Now Playing: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

Before I started this whole project of watching a movie every day, I had already started wanting to catch up on movies that I had missed out on. Because of this, last year I burned through quite a few titles that I had missed, Mission: Impossible 3 being one of them. It had shocked me with how great it was, and so when I heard there was going to be a fourth film, I was very excited. Today I got the chance to check out Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol with a friend. While I didn't get to see it in IMAX, I did see it in Cineplex Ultra AVX, which is sort of an IMAXlight. So should you head out to see the latest Mission: Impossible film? Hit the jump and find out!


The story is explained quite well in the trailers, but if you haven't already seen them, let me clear it up. The Kremlin has just been bombed, and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has been accused of the act. This causes the President of the United States to enact "Ghost Protocol" which immediately shuts down the IMF and disavows all knowledge of the entire program and all of its operatives. If Ethan and his new team are going to get out of this alive, and clear IMF's name, they'll have to go rogue after the man responsible, but now without the resources and back-up usually provided by IMF.

Plenty of awesome secret agent stuff going on!

I don't think the stunts and action screens have been bigger than what you'll see in this movie. It's possible a bit too much is given away in the trailer, but there was still plenty to keep me at the edge of my seat. There were certainly a number of scenes that had me forgetting to breathe because the tension was so high! Don't think that all the tension is caused just by crazy stunts though. There are plenty of tense moments that are all about interactions just with people.

Jeremy Renner as Agent Brandt

There are both new faces as well as some familiar ones in this new entry in the franchise. Along with Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg rejoins the cast as Benji, finally being let out into the field. Benji was introduced in M:I3 as a kooky IMF computer expert who provided back-up from the safety of IMF HQ. Now he's out in the field helping them directly, and boy am I glad, because Benji is a great character!

The first new face belongs to the stunning Paula Patton. She plays Jane, the agent sent in to directly help Ethan in the field while Benji takes care of the tech. I thought she was cool, but she didn't have much of a story to her beyond being back-up, but damn if she isn't sexy! Finally we have Jeremy Renner, playing Agent Brandt. He's more than he first appears, and has an interesting back story which is revealed during the course of the movie. Seeing Renner like this just has me more excited to see him as Hawkeye in Avengers next year. This guy is awesome!

Always handy to have a disarmingly attractive woman to help infiltrate a party

Something I didn't really expect to find was that the movie had a few funny moments. This is largely in part due to Simon Pegg. The film is definitely more geared towards action and thrills, but there were enough bits that gave me a laugh that I thought I'd bring it up.

The last thing I want to bring up is how cool the tech, gizmos and gadgets are. It's funny that they say they don't have access to any support with IMF gone, but they sure do have a stockpile of plenty of crazy stuff! Ignoring the fact that they had all this stuff, I was just having fun seeing all of it, especially their concept BMW Vision car!

If you think it looks cool here, you should see it in motion!

Even with raised expectations, I had a blast with this thrilling, mile-a-minute, action loaded movie! Filled with cool stunts, fun action, fast chases and gorgeous everything, this is a hard movie not to have fun watching. Seeing it in Ultra AVX was amazing, but I bet IMAX is even better! Don't miss this one. It's absolutely worth seeing in the theater, even with the higher prices that come with AVX and IMAX. This is possibly the best Mission: Impossible film yet, so don't hesitate, and have fun!