The Mission Impossible series returns for a fourth installment in what has always been a surprisingly solid bunch of films, the first and third in particular being quite good. Here the action and stakes are raised to even greater proportions but it's still not enough to save this movie from falling a little flat.
The plot here is thin, razor thin. Americans have Russian nuclear launch codes, they get stolen by a sexy mercenary lady, she's gonna sell them to a Russian terrorist and it's up to Tom Cruise and gang to stop them despite Ghost Protocol being invoked by the American government leaving the team disowned by their own country. But the movie doesn't touch of any of the political stuff, or even any sort of mystery or intrigue, it's purely a bunch of set pieces, with the plot driving the team from one to the next. Considering this is a spy movie that's a little disappointing.
The action is undoubtedly the highlight here and it mostly doesn't disappoint. The opening jail break scene is clever but not that exciting, the Dubai skyscraper scene on the other hand is excellent and quite exhilarating, the authenticity coming through and helping to create some genuine nerves and suspense. There's also some clever spy/stealth sequences, such as Cruise and Simon Pegg infiltrating the Kremlin or the team playing a switcheroo on the nuclear code buyers and sellers, all of which work well. The problem is that the plot is almost entirely forgotten about, it seems merely to exist to setup these situations.
Simon Pegg is his usual self in this movie, bringing nice comedic relief at times, almost highlighting the absurdity of the whole situation. Tom Cruise doesn't have much to do here, but he's definitely toned down the cockiness and is quite endearing throughout the film.
So there's quite a few strong points to the movie. What's the problem then? Well the whole lack of a plot thing is a big minus, some forced but weak character development doesn't help, and it is a tad long. The problem here is that the Hollywood trend of forsaking any sort of intelligent script for big brash action sequences continues. If you were to judge the movie on these individual sequences you would say it's quite good, but the fact that there's no plot around any of this except to link these scenes together is going to be a problem for intelligent film fans.
6/10
