Ethan Hunt is Back in Action ...

Author: Prince AJB (la vaaâche !)
17 December 2011

... and he's climbing the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai. Not only he's ascending the super-tall structure, he's going to infiltrate the Kremlin in Moscow, chase people in a huge sandstorm, and of course ... save the world.

The story: the IMF is accused for bombing the Kremlin, although they were not actually the perpetrators. Due to this, the IMF is shut down and "Operation Ghost Protocol" is launched with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Jane Carter (Paula Patton), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and William Brandt(Jeremy Renner), a group of 4 people being what is left of the IMF. Together, they find that there was another person behind the bombing code-named "Cobalt" and he has a plan to ignite a nuclear war which he believes would begin the next stage of human evolution.

From beginning to end, I was hooked by all the action scenes. The action scenes and all the moves are spectacular. The hand-to-hand combats, the chase scenes, the gunfights are very well-done and spectacular. The cinematography was excellent and one of the best in years. Of course, the Burj Khalifa scene was the trademark of the whole film. Ethan Hunt climbing the Burj Khalifa was thrilling enough. But with a limited time, having trouble going back down, and running around and swinging around the structure just quickens the pace of the story and makes the scene very stylish. This scene is just outstanding and will be one of the highlights of the film.

The acting was very well-done. After 5 years of absence in the series, Tom Cruise still got his spy skills here. Paula Patton's bad girl character is very well-played. Simon Pegg as the clumsy-but-genius Benji Dunn was amazing. Jeremy Renner as the so-called-analyst-but- actually-IMF-agent William Brandt was stunning and great. The performances of the actors/actresses are very strong and convincing.I love the technology used in this film. They are just unreal. A device that lets you float using magnetic attraction.

A device that copies the scenery behind and displays it into a screen that allows you to deceive other people who are looking at the screen. A suit that turns into a casual jacket when you wear it inside-out. All of these devices are creatively made and looking at them being operated is just so fun. And be sure to see the amazing BMW Vision (a futuristic, BMW concept car) in a scene set in Dubai. (Also, this movie is keen about BMWs.)

The mission tactics are also ingenious. The tactics are very smart and are very entertaining. How they create diversions in the most unlikely situations and the scenes involving the composition of a plan keep the film in a constant quick pace and increases the suspense of the film. When they take their tactics into action, that's where they get more interesting.

The comedy here adds up the fun in this film. Sometimes, prolonged scenes of action are just too noisy and make the movie feel plain. But not here. The comedy scenes here act as intervals between so we don't always see long, noisy, and bloated action scenes (major trouble of "Transformers") and make sure that we have a perfect dose of both.

All these elements are very well-done and balanced and together form a suspenseful, fast-paced, and thrilling, yet funny action ride worth to experience. I think we should thank genius director Brad Bird for successfully revitalizing the movie series. This movie is just brilliant and I think it's because of Bird's genius directing. Final Verdict: With fast-paced directing by Brad Bird and exciting action sequences, yet with funny moments, this movie is a thrilling ride worth to experience.

Rating: 10/10

It is PROTOCOL to watch it!

Author: devopamb from India
14 June 2012

YES! Finally a good no-nonsense Cruise starrer action thriller. No lovey-dovey stuff like the last one, no attempts to show how charismatic Ethan Hunt is neither are there any obvious attempts to portray how cool he is. A good old action movie with Tom Cruise doing what he is known for best: Action!

This one's got everything an action thriller could ask for; guns, flying fists, explosions, cool gadgets, sexy cars, the occasional unanticipated startles, hot chicks, sandstorms, jumping off tall buildings (I think jumping off tall things has always been an MI trademark), also the very much needed occasional comic relief, very occasional (which is good). And this one actually has a decent enough story!

Every single actor in the movie has acted brilliantly. Paula Patton was very natural in her acting, Simon Pegg (the Hot Fuzz guy) was hilarious as usual with his well timed one liners and Jeremy Renner was surprisingly good! (all 3 part of Ethan Hunts team). Not to mention Anil Kapoor!Oh and Anil Kapoor! Obviously he has been the talk of town for this movie. His character in the movie and his acting (however little its duration) has been spot on and he delivers on the character. His part in the movie will certainly be one of the highlights when you leave the theater. Oh and the portrayal of Mumbai has been quite unique indeed.

I won't spill the beans on the story but I am sure you know the gist of it from the trailers, a certain KABOOM'ing of the Kremlin puts Ethan Hunt in a tough spot and he is being chased down by Russians for something he hasn't done, so he needs to set it right and the only way he can do that is by starring in this awesome movie.All in all Ghost Protocol is hands down the best one yet from the Mission Impossible series mainly because it is different from its predecessors (thank GOD for that).

It is jam packed with action from the very first scene till the last and is filled with insane stunts, gadgets, car chases (sweet ones). It is fast paced and has a good enough story with a script that will keep you in the loop. This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout and not give you a seconds stare away from the screen. The audience actually went "what? Not NOW!" when the interval screen came up! Yes, it was THAT good.Well done Cruise.

Trivia
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-Tom Cruise performed the sequence where Ethan Hunt scales the outside of the Burj Khalifa tower himself without the use of a stunt double. The Burj Khalifa tower is the tallest building in the world.
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-Jeremy Renner does the signature jump-and-hang-in-air stunt that Tom Cruise did in Mission: Impossible (1996).
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-The high-tech car that 'Ethan Hunt' drives near the end of the film is the Vision Efficient Dynamics concept car. It is an actual prototype of the BMW i8 plug-in hybrid that will enter production in late 2013. The concept car is powered by a 1.5 liter three-cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine and two electric motors.
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-The actor that hands Ethan the black mask to place over his head to meet the arms dealer appeared in the first Mission: Impossible (1996) movie, giving him the same style mask when he is being taken to meet Max, an arms dealer.
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_-The indoor water fountains in the Indian Palace use special laminar flow nozzles to launch streams of water with no turbulence. Special valves are used to "cut" the water into discrete segments. Similar fountain technology is used in the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas.
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-The windows removed from Burj Khalifa were carefully chipped away by two workers with hammers, working from a window washing platform outside the building.
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-The code Ethan uses at the pay phone to get his latest mission is actor Tom Cruise's birthday, 07362.
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-The cars visible in the moving-camera shot of valet parking in Mumbai are, in counterclockwise order from bottom left: Ferrari Enzo, Mercedes Benz SL 65 AMG Black Series, Bugatti Veyron 16.4, Ferrari F430, Aston Martin Vantage, Aston Martin DB9, BMW M6, and three white Rolls Royce Phantoms.
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-Anthony Mackie, Christopher Egan, Kevin Zegers, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy were considered to play Brandt.
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-The Burj Khalifa Hotel mentioned in the movie is the Armani Hotel Dubai - the first hotel designed and developed by Giorgio Armani.
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-In the scene when Ethan is taken to see the Russian arms dealer by the guy Ethan helped break out of the Russian prison, the wooden crates in the background are clearly stamped with the name, "Yu-ri" in letters from the Korean alphabet. Yuri (after Yuri Gorbachev) is the name often used in fictional and real-life spy books and movies to refer to Russian and/or Soviet spies, or the former KGB in general.
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-The IMF team makes extensive use of Apple products, such as the iPhone, the iPad and the MacBook Air. Producer J.J. Abrams is a vocal supporter of Apple products.
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-This is the first film to use the 100th Anniversary Paramount logo. Each movie in the MI series has used a different Paramount logo.
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-Was originally targeted for a mid-May 2011 release, with J.J. Abrams to direct. However, pre-production delays and script rewrites delayed the film, while at the same time, Abrams was busy working on his Super 8 (2011) film, prompting him to back out from directing, but still remain on producing duties.
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-Jeremy Renner was offered the role of Jackson Lamb in Super 8 (2011) (eventually taken by Kyle Chandler) but took the role of Brandt when J.J Abrams told him that Tom Cruise and Brad Bird were interested with him. When accepting the role, Renner was only briefed on the film and character outline as there was no script at that point.
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-The class ring Trevor Hanaway (Josh Holloway) uses to tranquilize the courier is a Jostens Magnum class ring with a sapphire stone.
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-The film made $693 million at the box office worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing installment in the franchise. It also surpassed La guerre des mondes (2005) to become Tom Cruise's highest grossing film as of 2012.
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-The first Mission: Impossible film not to be produced by Paula Wagner.
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-Brad Bird's live-action directorial debut.
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-Kristin Kreuk and Lauren German were considered to play Jane Carter.
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-Jacinda Barrett auditioned for a role and even revealed some information about the project's reboot direction.
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The Indian Palace Scene was shot in Zabeel Saray Palm Jumeirah (Dubai). The hotel was still under soft pre-opening during the shooting period, which took three days.
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In its 425-theater opening weekend, it grossed $13 million, setting the record of the highest-grossing opening weekend in less than 600 theaters (previously held by Bridget Jones: L'âge de raison (2004)).
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-Ruben Fleischer and Edgar Wright (a friend of Simon Pegg) were also considered for directing duties. Wright backed out as he was in post-production of Scott Pilgrim (2010). Brad Bird was selected because of his work on Les indestructibles (2004), which also contains similar themes of espionage. Michael Giacchino, the film's composer also previously worked with Bird on that film and Ratatouille (2007).
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-This is the first film in the series to be released in IMAX.
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-In Dubai, Tom Cruise is wearing a pair of glasses seen briefly in the train when the team is arming up for the mission. The same glasses are worn while scaling the hotel and are in fact Oakley Split Jackets, modified of course. They have clear frames with a special wind gasket and elastic strap which you can get for the standard models. Unfortunately, the glasses featured in the movie are one of a kind and are not available to the public.
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When Benji (Simon Pegg) was addressed by his call sign Pluto, he replies, "Isn't Pluto no longer a planet?". This is factually true. On 13 September 2006, the IAU (International Astronomers Union) declared Pluto a non-planet status as it fails one of the three conditions for a definition of a planet.
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-Michael Giacchino is the first composer to score more than one movie of the series.
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-Director Trademark
Brad Bird:  [A113]  Ethan Hunt's code number, and the number seen on a class ring. A113 is a frequent Pixar in-joke based on one of the room numbers for the animation program at Cal Arts. Brad Bird worked for Pixar, and he has worked an "A113" reference into every one of his feature films, as well as some of his television work.
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Spoilers
The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

-Jeremy Renner's character Brandt, was specifically created as the eventual replacement for Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt for when Cruise decides to step away from the franchise.
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-As seen in the final shot of the second theatrical trailer, a big missile flies over San Francisco and apparently heads towards the Emeryville area - the location of Pixar headquarters.
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-At the end of the film, Ethan receives instructions for his next mission, which involves a terrorist organization called "the Syndicate." This is a nod to the original 1966 Mission impossible (1966) television series, where the Syndicate was the Mafia-like crime empire used as an enemy for most of IMF's domestic-based missions.
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-The building grazed by the warhead is the Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco's signature skyscraper. The windowless cap at the top is covered by aluminum panels and is only decorative, containing no office space.
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-In an interesting nod to the first Mission: Impossible (1996) film, Ethan reveals to Brandt that the Croatia disaster and Julie's death was faked in order to flush out a mole. In the first film, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) told Ethan the same thing behind the Prague assignment disaster.
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-This is the first installment in the series where none of the villains are, or used to be, IMF agents.
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-Only Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames have been featured in all four Mission: Impossible films, while Simon Pegg and Michelle Monaghan are the only actors (besides Cruise and Rhames) to reprise their roles from the prior third installment Mission: Impossible III (2006).