| Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Brad Bird |
| Written by | |
| Based on | Mission: Impossible byBruce Geller |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Robert Elswit |
| Edited by | Paul Hirsch |
| Music by | Michael Giacchino[a] |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures[2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 133 minutes[4] |
| Country | United States[2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $145 million[5] |
| Box office | $694.7 million[5] |
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 Americanactionspy film directed byBrad Bird (in his live-action directorial debut) from a screenplay by the writing team ofJosh Appelbaum andAndré Nemec, who also serve as co-producers. Produced byTom Cruise,J. J. Abrams, andBryan Burk, it is the sequel toMission: Impossible III (2006) and the fourth installment in theMission: Impossible film series. The film stars Cruise,Jeremy Renner,Simon Pegg, andPaula Patton, withMichael Nyqvist,Vladimir Mashkov,Josh Holloway,Anil Kapoor, andLéa Seydoux in supporting roles. In the film, theImpossible Missions Force (IMF) is shut down after being publicly implicated in a bombing of theKremlin, causingEthan Hunt (Cruise) and his team to go without their usual resources or backup in a life-threatening effort to clear their names.
Development forMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol began in August 2009, when Appelbaum and Nemec were hired to write the screenplay (which was later rewritten by eventual series director and writerChristopher McQuarrie). Cruise's return was confirmed by March 2010 after Bird was announced to direct the film, replacing Abrams (who directed the predecessor), who stayed on this film as a producer. The film was officially titled in October 2010, after which,principal photography took place and lasted until March 2011, with filming locations includingBangalore,Mumbai,Budapest,Moscow,Dubai, andCanadian Motion Picture Park Studios inVancouver. Like previous entries in the franchise, the cast, most notably Cruise, completed most of their own stunts, while parts of the film were shot inIMAX.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol premiered at theDubai International Film Festival 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 byParamount 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 $694.7 million worldwide, becoming thefifth-highest-grossing film of 2011, as well as the highest-grossing film in the franchise and the highest-grossing film starring Cruise until it was surpassed byMission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). The film was followed byMission: Impossible – Rogue Nation in 2015.
IMF agent Trevor Hanaway is killed inBudapest by assassin Sabine Moreau, who steals Russian nuclear launch codes to sell to a man named "Cobalt". IMF agentEthan Hunt isextracted from a Moscow prison, along with anasset named Bogdan, by Hanaway'shandler and girlfriend, Jane Carter, and newly promoted field agent Benji Dunn. The team is ordered to infiltrate theKremlin 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 bySVR 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 seekingnuclear 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's associate, Wistrom, and Moreau at theBurj Khalifa inDubai, 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 radioactiveisotopes 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. In front of the team, Ethan confronts Brandt over the advanced fighting skills that he displayed in the hotel. After Ethan leaves, Brandt admits he resigned as a field agent after failing to protect Julia Meade, Ethan's wife,[b] 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. InMumbai, 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 Russiannuclear submarine to fire a missile atSan 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 kills himself by jumping off a high ledge with the launch device to place it out of reach. After Benji kills Wistrom, Brandt turns on the power and Jane reconnects the system; Ethan then retrieves the launch device to disable the missile moments before detonation; a fatally wounded Hendricks witnesses the failure of his plan before dying. Sidorov arrives and realizes that the IMF was innocent of the Kremlin bombing, thus clearing its name and being reinstated.
InSeattle, Ethan assembles his team for another mission given byLuther 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 andreceives an IMF briefing.
DespiteMission: Impossible III (2006) earning less than its predecessors at the box office, its critical reception was much better than that of its predecessorMission: Impossible 2 (2000) andParamount Pictures was keen on developing a fourth film in theMission: Impossible film series.[9] In August 2009,Josh Appelbaum andAndré Nemec were hired to write the film's screenplay.[10] Because of other commitments,J. J. Abrams said that it was unlikely for him to return as director but made note that he would produce the film alongsideTom Cruise.[11] By March 2010, directorBrad Bird was in talks to direct the film (beating out other contenders such asRuben Fleischer andEdgar Wright) with Cruise returning to star as Ethan Hunt.[12]The film was originally announced with the working title ofMission: Impossible 4 and code-named "Aries" during early production.[13] By August 2010, title considerations did not include theMission: Impossible 4 name, and thought was given to omitting the specific term "Mission: Impossible", whichVariety compared toChristopher Nolan's Batman sequel filmThe Dark Knight.[14] In late October 2010, the title was confirmed asMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.[15]
Jeremy Renner was announced to have joined the film on August 26, 2010.[16]Deadline Hollywood reported that Renner's character would be a potential lead for future films if Cruise decided to quit the franchise.[16] Cruise subsequently denied this.[17] On August 27, it was reported thatLauren German,Paula Patton andKristin Kreuk were auditioning for the role of a young female operative.[18] On September 1, Patton was announced to have been cast in the part.[19]Vladimir Mashkov was announced on September 23 as a Russian agent.[20] On 28 SeptemberJosh Holloway was announced as a member of the Impossible Missions Force.[21] On October 7Anil Kapoor was announced in a supporting role.[22] The same day,Léa Seydoux was announced as a female villain.[23]
The film was partially shot withIMAX film cameras, which made up approximately 30 minutes of the film's run time.[24][25] Bird insisted that certain scenes of the film be shot in IMAX, as opposed to3D, as he felt that the IMAX format offered the viewer more immersion due to its brighter, higher quality image, which is projected on a larger screen, without the need for specialised glasses.[26] Bird also believed that the IMAX format would bring back "a level of showmanship" to the presentation of Hollywood films, which he believes the industry has lost due to its emphasis on screening films inmultiplexes as opposed to grand theaters, and vetoing "first runs" in favor of wider initial releases.[26]
When we were first looking at the image of Tom climbing the Burj, in the long shots we could not only see the traffic in the reflections when he presses down on the glass ... But you actually saw the glass warp slightly because of the pressure of his hand. You would never see that in35mm. The fact that the screen fills your vision and is super sharp seems more life-like.
Principal photography took place from October 2010 to March 19, 2011.[28] Filming took place inBudapest,Mumbai,Prague,Moscow,Vancouver,Bangalore,Chennai, andDubai.[29][30][31] Although Cruise appears to befree solo climbing in the film with the help of special gloves, in reality, he was securely attached to the Burj Khalifa at all times by multiple cables;[28]Industrial Light & Magic digitally erased the cables in post-production. Following Cruise's example, Patton and Seydoux also chose to forgo the use of stunt doubles for their fight scene at the Burj Khalifa where Carter exacts her revenge upon Moreau for Hanaway's death.[28]
Many of the film's interior scenes were shot at Vancouver'sCanadian Motion Picture Park Studios, including a key transition scene in a specially equipped IMF train car and the fight between Hunt and Hendricks in a Mumbai automatedmulti-level parking garage (which was constructed over a six-month period just for the film).[28] TheVancouver Convention Centre was modified to double as downtownMumbai.[32][33] The film's opening Moscow prison escape scenes were shot on location in a real former prison near Prague.[28]
In the middle of production Cruise brought screenwriterChristopher McQuarrie, with whom he had worked on the filmValkyrie (2008) to rewrite the screenplay.[17][34] McQuarrie described his contribution: "The script had these fantastic sequences in it but there was a mystery in it that was very complicated. What I did was about clarity. The mystery had to be made simpler." McQuarrie did not receive a screenplay credit for his rewrite.
Bird incorporated the trademark "A113", a reference to the classroom he attended while in theCalifornia Institute of the Arts, into the film on two separate occasions. The first is the design print on Hanaway's ring during the flashback sequence, and the second being when Hunt calls in for support and uses the drop callsign, Alpha 1–1–3.[35]
Themusical score forMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was composed byMichael Giacchino, who also composed the music for the third film and collaborated with Bird onThe Incredibles (2004) andRatatouille (2007), conducted by Tim Simonec and performed by theHollywood Studio Symphony. As in previous installments, the score incorporatesLalo Schifrin's themes from the original television series.[36] "Lalo is an amazing jazz writer. You know you can't write a straight-up jazz score for a film like this but you can certainly hint at it here and there," said Giacchino, explaining the stylistic influence generated by Schifrin's history with the franchise.[37] A soundtrack album was released byVarèse Sarabande on December 13, 2011.[38]
In July 2011, ateaser trailer forGhost Protocol was released illustrating new shots from the film, one of which being Tom Cruise scaling the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.[39] Moreover, prior to its release, the studio presented IMAX footage of the film to an invitation-only crowd of opinion makers and journalists at central London's BFI IMAX theater. One of the many scenes that were included was a chase scene in a Dubai desert sandstorm.[40]
During November 2011, the Paramount released aFacebook game of the film in order to promote it. The new game allowed players to choose the roles of IMF agents and assemble teams to embark on a multiplayer journey. Players were also able to garner tickets to the film's American premiere and a hometown screening of the film for 30 friends.[41]
Following the world premiere in Dubai on December 7, 2011,[42] the film was released inIMAX and other large-format theaters in the U.S. on December 16, 2011,[43] with general release on December 21, 2011. This is the first film to use the new Paramount Pictures logo, with the a brand new fanfare composed byMichael Giacchino, who also composed the film, as part of the studio's 100th anniversary in 2012.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol was released onDVD,Blu-ray, and digital download on April 17, 2012.[44] The home media releases, however, do not preserve the originalIMAX imagery,[45][46] and itsaspect ratio is consistently cropped to 2.40:1 rather than switching to a 1.78:1 aspect ratio during the IMAX scenes. Prior Blu-ray Disc releases such asThe Dark Knight,[47]Tron: Legacy,[48] andTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen[49] have switched between 2.40:1 for regular scenes and 1.78:1 for IMAX scenes. The film was released on4K UHD Blu-ray on June 26, 2018.[50]
Ghost Protocol grossed $209.4 million in North America and $485.3 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $694.7 million.[51] It is the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in theMission: Impossible series,[52] and thefifth-highest-grossing film of 2011.[53] It is also the third-highest-grossing film worldwide starring Cruise, surpassingWar of the Worlds from the top spot.[54] It was the franchise's highest-grossing film and Cruise's biggest film at the time of release, before being surpassed byMission: Impossible – Fallout seven years later.
In its limited release at 425 locations in North America, it earned $12.8 million over its opening weekend, finishing in third.[55] After five days of its limited release, it expanded to 3,448 theaters on its sixth day and reached #1 at the box office with $8.92 million.[56] The film reached the top stop at the box office in its second and third weekends with $29.6 million and $29.4 million, respectively.[57][58] Though only 9% of the film's screenings were in IMAX theaters, they accounted for 23% of the film's box office.[59]
Outside North America, it debuted to $69.5 million in 42 markets representing approximately 70% of the marketplace. In the United Arab Emirates, it set an opening-weekend record of $2.4 million (since surpassed byMarvel's The Avengers).[60] In two countries outside the U.S. in which filming took place, its opening weekend gross increased by multiples over the previous installment: in Russia, more than doubling, to $6.08 million[61] and in India, more than quadrupling, to $4.0 million.[62] It is the second-highest-grossingMission: Impossible film outside North America.[63] It topped the box office outside North America for three consecutive weekends (during December 2011)[64] and five weekends in total (the other two in 2012).[54] Its highest-grossing markets after North America are China ($102.5 million),[65] Japan ($69.7 million), and South Korea ($51.1 million).[66]
OnRotten Tomatoes,Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol has an approval rating of 94% based on 253 reviews and an average rating of 7.7/10. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: "Stylish, fast-paced, and loaded with gripping set pieces, the fourthMission: Impossible is big-budget popcorn entertainment that really works."[67]Metacritic assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100 based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[68] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[69]
Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of four stars, saying the film "is a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry."[70] Stephen Whitty ofThe Star-Ledger wrote "The eye-candy—from high-tech gadgets to gorgeous people—has only been ratcheted up. And so has the excitement." He also gave the film 3.5 out of four stars.[71] Giving the film three out of four stars,Wesley Morris ofThe Boston Globe said "In its way, the movie has old-Hollywood elegance. The scope and sets are vast, tall, and cavernous, but Bird scales down for spatial intimacy."[72]
Philippa Hawker ofThe Sydney Morning Herald gave the film three stars out of five and said it is "ludicrously improbable, but also quite fun."[73] Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly opined that the movie "brims with scenes that are exciting and amazing at the same time; they're brought off with such casual aplomb that they're funny, too. ...Ghost Protocol is fast and explosive, but it's also a supremely clever sleight-of-hand thriller. Brad Bird, the animation wizard, ... showing an animator's miraculously precise use of visual space, has a playful, screw-tightening ingenuity all his own."[74] Roger Moore ofThe Charlotte Observer gave the film three out of four stars; said "Brad Bird passes his audition for a career as a live-action director. AndGhost Protocol more than makes its bones as an argument for why Tom Cruise should continue in this role as long as his knees, and his nerves, hold up."[75]
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards | January 10, 2012 | Kick Ass Award for Best Female Action Star | Paula Patton | Nominated | [76] [77] |
| Golden Reel Awards | February 19, 2012 | Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Sound Effects and Foley for Feature Film | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Nominated | [78] [79] |
| Golden Trailer Awards | May 31, 2012 | Best Action TV Spot | "Trailer 1" (AV Squad) | Nominated | [80] [81] |
| Best Action TV Spot | "Harder" (AV Squad) | Nominated | |||
| Best Graphics in a TV Spot | "Masthead:15" (AV Squad) | Nominated | |||
| May 6, 2015 | Most Original TV Spot | "Prison Mission" (n87 Creative) | Nominated | [82] [83] | |
| June 29, 2023 | Most Original TV Spot (for a Feature Film) | Mission: Impossible – Christmas Protocol (Creative EMEAA) | Nominated | [84] [85] | |
| International Film Music Critics Association Awards | February 23, 2012 | Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | [86] |
| MTV Movie Awards | June 3, 2012 | Best Fight | Tom Cruise vs.Michael Nyqvist | Nominated | [87] |
| Best Gut-Wrenching Performance | Tom Cruise | Nominated | |||
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards | March 31, 2012 | Favorite Buttkicker | Tom Cruise | Nominated | [88] |
| Saturn Awards | July 26, 2012 | Best Action or Adventure Film | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Won | [89] [90] |
| Best Director | Brad Bird | Nominated | |||
| Best Actor | Tom Cruise | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actress | Paula Patton | Nominated | |||
| Best Music | Michael Giacchino | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing | Paul Hirsch | Won | |||
| Teen Choice Awards | July 22, 2012 | Choice Movie: Action | Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Nominated | [91] |
| Choice Movie Actor: Action | Tom Cruise | Nominated | |||
| Choice Movie Actress: Action | Paula Patton | Nominated | |||
| Visual Effects Society Awards | February 7, 2012 | Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture | John Goodson, Paul Francis Russell, and Victor Schutz | Nominated | [92] [93] |
Ghost Protocol was followed byRogue Nation (2015). It achieved similar financial and critical success asGhost Protocol. A sixth film,Fallout, was released in 2018, receiving critical praise and surpassing the box-office take ofGhost Protocol.[c]
Monaghan, who last appeared in an uncredited role inMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. ...
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