SERIES: IMPOSSIBLE - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

“There I go again, shut up, Benji.”

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CONTENT WARNING: Violence, espionage, trauma, gaslighting, panic/anxiety.

If M:I III was the forerunner of the Mission: Impossible franchise, then this week’s film proved the franchise was immensely profitable. And it also happens to be a pretty fun movie, with Ethan fulfilling a more senior role as he leads three relatively fresh and raw agents through (checks notes) THE HIGHEST STAKES IN THE HISTORY OF EVER. The threat of nuclear destruction of the entire world hangs in the balance of a not-so-proven team of spies, and those stakes, along with some script development issues, really hinder the believability of this film. Which is frustrating, because this might be the most fun you can have watching a Mission: Impossible movie - the jokes, the banter, the charm are on full display, and it really makes for a great watch. Just - maybe make it a little less complicated, please? We continue our “Series: Impossible” with 2011’s Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol this week on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

PLUS: New Movie Reviews of Mank and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom!

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Intro and outro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpt taken from “Theme from Mission: Impossible,” written by Lalo Schifrin, produced and arranged by Larry Mullen with David Beal, and performed by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen . Copyright 1996 mother records.

Excerpts taken from the film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol are © 2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.