Review of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011) by Jake C — 03 Jul 2018

Superb action scenes & a fine cast make this an entertaining movie, though the lack of a compelling villain keeps it from being the best of the franchise. Tom Cruise continues his superb work as Ethan Hunt, bringing the right mix of physicality yet vulnerability to each action scene (his facial expressions during the skyscraper scene are priceless) that you can't help but root for him.

He gets nice support from the rest of the cast, especially Simon Pegg as Benji, who is nicely built up from the previous film. However, the late, great Michael Nyqvist feels wasted as the main villain.

Behind the camera, director Brad Bird crafts some brilliant action pieces, from a prison breakout to the sky-scrapper scene, made all the better thanks to real, practical stunts (Tom Cruise really was hanging off the tallest building in the world), make this the second best in the francise so far, with it's only negative being the lack of a compelling villain.