Weekly Review -- Mission: success

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) -- Action films tend to be successful due to their escapist value, and the Mission: Impossible series has been one of the most popular genre franchises in recent decades. One has to agree that getting lost in a labyrinth of international intrigue and traveling the world via the silver screen always sounds like fun. Along with having one of the coolest titles this side of Con Air, Brad Bird's Ghost Protocol delivers on all fronts.

When apocalypse-obsessed terrorist Kurt Hendrix (Michael Nyqvist) steals a briefcase containing Russian nuclear codes and bombs the Kremlin in the process, Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) IMF team is caught in the middle and disavowed by the U.S. government. Their search for Hendrix takes them across the planet, from Russia to the United Arab Emirates to India. During their globetrotting, they deal with the criminal mastermind's assassins, while attempting to prevent the codes from falling into yet another set of wrong hands...

Starting with an ingenious prison intro that kept catching me by surprise, the film takes off and never lets up. This is a thrill ride multiplied by ten, a cyber fairytale peppered with super cool plot tricks and spy gadgets, a popcorn delight which requires -- nay, demands -- that we relax and enjoy. The story is full of twists and turns, with the eye-popping visuals and exotic locations adding to the mysteries unraveling before us. The fight scenes are innovative and dynamic and, unlike many recent cinematic showdowns, do not suffer from manic editing. The action scenes feel like a roller coaster, joyfully exploding and imploding and crashing across the meridian of our senses. On that note, the vertigo-inducing skyscraper sequences are the most memorable ones, both stylistically and logistically. This is a blockbuster if ever there was one.

The cast seems to be having a blast, pun inadvertent. Cruise is always fantastic as Hunt, while Jeremy Renner impresses as a new and subdued team member. Simon Pegg provides comic relief with perfect timing, and Paula Patton is beauty and brains and brawn in the same package. There are very good performances by the charismatic Nyqvist, who I wish had more to do here, and the engaging Anil Kapoor. I also have to praise the actors' physicality and willingness to go to extremes, since these people constantly put their lives at risk for the authenticity of excitement.

If you want to forget about your problems and abandon your routine for two cool hours, watch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, otherwise known as the film version of a Ferrari. Smooth and fast, it revs its engine only to reach its speed and quicken our collective pulse. Simply put, it is almost too much fun for one film to take on, so let us share in the task. Take a seat, catch your breath and do not dare to let it go.

9/10