After watching “Mission: Impossible II” (2000) in theaters soon after its release date of May 24, 2000, I decided not to see anymore then promised to return once the franchise was on its last film. Time to pay the piper and (re)watch the existing entire franchise, seven movies, before “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (2025) is released on May 23, 2025 (or more specifically before my screening on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. First, “A Minecraft Movie” (2025) and now this! What I do for the love of the game! I’m probably the only person not into this franchise.
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” (2011) is the fourth of eight movies that reboot the television series. When a mission does not go as expected, and the President of the United States disavows the entire Impossible Missions Force (“IMF”), the unofficial mission is for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team to stop a nuclear bomb, prevent World War III and clear IMF’s name. Will they succeed on the run as wanted terrorists without support and resources?
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” feels like a sequel to “Mission: Impossible III” (2006) but would have made a perfect reboot first movie. Cruise is not as hot as he was in “Mission: Impossible II,” but he is close. His hair comes below the ears but is not shoulder length. With a tank top and some nice fitting suits, Cruise is definitely giving movie star, and the acting is on point although it strains suspension of disbelief that Ethan is so good with accents that Russians would not peg him as an American. The action is better, and even though prior movies were shot in foreign locations, they did not feel like it whereas this entry felt international probably because actors from each region were more involved, not just Americans playing in a different background!
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” felt like a real spy thriller that happens to be the latest Cruise movie, not the latest Cruise action film pretending to be a spy thriller. While Woo creates more lyrical images, first time live action feature director Brad Bird, who normally does cartoon work, gets action on a practical, storytelling level. Hopefully it was his choice, but he has not done a lot of directing since. It was also cowriters Josh Applebaum and André Nemec’s first feature film, and I have no idea why they were not invited back to do every subsequent movie in the franchise. That team was golden! Every action sequence is good and beats the prior one, which is saying something since one includes a massive explosion at the Kremlin. It is hard to beat “Mission: Impossible II” free soloing, but this movie does repeatedly emphasize man-made obstacles that should lead to certain death. Scaling the smooth side of a Dubai skyscraper is only one example, and somehow the denouement obstacles are harder even though on paper, a parking garage does not sound so terrifying, but it is automated, involves a scuffle for a silver briefcase and a madman trying to kill the hero. Ethan gets hurt a few times and reacts as if he could die.
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” was even better than its immediate predecessor in creating a team dynamic without requiring the actors to stifle their best performance to give Cruise more of the limelight. Finally, a woman agent is not a disguised damsel in distress and is not sexualized excessively. Paula Patton, who is gorgeous, but not the best actor, is actually perfect as Agent Jane Carter, and I’m not just saying that because of her character’s name (think MCU). She is excellent at action, and her character gets a tailor-made antagonist, assassin Sabine Moreau (Léa Seydoux, who would later join the Bond franchise starting with “Spectre”)!
Josh Holloway opens “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” as a misdirect that any viewer could initially mistake his character, Agent Hanaway, as Ethan. Holloway’s performance also proves that if Cruise ever stops playing Ethan, a lesser-known American actor with charisma could assume the mantle like the Bond rotation and give every region of the nation a turn. It was a memorable performance and made me want to see more.
Simon Pegg returns as tech support turned field agent Benji Dunn. The beloved Pegg is a great comedic actor, but he is probably the weakest link in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.” Ever since he started making money, he is not as good. Pegg and Frost need each other. Pegg functions less as comedic relief and more as an additional obstacle for Ethan to work around so Ethan seems less indomitable. He made me miss Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell, who only appears at the end of the movie to meet the new team. Dunn has better chemistry with Analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), a man who would prefer not to be in the field. Casting Renner was a daring move since Renner’s star power may not equal Cruise’s, but his critical acclaim does. Renner would later join two franchises as a lesser Bourne and in the MCU as Hawkeye, which has been somewhat thankless. Renner is the real comedic relief as an agent who has the same moves as Ethan, but thinks it is insane to execute them and is a ball buster. Also, he acts his ass off more than necessary. Other than Renner’s star turn, it is impossible to imagine why this team composition did not stick.
While no one can beat Hoffman’s villain performance in “Mission: Impossible III,” Michael Nyqvist comes close as Hendricks, the Swedish mad man who wants to blow up the world so human beings can evolve, which is very Dark Enlightenment of him. Hendricks feels as if he was originally supposed to be in a Bond movie. Nyqvist was such an amazing actor that it is a treat to find a movie with him that I have not seen before. His physical confrontation with Cruise was not as ridiculous as the one with Jon Voight in “Mission: Impossible” (1996), but it comes close until you remember that crazy can amplify muscle power.
In an uncredited role, Tom Wilkinson steals the spotlight as the IMF Secretary. His speech made me not hate the protagonist as a top suspect, the overrated, overused trope because it was a wink wink, nudge nudge situation. Three out of four movies in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is predicated on Ethan being wanted, but I will sign a waiver here because at least he is wanted in Russia. Russian SVR (Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, aka Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, KGB’s heir) agent Anatoly Sidorov (Vladimir Mashkov), who was a great foil for Ethan because he is less intense and more amused at Ethan’s death-defying antics. He would rather smoke than chase Ethan, but he will do it. It was also nice to briefly have a normal family in the mix.
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” is the new gold standard after watching four of the eight movies. The rest of the ranking is “Mission: Impossible II,” “Mission: Impossible III” and “Mission: Impossible” (1996). The latter two could be deleted, and I would not care. Favorite Cruise films for context (not in a particular order or an exhaustive list): “Interview with the Vampire” (1994), “Magnolia” (1999), “Collateral” (2004) and “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014). To be fair, I tend to stay away from spending money on anyone who owns an island (among other reasons), but he is entertaining.
