Movie Review: Mission: Impossible franchise (so far)

The first Mission: Impossible film with Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt was a good action-adventure movie with impressive stunts and an interesting plot which stands up well today. It gets plenty of spin time in the Casa DVD player.

Mission: Impossible II was so bad as to be unwatchable. Southern Man saw it once in the theatre and has had no desire at all to repeat the experience.

Mission: Impossible III was an improvement over II but not by a whole lot. The DVD is somewhere in La Casa gathering dust.

And that brings us to Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, produced by J.J. Abrams and directed by Brad Bird. And this fourth entry in a tired franchise starring a fifty-year-old actor and directed by a cartoonist is way better than its two predecessors and perhaps even surpasses the original. It's a lot of fun, with a clever and witty script that's serious but not too serious, excellent acting performances by all, plenty of Q-worthy gadgets that don't always quite work, hair-raising stunts, and lots of intense physical action. Bird's stylish direction provides the same flair to MI IV as he gave The Incredibles, and it works well. Given the mess that was Quantum of Solace the Bond team would do well to give Bird a turn in the director's chair of that series as well. Southern Man gives this one two enthusiastic thumbs up and hopes that Bird brings us many more action films. Like MI V!