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Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol: Cruise Is Back!

Seriously, how hard is to not make a Scientology joke here.

Rating: 9 out of 10

There are moments when a new franchise trailer premieres in the theater and you can feel the audience sink in their seats, silently ashamed they are even being exposed to it. That is when you know the franchise has pitched into a nosedive, frantically attempting to make major and mostly useless changes to the equation in hopes of restarting it (and its profits). I remember feeling that way when Mission Impossible III rolled out. I went in predicting it would be bad, hoping only for some popcorn entertainment, but was denied even that small request. When Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol peeked around the bend,I had my doubts, but (as always) I gave it a shot. Dear readers, this is why I always take the chance, because it just might be everything it is cracked up to be.

I took a deep breath when I sat down for this one and rechristened my hope for some mindless action and big explosions. What I got was even better.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol picks up our master spy leader, Ethan Hunt, in a Russian prison for an unknown crime. He is extracted by the IMF to once again lead a team of agents into near certain doom as a crazed Russian patriot is trying to get his hands on nuclear launch codes to bring about Armageddon and the next phase of evolution. The chase leads the team across the globe, from the desert paradise of Dubai to the colorful opulence of India. From one step to the next, the action never ceases as the seconds tick down on the fate of the world.

The top of the bill talent alone is a who’s who list of grand slam Hollywood talent. Directed by Brad Bird, this Pixar native is bringing nothing but gold with The Incredibles and Ratatouille already under his belt. Produced in partnership with J.J. Abrams, who actually directed the unfortunate third chapter of this franchise, has hit a major stride while directing Star Trek and Super 8 and acting as Executive Producer for a slew of hit TV shows dominating the airwaves right now (Fringe, Person of Interest, and the upcoming Alcatraz).

In front of the camera, we witness the resurgence of the living legend, Tom Cruise. After a score of years where his personal life completely overwhelmed his on-screen persona, Cruise erupts back on the screen with the fierce intensity the audience has missed for so long. Coming on the heels of some rather underwhelming performances (Knight and Day, Valkyrie), Cruise slides back into the comfortable spy shoes of Hunt like he had never left at all. From the high-kicking fight sequences to the awe-inspiring stunts, Cruise does it all with such enthusiasm you might come to believe the man is made out of pure adrenaline. For Ghost Protocol, Cruise’s intensity and commitment truly lead this cast in the direction of success.

Riding high on the wake Cruise leaves behind, the rest of the cast keeps the momentum going. Jeremy Renner, continuing a meteoric rise to fame after his Oscar nominated turn in The Hurt Locker, gives the crowd a little taste of what we will see in the new Bourne movie (which he took the reins over from Matt Damon). Renner holds onto a lot of that emotional depth we saw in Hurt Locker, but also kick ass in the fashion we have come to expect in the big budget blockbusters. Simon Pegg brings the hilarity, showing once again his subtle style and dry wit, perfectly fitting into the silent moments between explosions and catchphrases. Pegg also got a little extra training for this when he worked under the guidance of Abrams in the recent Star Trek reboot. Rounding out the super spy team is the one real newcomer, Paula Patton, who simmers in virtually every scene she inhabits. Her performance in incredibly layered, something we are not entirely used to in the normally flat eye-candy action roles for women.

From the opening moments to the final fade, Ghost Protocol brings back the action movie genre to what it once was and reinvigorates a sliding franchise. This chapter has the style and intelligence of the original Mission Impossible, while still giving us something bigger and more exciting. So a final kudos must be given to the writers, Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec, who created a story that held together even under the pressure of stunt sequences which exceeded the ridiculous.

The End of the Page recommendation: Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol brings the franchise back to its former glory. An action movie worth the ticket price.

The Hurt Locker: Exploding with Power and Passion

I’m from America. I’m here to liberate your country. Why don’t you trust me?

Rating: 9 out of 10

In the years since we proved the motto “these colors never run” don’t include instances of running into other people’s countries under wildly false pretenses; we’ve seen the theaters filled with film after film dealing with the incredibly varied viewpoints of the Iraq War. Some are for the war, many are against, but all deal with the stresses and toil that it takes on the soldiers sent over there to protect us from afar and protect the civilians in that country from themselves. The biggest fear for any film covering this topic now is whether the audiences have seen it all. What more could possibly be brought to light after the 24-hour news cycle has been raking this story over the coals for nearly eight years? The answer coming from Hollywood seems to be making the stories more and more personal, connect them to individual soldiers and stories, whether they are true or based on true situations. We know why they are fighting, but we don’t always know who they are and that’s what still intrigues audiences.

The Hurt Locker centers around a bomb disposal unit in Iraq, dealing with car bombs, IEDs and any variety of homemade roadside explosive device. A new unit leader, Staff Sergeant James, finds himself trying to keep unit cohesion while not letting go of his unorthodox style of bomb defusing. Tempers flare, egos are tested, but the whole group must find a way to work together in order to keep themselves alive in their constantly hostile surroundings.

“Rare” is the first word that comes to mind when I describe this movie. In a project filled with so much inherent tension, very few are able to walk the hair thin line between too much tension, which would shut your audience down in some numb coma-type state, or too little tension, which would leave your audience bored and feeling as if the subject matter was taken too lightly. The story, the pacing and the intensity is handled beautifully by director Kathryn Bigelow, who really has had a intensely varied style of filmmaking ranging from the epitome of surfer action flicks, Point Break, to the turn-of-the-millennium sci-fi acid trip, Strange Days. No matter where she brings her vision, it always results in something unique to the current filmic landscape. With Hurt Locker, Bigelow paints a picture of three soldiers with completely different outlooks on their situation and she manages to give them all equal weight, which is an accomplishment in itself. She also is very specific with her use of camera tricks, like slow motion, so when they do appear in the film they don’t get lost in a sea of quick cuts, lens flares or unnecessary explosions. Overall it was a great effort from Bigelow and should keep her in the good graces of the Hollywood system for years to come.

Taking on the stresses of the bomb-busting trio are Jeremy Renner (Staff Sergeant James), Anthony Mackie (Sergeant Sandborn) and Brian Geraghty (Specialist Eldridge). Renner takes the point position here and leads the trio through the film with a wildcat mentality and seemingly careless attitude towards death on the job. This might have come off as a one note performance for Renner were it not for the brilliant script and the arc which his character travels. Mackie and Geragthy both show their initial discomfort with working for their new unit leader in different fashions. Mackie does a great job keeping the strong face and trying to remind Renner that they are all a team and must work together, but Geragthy has a more youthful persona and he becomes an endearing soul to the audience, swinging back and forth between emotionally shell-shocked and frantically fighting for his own freedom. Truly toned performances all around.

The Hurt Locker feels a great deal like what The Kingdom wanted to be. A balanced social commentary about life on the ground in the war zone balanced with action and tension to keep the audiences involved and attuned to the fact they weren’t watching  a documentary.

Recommendation: If it is still playing in a theater near you, check it out. The sound design alone is reason enough to not wait for DVD. If you can’t catch it on the big screen, don’t worry, the performances and poignancy of the film still carries through. Plus, you could just turn up your TV really loud.