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MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL review by fog

January 22nd 2012 07:59

WHOA!! Don't look down....

The latest in the famous series of Mission Impossible is as explosive as ever; with groovy gadgets galore and lots of death defying action, and Tom Cruise, as ever, doing all his own stunts, some of which raise the hair on the back of your neck.

In fact, I suggest you see the film as I did, at IMAX, and not just to admire Cruise's perfect teeth twenty feet high, but the experience of image saturation puts you right in there with the action.

Actually, I would caution anyone who suffers from vertigo not to see it at IMAX, as the experience may well and truly send you to the floor in a screaming heap.

Baddie with a big baddie bag

For the rest of us, it is akin to a really huge roller and threatening coaster ride, and as such, is quite enjoyable.

Now, I am not trying to avoid the fact I have some gripes about the film, it is always the logical aspects, rather our logical expectations that derail the suspension of disbelief, so hard fought for in any film.

Anyway, I will not spoil it for you those who have not seen it, but, think missile, think what would happen if an ICBM launched...at America....really...

The team

However, apart from some other annoying moments, because we are just not as dumb and naive as we were in the 1960's, when the TV show Mission Impossible played to millions of devoted fans across our nation, we were enthralled as every gadget did some miraculous thing, but now, we have a lot of miraculous gadgets and also know what the near future holds, we use things today even the 1960's show never dreamt of, such as mobile phones etc, in our everyday lives.

So, the modern era audience needs to be not just tricked, amused and amazed by gadgetry, we need to believe it is, at the very least, feasible and that it is backed up by the laws of physics and commonsense. We are also aware of the sophistication of spying and satellite observation and tracking, so todays audience expects a film to reflect the reality we all live in today.

Simon Pegg in control...sometimes

Technically, I felt the set ups for some of the bigger action sequences were either trite and/or implausible, which caused me to disengage from the film momentarily. Ethan Hunts team includes the Benji Dunn character from Mission Impossible 3; Dunn brings a new suite of IT sophisticated gadgetry to the team, along with a few humorous moments, as he is now an 'in the field' officer, but he is no Cruise karate kid, that is for sure. Cruise handles his role with expected ease and style, and his fight scenes and huge action stunts are top notch.

SUCH GLOVES! Perfect for hanging around in...

I wish to take a moment to digress; I want to share a little story with you, that involves one of the key guys who created some of the gadgets in the original 1960s TV show and how, one day, he was approached by two (real) CIA operatives, who asked him, How does that Zippo lighter with the steel cutting laser inside it work? Can you make us one?

The special effects man was gobsmacked and just a little disappointed in their naivety, as he had to explain it was all make believe. Later on, this man retired from his career in film and TV special effects and one of his pupils and greatest admirers, an Australian man, who is arguably the best special effects maker we have had in our film industry, went to visit his American friend, who now lived in Virginia.

It came as a surprise then, when the Aussie discovered his American mate had not retired at all, but now worked at Langley, the CIA Headquarters in Virginia!

His friend even took him to his laboratory, but he told his Aussie mate he could only show him one floor, the others were restricted. He was now designing all manner of things that scientists would turn into reality. The Aussie SFX guy described to me, many moons ago (and many years after he saw the CIA lab) some of the things he saw there, and it was rather scary to say the least. Those secrets are probably common knowledge now, in fact, I know the odd thing invented for the TV show was made a reality, which made me wonder, what the hell were they hiding on the other two floors?

No, I am not giving any names...

So, sometimes, life and art meld together.

Back to the movie...

Putting all that aside, at the end of the day, excusing the odd lapse in physics and plausibility, I found the film very entertaining and a great improvement on previous incarnations of the franchise.

Image Permissions and Credits:

All images and trailers copyright that of the Production Company and/or Distributor and Publisher, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Images used here for illustration of product for review purposes only, low res copies, not meant for redistribution.

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