Mission Impossible 4 Ghost Protocol

The Mission Impossible tv series was to me always about the team, everyone pulling together with their set special skills to achieve the mission objective. This to me was what was lacking in the movie incarnation with Tom Cruise firmly taking centre stage and very much a star veichle for his set of skills.
    However Brian De Palma's first movie and J J Abrahams third episode were until now the stand out episodes of the series with great action set pieces. The second was a John Woo orgy of all his stylistic cinematic traits, which left me bored.
    Brad Bird comes to this installment with fresh eyes and a new vision. His background in animation allowing for a smooth transition into live action. His previous films have been tight with story telling and character and his Pixar Movie The Incredibles was filled with story and great action moments.
    In this fourth and in my view the best of the series so far each character has an important role to play and each has their own standout moment in the film. Ethan Hunt still leads but Cruise is standout in a story that is both easy to follow with heart pounding action and stunt work that had my heart in my mouth. The stunt work really is standout especially knowing that alot of his was performed live without the benefit of CGI , and the pace doesn't let up for one second.
    In this episode the IMF team has been disavowed, after being set up by the films main protaganist. The stakes are high. Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton all are given their moments and deliver.  This is up there with Fast and Furious Five as one of the best action films of the year and a brilliant new direction for the franchise. Brad Bird brilliantly keeps the film the film on course with an excellant mix of character development and action. I eagerly await his next film with keen anticipation.
   An excellant closure for 2011 and if there is one must see for the start of 2012 this film is it. If I'm honest I can't wait to see this film again. 

Cinematic thoughts

 The last week was spent reading two interesting books by UK film critic Mark Kermode,  the first was Its Only a Movie which is his  biography and the second The Good the Bad and the Multiplex an educated look at the state of cinema today covering a wide range of topics from Multiplexes, 3D , remakes and sequalitis. It sounds dry by Mark Kermodes style is humerous and informative and makes for a great read. I enjoyed the latter book more and I highly recommend it for its ability to make you think about the points being made. I dont necessarily agree with them all but they are well made.

While were at it I'm an unashamed Simon Pegg fan, and his book Nerd do well is another great read, Its more about him and his life rather than a Showbiz tell all and for that reason it stands out from the crowd. Being a brit I've been a fan from his Hippy days, Big Train and more importantly Spaced which at the time of its original showing hit a chord of recognition. Spaced along with Black Books are two series I dip into on a regular basis as tv comfort food for the mind and they are guaranteed to  make me smile and laugh out loud what more can you ask for when revisiting old friends.