![]() ![]() Ghost Protocol is pretty much wall-to-wall action, to the point where it can be argued there's too much of it. Globe-trotting and action-saturated, the movie offers everything a good 007 yarn should have - eye-popping stunts, explosions to make Michael Bay's mouth water, high speed chases, and a megalomaniac villain with a deadly sidekick - although Tom Cruise exudes grunge more than the suave sophistication one expects from Bond. If this movie doesn’t give you vertigo or anxiety, man, I salute you.Ghost Protocol is the fourth big screen Mission: Impossible movie and the closest the 15-year old franchise has gotten to being an unofficial James Bond adventure. Even on a smaller screen, the Burj Khalifa climb holds up as a classic stunt sequence. I saw it first on DVD and have only seen it on home video since. I regret not seeing Ghost Protocol in IMAX back in 2011. ![]() You feel like you’re watching it in real time, even seven years later. The cars on the road reflected in the windows (imagine driving in Dubai and not knowing that Tom Cruise is risking his life thousands of feet above you). Doing the stunts practically, on the building itself, provided so many details that could not be reproduced. Then Simon Pegg comes in, after completing his part of the mission, saying “That was not easy, but I did it.” It’s a really funny line and a great button to this jaw-dropping scene.īrad Bird and his crew watched the dailies, and even then they knew they had something special. The tension relief after Hunt is safe is completely earned. Then, seeing his team trying to pull him back inside is incredible. Tom Cruise jumping out of the window then running vertically down the building is just genius stuff. Even if the audience knows that Hunt has to survive the climb, the sequence is just beautifully performed by all involved, and it’s remarkably tense. It’s such a simply designed scene: they have to get to some servers and can only get in from the outside. ![]() What I love about the Burj Khalifa climb is that the climb itself is the obstacle. He seems prepared and intelligent, surrounding himself with professionals and experts to help him perform the scene. But I don’t get the feeling that Cruise is a daredevil idiot. He had to be quick, putting in a performance as Ethan Hunt while also climbing the world’s tallest building. Whether or not he was terrified, he seems so in the zone. Driven by his love for making movies and performing these wild, insane stunts, he seems so game for anything and yet totally Zen about it all. Tom Cruise is nothing if not professional. Brad Bird admitted that coordinating all this was difficult, but he and his crew tried to be calm and let it the sequence play out. His legs would go numb after a while, so he had to be quick as well. While the film shows Ethan Hunt free climbing, in reality Tom Cruise had to be harnessed, but the strain of that cut off his circulation. The sequence was shot with IMAX cameras, and those burn through film quickly, reloading the film also added time to the shoot. The filming would be slowed down due to the helicopters only being able to be in the air for a half hour at a time. They consulted with professional climbers and stuntmen, architects, and engineers to reassure everyone that the stunt would be performed safely and responsibly. According to the behind-the-scenes material, the studio had to get permission to drill holes and break windows, in order to get Tom Cruise and the cameras out on the building. ![]()
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