‘Ghost Protocol’ is an eye-popping visual spectacle

There’s more than one impossible mission in “Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” the fourth installment in the franchise and arguably the most eye-popping one. There’s more than a few incredible things in it, as well, which is no surprise, considering that it’s helmed by Pixar’s Oscar-winning Brad Bird, who has given us such animated gems as “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille” and “The Iron Giant.”

Bird seems like an odd choice for a live-action movie, but he turns out to be the right one, because he brings an unerring eye for creating breathtakingly visual action sequences and tableaus. The movie starts with a dramatic foot chase, and the pace hardly slows down from there.

In “Ghost Protocol,” the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) finds itself disavowed after being wrongfully blamed for a Kremlin bombing, which is something of an inconvenience, since they have to go after the real mastermind – not only to prove their innocence, but also to stop him from launching a nuclear war!

Skills

Since their organization is now defunct, however, they’ll have to rely on their own skills and whatever gadgets they can manage to salvage to get the job done. Not having an agency to back them up adds tension to everything, and this is further underscored by the fact that all their super-cool devices don’t always function as they should.

As usual, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the IMF team’s leader and, this time, he’s joined by data analyst, Brandt (Jeremy Renner), techie Benji (Simon Pegg), and ass-kicking beauty, Jane (Paula Patton).

Cruise might get first billing, and he does have the most time on the screen, but this is definitely a team effort, which works to the movie’s advantage. With more people to focus on, there are more opportunities for creating out-of-this-world challenges that have to be met one way or another.

Adding flavor to the mix are Michael Nyqvist (who plays the bad guy), Vladimir Mashkov as a frustrated Russian agent, and Anil Kapoor, who has a hilarious turn as a billionaire with a taste for ass-kicking beauties. Tom Wilkinson also makes a brief appearance.

The plot is far from inspired, but it doesn’t get in the way of viewers’ enjoyment. The parts where the characters are forced to emote are swiftly followed by intricate, heart-stopping action sequences that leave little room for anything apart from edge-of-the-seat excitement.

With a screen time of 132 minutes, “Ghost Protocol” is a bit long, and it does lose its momentum in some scenes – but, if you want to be entertained by over-the-top visual spectacle, it doesn’t get any better than this!