Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

December 7, 2011 (Dubai International Film Festival)December 16, 2011 (United States)

December 7, 2011 (Dubai International Film Festival)
December 16, 2011 (United States)

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American action spy film directed by Brad Bird (in his live-action directorial debut) from a screenplay by the writing team of Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, who also serve as co-producers. Produced by Tom Cruise, J. J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk, it is the sequel to Mission: Impossible III (2006) and is the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. The film stars Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton, with Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, and Léa Seydoux in supporting roles. In the film, the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) is shut down after being publicly implicated in a bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team to go without resources or backup in a life-threatening effort to clear their names.

Development for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol began in August 2009, when Appelbaum and Nemec were hired to write the screenplay (which contained rewrites by eventual series director and writer Christopher McQuarrie). Cruise's return was confirmed by March 2010 after Bird was announced to replace Abrams, who directed the predecessor. The film was officially titled in October 2010, after which, principal photography took place and lasted until March 2011, with filming locations including Bangalore, Mumbai, Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, and Canadian Motion Picture Park Studios in Vancouver. Like previous entries in the franchise, the cast completed most of their own stunts, while parts of the film were shot in IMAX. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocolpremiered in Dubai on December 7, 2011, and was released in IMAX and select large-format theaters on December 16, before being theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on December 21. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences, Cruise's performance, and Bird's direction. It grossed $694 million worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2011 as well as the highest-grossing film in the franchise and the highest-grossing film starring Cruise until the release of Mission: Impossible - Fallout in 2018. The film was followed by Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation in 2015.

Storyline

IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed in Budapest by assassin Sabine Moreau, who steals Russian nuclear launch codes to sell to a man named "Cobalt." IMF agent Ethan Hunt is extracted from a Moscow prison, along with an asset named Bogdan, by Hanaway's handler and girlfriend, Jane Carter, and newly-promoted field agent Benji Dunn. The team is ordered to infiltrate the Kremlin for information on Cobalt. While they are inside, Cobalt blows the team's cover, and they escape before a bomb destroys the Kremlin. Ethan is arrested by SVR agent Anatoly Sidorov and is blamed for the bombing.

Ethan escapes and meets with the IMF Secretary in Moscow with analyst William Brandt. Brandt identifies Cobalt as Kurt Hendricks, a strategist seeking nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. They determine that Hendricks bombed the Kremlin to cover his theft of a Russian launch control device. The Secretary explains that the President has initiated the "Ghost Protocol," disavowing the IMF. He secretly orders Ethan to continue pursuing Cobalt before being killed in an ambush by Sidorov's forces. Ethan escapes with Brandt and regroups with Jane and Benji. They plan to infiltrate a meeting between Hendricks' associate, Wistrom, and Moreau at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, where Wistrom will buy the stolen launch codes.

The team plans to intercept the codes by faking two meetings: Ethan and Brandt posing as Wistrom and Leonid Lisenker, a cryptographer, to receive the codes from Moreau; Jane poses as Moreau, passing counterfeit codes to the real Wistrom and Lisenker. They are forced to give the actual codes when they discover that Lisenker can immediately authenticate them, relying on radioactive isotopes on the paper to track Wistrom afterward. Completing the buy, Wistrom double-crosses and murders Lisenker. Having deduced that the buy is a setup, Moreau attempts to flee, but Jane intercepts her. When Moreau attacks Benji while trying to escape, an enraged Jane breaks her promise to Ethan earlier about fighting assets and attacks Moreau. Brandt overhears the gunfire and rushes into the room but fails to stop Jane from killing Moreau. Sidorov attempts but fails to apprehend Ethan, who flees the Burj Khalifa and pursues Wistrom.

As Ethan and Wistrom run into a sandstorm, Wistrom reveals himself to be a masked Hendricks and escapes. Meanwhile, Jane and Benji confront Brandt over the advanced fighting skills that he displayed in the hotel. Brandt admits he resigned as a field agent after failing to protect Julia Meade, Ethan's wife, from a hit. Bogdan takes Ethan to the Fog, an arms dealer, and learns that Hendricks is planning to launch missiles using an old Soviet military satellite. The satellite is owned by an Indian media tycoon, Brij Nath. The Fog sells the same information to Sidorov. In Mumbai, Jane seduces Nath and then overpowers him to get the satellite's override code; the team pursues Hendricks and Wistrom to one of Nath's broadcast stations to stop him from sending the codes via the satellite.

Hendricks sends launch orders to a Russian nuclear submarine to fire a missile at San Francisco, while Wistrom sabotages the station system to prevent IMF interference. Benji, Brandt, and Jane attempt to repair the station while Ethan pursues Hendricks. Cornered by Ethan, Hendricks jumps to his death to place the launch device out of reach. After Benji kills Wistrom, Jane reconnects the system, and Ethan retrieves the launch device to disable the missile moments before detonation. Sidorov arrives and realizes that the IMF was innocent of the Kremlin bombing.

In Seattle, Ethan assembles his team for another mission given by Luther Stickell. Brandt confesses to Ethan his failure to protect Julia, but Ethan reveals that she is alive and her death was staged to give her a new identity safely away from him and to let him infiltrate the prison to find Bogdan. A relieved Brandt accepts his mission. Julia arrives and smiles at Ethan from afar before he slips away and receives an IMF debriefing.

Also See

Sound Effects Used

Image Gallery

Audio Samples

External Links