Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol Steelbook [4K UHD]

I like all of the IMF movies except maybe the first one seemed a little dated. A thoroughly engrossing action movie by Tom Cruise and company,

Best of the series! (so far)...

Tom Cruise is a great movie star. There. I said it. After some thirty years in this business and about twenty-five of those years spent as a bona-fide star, he can still make it work. No matter what you may think of him personally, there is an effortless charm that he brings to almost all of his films. Lately, though, it's been a bit of a slog. With films like KNIGHT AND DAY, VALKYRIE and LIONS FOR LAMBS (Remember that film? Yeah, me neither), he hasn't been packing them in like he used to. Even M-I:3 was considered something of a failure, despite doing over $350 million worldwide. But that's Hollywood for ya: You jump on Oprah's couch and you claim that psychology is a scam, and people look at you differently, even when you're acting. I've loved Cruise's work for decades (except when he's in REALLY lousy films, like COCKTAIL or THE FIRM or VANILLA SKY), and I've admired him when he took risks (like MAGNOLIA and COLLATERAL, even if I don't care for those films). When I heard that he had gotten Brad Bird, the director of Pixar classics THE INCREDIBLES and RATATOUILLE and my favorite hand-drawn English animated film of all time, THE IRON GIANT, I was VERY excited. This is obviously someone who knows extremely creative storytelling, and really knows how to construct a scene. But it was also his first live-action film. But with Simon Pegg returning, and new additions like Jeremy Renner, Tom Wilkinson, and Josh Holloway (despite the latter two had nothing more than cameos, really), and with working again with J.J. Abrams who helped revitalize the series with the third film, I still had high hopes.Then the reviews started pouring in.WOW. People were LOVING this film. And by all accounts, they were exactly right to. The film is ear-to-ear grinning and wall-to-wall action. Not the pensive De Palma action of the first film, and not John Woo M:I-2 mega-ultra gunplay action, and not uncomfortably realistic J.J. Abrams action; but like a snowball rolling down a hill, once it starts, it just gets bigger and bigger and then you find yourself at the bottom of that hill and you await the bliss of the impact. Bird lays the hyper-dynamic (and dare I say cartoonish) set pieces piled one on top of another like the most delicious action-adventure cake you've tasted in years. The haters can keep hating on Cruise, but he really makes this film pop just as much as Bird does. His breezy wit and afore-mentioned effortless charm flow during some of the film, but he gets down to business in a big way. One complaint I keep seeing of this film is how unrealistic it is. Guess what? IT'S MISSION &#*%^@& IMPOSSIBLE!! If it were MISSION: POSSIBLE, then I could accept that criticism. This is not HILL STREET BLUES; It's MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. It's not supposed to be realistic at all times.This is by far the best of the M:I series, and I hope that Bird and Cruise team up again soon, because that would be another mission I would absolutely choose to accept.

This review may contain some spoilers about the movie.After a bombing of the Kremlin brands the IMF agency as terrorists, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team of operatives (Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton)go on a secret mission to clear their agency's name, by attempting to thwart a plot to start a nuclear war. During the mission, Ethan will have to escape a prison, chase down a villain during a sandstorm, scale the Burj Khalifa, and fight a crazy Russian guy inside of an epic parking garage.This is definitely my favorite MI movie. It's loaded with amazing action sequences, but still has a gripping story. The visuals will leave you breathless, I mean, the scene where Tom Cruise is climbing up the Burj Khalifa makes you feel like you are there. When the camera looks down, and you see how far up he is, you get butterflies in your stomach. I especially liked the fight in the parking garage; it was definitely a great location for an action flick like this.Yet again, the cars are awesome. In Mission Impossible 3, it was the Lamborghini Gallardo, in this movie it's the 2014 BMW i8, which is insanely nice. There is also a good amount of comedy in this movie. Most of it provided by the always hilarious Simon Pegg. And as I mentioned before, even though there is a lot of action, it isn't mindless; there's a good story to it. It's thrilling and will have you at the edge of your seat the whole time. And if you thought they had forgotten all about Ethan Hunt's wife from the last movie, then you would be wrong, very wrong. They don't make up a stupid story to leave her out at all. Just watch :)The only part I didn't really like because I guess it made no sense at all was when (WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS) the Russian guy jumps off of the ramp in the garage, smashes his face into the windshield of a car, and then proceeds to plummet like 30 feet into the ground. And he is still stinking alive! I know most of the things in this movie aren't things that would ever happen, but, come on. The guy would be almost dead after crashing into the windshield of a car that far up, and then when he reaches the point of hitting the ground he would REALLY be dead. (END OF MAJOR SPOILERS) That's obviously not plausible, but I'm willing to overlook it being that the rest of the movie was fantastic.Now the DVD and case itself. The case is obviously just like any other Blu-ray cases. But the one I purchased comes with the Blu-ray version of the movie with special features, the regular DVD version, and a digital copy for download. Special features include some nice deleted scenes and an alternate opening. All of that is great and I suggest getting this version.Overall, almost everything about this movie is awesome, and the two-disc Blu-ray version is the way to go. This is the best mission yet!Pros: Great action, but not mindless. Good comedy, gripping story. Nice special features. Best MI ever.Cons: An unrealistic scene that made no sense because of the outcome. That's just a personal gripe of mine that I'll overlook.