Review of Ghost Protocol MI 4

Agent Eathen Hunt takes us on glob trotting journey across 4 continents with a stopover at India. It’s non-stop edge of the seat action interspersed with that human touch just enough to make it a notch above super slick and over the top action movies such as ‘Salt’, ‘Red’ and ‘From Paris with Love’. If you liked the 1st edition of this franchise, chances are that this one will win you over as well.

The film follows plot similar to earlier episodes of this franchise wherein it’s all about accomplishing the stated Mission which is delivered to the agents via a module, a cell phone or a random phone booth. In a film, when one knows the brass tacks of the plot, it’s the execution that becomes the moot point and MI-4 doesn’t disappoint on that count.

The sequences are innovative and delightfully filmed. The film is almost flawless till the producers decide to include Mumbai in the plot. The climax has been supposedly shot in India (which I have my doubts on) and it surely doesn’t do justice to the chaos of this country. As an Indian audience, you feel a little fake when multi-story automatic car parking is the host of climatic sequence.

The film’s journey from Budapest to Mumbai via Moscow and Dubai steers clear of unnecessary clutter through slick editing thus keeping it all very simple. Unlike some of the earlier films, a re-run of the plot is exposited by Agent Hunt on couple of occasions. I felt that was a necessity imposed by an Asian audience and thus convey the growing clout of Asia as a market for Hollywood.

The plot is about 5-6 sequences which have each been done in a never-before seen manner. The politics of power has been not even scratched as true to an agent’s world view, it’s the man on field who gets the coverage here and we are spared long speeches or condescending press conference from the White house spokesperson.
Well, I would give the first half of the film, which packs a huge punch 5 star and lower the rating of 4 for the second half where things get a wee bit slower. So the film is 4.5 STARS for me.