"LIGHT THE FUSE"

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of the original MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE television series. It ran on CBS from 1966 through 1973 and while I can't claim to have seen every episode, I sure watched a lot of them. I remember buying and reading the first MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE tie-in novel by John Tiger (a pen name, surely) in 1967. I received the soundtrack album featuring Lalo Schifrin's immortal theme music and other jazzy tracks for Christmas one year. I currently own the first two seasons on DVD. What made the show work were the insanely clever scripts that found the IMF executing an elaborate, intricate and perilous con each week, an operation laced with danger, suspense and split second timing. The cons employed a dizzying mix of disguises and high tech gadgets and, even though things often looked like the mission was in jeopardy of going south, the team always emerged victorious.

 There wasn't a lot of action on the show, in fact, it was pretty light on fist fights, gun play, car chases and explosions. But it nevertheless managed to pack a giddy and visceral thrill into each episode thanks to the scripts, direction, editing, a brilliant cast and superlative guest stars and that unforgettable, pulse-quickening Schifrin score. It was the perfect spy show for a kid who was consumed with all things espionage during the '60s and '70s. I loved it.

The MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film series, with Tom Cruise starring as agent Ethan Hunt, kicked off in 1996. The debut installment, directed by Brian De Palma, was much longer on action than the original series but it set the template for what was to follow and laid the groundwork for a successful film franchise which now numbers five (soon to be six) installments. I  saw the first film but I have yet to see MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (2000), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III (2006) or MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (2015). But I watched MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL (2011 and the fourth film in the series) the other day and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Brad Bird, who directed two of my all time favorite animated films, THE IRON GIANT (1999) and THE INCREDIBLES (2004) made his live-action directing debut with GHOST and he does a fine job. The story finds Hunt, William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Jane Carter (Paula Patton), cut off from any help from the U.S. government. Alone and with limited resources at their disposal, the IMF team is in a race against time to stop a madman from launching a Russian missile at San Francisco, a move which will trigger a worldwide nuclear war.

The action is fast and furious moving from Moscow to Dubai to a thrilling climax in Mumbai. The set pieces are breathtaking, the gadgets and technology border on science fiction while the villain seems to be always one step ahead of the team. But he's not one step ahead of Hunt. The mix of agents make a good team with Pegg providing comic relief, Patton the eye candy and Renner seeming to be a fish out of water as a State Department agent suddenly thrust into the mission. But as in every MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE story there's much more going on here than meets the eye and everything is not what it seems to be. Loaded with twists, turns, exotic locations and jaw-dropping action sequences, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL is a hold-your-breath spy thriller. Thumbs up.