Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise not only scales the dizzying heights of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, but also successfully re-energizes this durable, high-octane franchise. As the story begins, super-secret agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is languishing in a Russian prison cell, until he's unexpectedly extracted by an intrepid IMF team—computer/gadget whiz Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and revenge-seeking rookie Jane Carter (Paula Patton). to embark on a new assignment which includes burglarizing the Kremlin. When the operation goes terribly wrong—evoking memories of the Cold War—their task is deemed so risky that the IMF Secretary (Tom Wilkinson) initiates Ghost Protocol, meaning the American government will disavow all knowledge of this job. Enigmatic analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) joins the team on a mission to intercept stolen missile launch codes in order to trick and stymie nefarious nuclear extremist Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) and his clever cohort, a sultry French assassin (Léa Seydoux), who are determined to initiate WWIII. Inventively directed by Oscar-winning Pixar animator Brad Bird, the film is full of globetrotting tension and vertigo-inducing suspense, a palm-sweating popcorn flick featuring spectacular feats of derring-do. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes with optional commentary by director Brad Bird (15 min.), and the production featurettes “The Sandstorm” on creating a scene (3 min.) and “Props” (3 min.). Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are 11 “Impossible Missions” behind-the-scenes featurettes (51 min.), the three “Mission Accepted” location featurettes “Suiting Up in Prague,” “Heating Up in Dubai,” and “Vancouver Fisticuffs” (48 min.), trailers, and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package—particularly on Blu-ray—for this excellent franchise entry.] (S. Granger)