STUDIO: Paramount | DIRECTOR: Brad Bird | CAST: Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Jeremy Renner
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 4/17/2012 | PRICE: DVD $19.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $29.99, Limited Edition Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.99
BONUSES: featurettes, deleted scenes
SPECS: PG-13 | 132 min. | Action | 16×9 widescreen | 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio | English, French, Spanish, Portuguese subtitlesRATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie
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The fourth Misson: Impossible movie is a wild ride, but judging by the behind-the-scenes featurettes, production was equally adrenaline pumping.
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol is the first live-action movie directed by Brad Bird, who showed he knows how to tell a good story with the animated features The Iron Giant and The Incredibles.
In Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise’s (War of the Worlds) Ethan Hunt is partnered with Paula Patton (Jumping the Broom), Simon Pegg (Paul) and Jeremy Renner (The Town) to stop a crazed Russian (Michael Nyqvist, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest) from starting a nuclear war. Oh, and that’s all while running from the Russian police, who believe that the IMF agents have gone rogue and are committing terrorist attacks.
Bird packs in the action, from the beginning of the movie, when Josh Holloway (TV’s Lost) escape from gunplay to a prison breakout, Cruise scaling the outside of the tallest building in the world, a car chase in a sand storm and a fight in a moving parking lot. The script (by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec, from TV’s Alias also on their first feature film) has a few holes, but the movie’s action keeps us interested and entertained.
On Blu-ray, Ghost Protocol looks fabulous. The global locations boast stunning colors, from the historic buildings in Prague to the blue sky and glistening glass buildings of Dubai. All are clear, as are the dialog, explosions and crashes.
The special features in the set are almost as entertaining as the film … almost. The three-disc Limited Edition, which is exclusively sold at Best Buy and what we reviewed, has all the extras of the DVD and regularly available Blu-ray plus others.
All versions of the movie include two “Impossible Missions” featurettes, detailing the sandstorm and the props, and two “Mission Accepted” featurettes, about working in Dubai and Vancouver. Edited documentary-style with their own soundtracks and voiceovers, the featurettes are fun to watch and offer lots of behind-the-scenes footage as well as sound bites from Cruise, Pegg, Patton and Bird, among others.
They show stunts being performed, shots being filmed and the actors having fun off screen. Fans of Cruise will be interested to know that he did most of his stunts himself. Yep, that’s really him climbing up the outside of the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, and during downtime, he had fun bouncing off the glass windows like he was on a swing.
The Limited Edition set has nine more “Impossible Missions” featurettes, looking at what happens to the film after it’s shot, the car crash scene, the sandstorm, the Russian prison, shooting in Imax and more, plus a featurette on Prague under the “Mission Accepted” banner. They’re all equally fascinating.
The DVD and both Blu-ray versions also have a digital copy of the movie that can be downloaded via iTunes or streamed via UltraViolet.
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Buy or Rent Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
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Great review Sam! I loved the movie and I’m glad I listened to my coworkers from Dish who suggested I watch this. My Blu-ray DVD using my Blockbuster@Home service came in over the weekend, and I watched Missing Impossible IV like six times. With access to thousands of movies, games and TV shows the entertainment never ends. I can play a game for as long as I like without any late fees or due dates. While I wait on my next shipped DVD, I can still stream my favorite shows to my iPad or TV. This works for me since I love to watch nothing but movies.