#26 Mission Impossible: "Protocolo Fantasma"
I saw this film while on vacation in Barcelona. There were posters everywhere on the subway with above Spanish title. I made up a chant. It was in the style of a "Let's! Go! Red!" It went like this:
PROTO COLO FANTASMA!
PROTO COLO FANTASMA!
PROTO COLO FANTASMA!
The friends I was staying with awoke to the sounds of this chant in front of their bedroom at around 1:30 pm on New Year's Day. I make an awesome houseguest.
Upon its release and review, Protocolo Fantasma immediately received the "best of the franchise" tag. I am inclined to agree; even with Phillip Seymour Hoffman's star turn as the badass Owen Davian, the JJ Abrams-helmed MI3 is not quite as good as this one. International super agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) starts the film in Moscow prison. When one of their top agents gets axed, the IMF, led by Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Jane Carter (Paula Patton), sets up and springs Ethan from prison in a rather sweet action sequence. From there, the newly formed IMF squad tries to infiltrate the Kremlin (of course) and capture files on code name Colbalt, a would-be nuclear terrorist. A bomb goes off, everything goes to crap, and the trio escapes. They are blamed for the attack and thus have to institute "protocolo fantasma" (ghost protocol), meaning go completely off the grid. They are joined apprehensively by new IMF intelligence agent Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and follow the Cobalt trail to Dubai. MI4:PF is directed by Brad Bird, an animation veteran who directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille and his vision and experience lend themselves well to much of the big, crazy action in Dubai. There are of course plenty of almost-deaths--most notably the incredibly rad running-down-the-skyscraper stunt that Mr. Cruise performed himself--and plenty of IMF gadgets and gizmos that keep them ahead of the game. Dubai is a giant, futuristic city, perfect for an action flick of enormous magnitude. Total escapist fun.
Top 25 coming up soon!
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