Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol feels like a much more natural evolution of Brian De Palma's original Mission: Impossible film than either of its two direct prequels; it focuses on heists, espionage, teamwork, gadgets and working outside of the system. It's also not as stylistically directed as Woo and Abrams' (or even De Palma's to be fair) efforts, but Brad Bird's style works wonders for the film. This is Mission: Impossible. It lays the groundwork that Mcquarrie would take forward and marks a new turn for the franchise, one which established it as a series here to stay. It has so many amazing set pieces (the whole Dubai sequence is absolutely stunning and one of the highlights of the entire franchise), a great dynamic in its core team, and makes the best decision any of these films has ever made: bringing back Simon Pegg's Benji and making him a field agent. Pegg brings the distinct personality that this franchise desperately needs. It also features a top-two series score by Michael Giacchino (Lorne Balfe's Fallout score is its contender), taking Lalo Schfrin's sublime theme and imbuing it with a distinct espionage lilt, clearly inspired by his own work in Pixar's The Incredibles (also directed by Bird).
One thing that lets this Mission down a little is its (quite frankly) awful villain. We've gone from Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Davian (easily the best in the series) to Michael Nyqvist's... what's his name again? He's less a character and more a plot device, which is such a shame; Nyqvist is a brilliant performer (just watch John Wick to see how great a villain he can be) and he's completely wasted here. Aside from that though, this is just great. It's certainly a top tier Mission that's for sure.
One thing that lets this Mission down a little is its (quite frankly) awful villain. We've gone from Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Davian (easily the best in the series) to Michael Nyqvist's... what's his name again? He's less a character and more a plot device, which is such a shame; Nyqvist is a brilliant performer (just watch John Wick to see how great a villain he can be) and he's completely wasted here. Aside from that though, this is just great. It's certainly a top tier Mission that's for sure.