Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American spy action movie directed by Brad Bird (in his live-action debut). The screenplay is written by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec. It is the sequel to Mission: Impossible III (2006) and the fourth movie in the Mission: Impossible series. The movie was distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Directed by	Brad Bird
Written by	Josh Appelbaum André Nemec[a]
Based on	Mission: Impossible by Bruce Geller
Produced by	Tom Cruise J. J. Abrams Bryan Burk
Starring	Tom Cruise Jeremy Renner Simon Pegg Paula Patton
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Edited by	Paul Hirsch
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Production companies	Paramount Pictures[1] Skydance Productions[2] TC Productions[3] Bad Robot Productions[2]
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures[2]
Release dates	December 7, 2011 (2011-12-07) (DIFF) December 16, 2011 (2011-12-16) (United States)
Running time	133 minutes[4]
Country	United States[2]
Language	English
Budget	$145 million[5]
Box office	$694.7 million[5]

It stars Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Paula Patton. The supporting cast includes Josh Holloway, Anil Kapoor, Michael Nyqvist, Vladimir Mashkov, Samuli Edelmann and Léa Seydoux.

Its sequel, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, was released in 2015.

Cast

• Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt: An agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF).
• Jeremy Renner as William Brandt: The IMF Secretary's aide and an intelligence analyst.
• Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn: A new IMF field agent and former IMF technician.
• Paula Patton as Jane Carter: An IMF agent and Hanaway's handler who works with Ethan.
• Michael Nyqvist as Kurt Hendricks: A Swedish-born Russian nuclear strategist codenamed "Cobalt".
• Vladimir Mashkov as Anatoly Sidorov: A Russian SVR Agent who is after Ethan.
• Léa Seydoux as Sabine Moreau: An assassin who worked for Hendricks in Dubai.
• Josh Holloway as Trevor Hanaway: An IMF agent murdered by Moreau.
• Anil Kapoor as Brij Nath: A media tycoon in Mumbai.
• Samuli Edelmann as Marius Wistrom: Hendrick's henchman.
• Ivan Shvedoff as Leonid Lisenker: A cryptography expert coerced by Hendricks.
• Miraj Grbić as Bogdan: An informant in a Moscow prison.
• Ilia Volok as The Fog: An arms dealer and Bogdan's cousin.
• Andreas Wisniewski as The Fog's contact. Wisniewski’s character originally appeared in Mission: Impossible (1996), working for arms dealer Max.
• Tom Wilkinson (uncredited) as the IMF Secretary^[6]
• Ving Rhames (uncredited cameo) as Luther Stickell^[7]
• Michelle Monaghan (uncredited cameo) as Julia Meade-Hunt: Ethan's wife.^[8]

Release

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival on December 7, 2011.^[9] It was released in IMAX and select large-format theaters in the United States on December 16, with a general release on December 21.^[10]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 253 reviews are positive. The average rating is 7.70/10.^[11] On Metacritic, the movie has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 47 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[12]

Notes

1. Christopher McQuarrie was also credited as writer on certain promotional materials for the movie.