Tom Cruise returns as the brave, brilliant, and innovative, super-spy Ethan Hunt for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (the fourth entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise) and is once again joined by British actor, and Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg (as IMF operative Benji Dunn); who, despite knowing the script by heart, and having been on set for seven long months of filming was “blown away” the first time he saw the film.
I saw an unfinished version of the film, with a couple of effects missing, and it was just brilliant. It genuinely had me on the edge of my seat – and I know what happens in the film. Brad Bird is such a master when it comes to telling stories that he is able to create tension even when you know what’s going to happen. And that’s some achievement.
Being best known for The Incredibles and Ratatouille, Brad Bird may have been a surprise choice for directing a big budget live action thriller, about a group of spies accused of a terrorist outrage and desperately trying to clear their name, but Pegg says “It made absolute sense.”
He [Bird] has a talent for storytelling and staging, and when I watched The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant (which I think is really underrated and a fantastic film), you can see that he has a gift for just knowing how the camera, or what stands for the camera in animation, can tell a story, and it isn’t a huge leap from staging that kind of stuff in a computer environment to actually doing it for real with a camera; because it takes the same level of spatial awareness, intelligence, and dramatic story-telling ability. Whoever thought ‘why don’t we get Brad to direct?’ was spot on.
Pegg also believes Ghost Protocol has all the elements of a classic thriller combined with a contemporary approach to filmmaking; “I think the joy of Ghost Protocol is that it has a heart and mind” he says; “It’s a smart story and it has a lovely kind of old-school feel because it harks back to some older threats, some old wounds are re-opened, but it’s incredibly modern in its use of technology and its take on action – it’s a smart film that will absolutely blow your head off as well.”
But despite having that old-school feel it’s also a new era for the franchise; “there’s a reason why it’s called Ghost Protocol and not Mission: Impossible IV, because it felt to me almost like the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Ethan Hunt. When we first met him it was like his formative years, he was a young agent and he went through three very trying experiences and at the end of the last one appeared to be settling down and becoming a family man. Whereas we join him in this one and everything has changed – he’s a kind of elder statesman of the organisation, a senior agent, and he finds himself out in the field in a situation where he’s not been before, where he’s teamed up with people that he wouldn’t necessarily choose himself.”
And although Pegg describes the team (who are thrown together after being wrongly accused of bombing the Kremlin, and become fugitives aiming to not only clear their names, but prevent a global nuclear war) as “a dysfunctional family” the reality on set was very different – “there’s a reason that Tom is where he is, and it’s no accident that he’s the last of the great movie actors; he has committed his entire life to this and he does so with such intensity, his commitment is awe-inspiring; you kind of want to match it when you’re with him, you kind of think ‘OK, if you’re going to give it that much then so am I and if I don’t, I’ll fall behind.’”
On Mission: Impossible III I did both of my scenes on one day and went back for some stuff that was at the end but I was on Ghost Protocol for seven months so I spent a lot more time with Tom and we became friends on this one,” Pegg explains. “It was really interesting to get an insight into the man because he’s surrounded by a cloud of mythology which all seems to be generated by unclear sources, and when you actually meet the person he is extremely generous and very friendly.
Though despite the onset friendships, Ghost Protocol isn’t all smiles, handshakes, and hugs, as, according to Pegg, it’s “a very high stakes adventure… it’s very tense and exciting and full of the most spectacular set pieces that Brad Bird is uniquely gifted in bringing to the screen” (including having Cruise swinging off the tallest building in the world; the Burj Khalifa)… “there are some brilliant fights and there are some set pieces that are so beautifully choreographed but look still kind of scrappy and disorganised, things go wrong all of the time (the equipment doesn’t work, the plan changes, things never go smoothly), and it’s a scrabble to save the world. I think that’s what gives the film this amazing tension that doesn’t let up. It’s exhausting!”
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is out now on Blu-ray and DVD, and can be ordered directly from the links below.
You can also find the official trailer here.
| Buy from Amazon.co.uk | Buy from Amazon.com |
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