialogue in the film. I’m mainly impressed with the Refn’s directing, keeping the audience engaged and transitioning between certain scenes in an interesting way, and I hope he gets nominated for the Oscar he deserves.

I know that Drive is a great film because there aren’t many films I would pay to watch more than once. It has good actors, but it’s a lower budget and smaller film, close to an indie, with a good story, good performances and excellent direction, and there is no doubt that word-of-mouth will spread about how good Drive is. The only other films I’ve watched more than once have been blockbusters, so it’s nice to see a smaller film such as Drive joining that list. It’s not for everyone, especially those who can’t handle violent films, but it’s been some time since I’ve seen an Oscar-worthy film (and one that actually has a chance of winning – unlike Harry Potter, which still might not get nominated), and I can’t wait to see the other TIFF films I missed out on this year. Whether they’re as good as Drive, we shall find out soon enough.

Score: 9/10