Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol parents guide

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Parent Guide

It's difficult to find an action film as well paced and well scripted as this one.

Overall B

In this fourth film in the franchise, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) discovers he is on a wanted list after the Kremlin is bombed and the IMF is blamed for the attack. Now the only way to save himself and the covert organization is to team up with his other blacklisted operatives and find out who is really behind the terrorist attack.

Release date December 16, 2011

Violence C-
Sexual Content B+
Profanity B-
Substance Use B-

Why is Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence.

Run Time: 133 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

The enduring Mission Impossible franchise continues with the release of the fourth movie in this cinematic series featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. He leads a team of agents working for a secretive U.S. government organization known as the IMF. Along with computer guru Benji (Simon Pegg), former desk jockey turned agent Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and the lone female Jane (Paula Patton), the group is on a mission in Moscow when things go terribly wrong and they end up being implicated in a major blast that destroys a portion of the Kremlin.

In response the U.S. President initiates Ghost Protocol, essentially rendering the agency invisible and leaving the Moscow group without any outside resources or backup. Yet Ethan is still determined to find the perpetrator who seems bent on destroying relations between Russia and America. Convincing the others to join him for the ride, the team heads to Dubai and other foreign locations as they hunt madman Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) who holds the power to begin a nuclear war.

Although it’s a well tread plot found in dozens of dusty movies from the past, a good shot of adrenaline laced stunts and scenarios help to make this over-two-hour-long romp fly by. (One scene featuring the tallest building in the world looks particularly amazing on the IMAX screen.) Director Brad Bird, best known for helming animated projects at Pixar like Ratatouille and The Incredibles knows how to make fantastical situations more interesting by allowing his characters to derive humor from their flaws.

Unusual in this movie genre is a distinct lack of profanities and sex. You will still here a handful of mild curses along with a scatological term, and see Jane use her womanly wiles to solicit information from a man, but these elements are relatively minor. However, such content shortages are quickly made up by frequent violent depictions. Many scenes show characters hitting and throwing each other, often accompanied by bone breaking sound effects and bloody injuries. Also, people are shot on screen and others are in continual peril. These portrayals will likely be too frightening for pre-teens.

Still, it’s difficult to find an action film as well paced and well scripted as this one. If you come expecting nothing more from this flick than a visual roller-coaster ride, you may find this fourth mission to be an amusing pick for older adolescents and adults.

Directed by Brad Bird. Starring Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg. Running time: 133 minutes. Theatrical release December 16, 2011. Updated

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Rating & Content Info

Why is Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol rated PG-13? Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for sequences of intense action and violence.

Violence: Frequent violent altercations with fists, body blows, guns, bombs and other weapons occur throughout this film. Some blood effects are seen. Characters are shot on screen, including one in the head (with limited blood effects). A mother and child are held hostage after a home invasion. Characters are trapped under water in a car while others are shooting at them. Perilous moments include risk of falling from heights, detection by hostile government agents, car crashes, sand storms, and nuclear war.

Sexual Content: A woman changes her clothes in a car—we see her in her bra. A woman uses sexuality to gain information from a man. Woman wears low cut dress.

Language: Infrequent mild profanities and a single scatological term.

Drugs/Alcohol: Social drinking in some scenes. Main characters drink hard liquor after a failed mission. A secondary character is briefly seen smoking tobacco. Sleeping drugs are used to sedate characters.

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Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Parents' Guide

What is the appeal of the U.S. / Russian conflict in scripts? How does this movie modify the Cold War relationship between these two countries? What new enemies are being depicted in films?

How have terrorist attacks altered the action genre? Can you think of other purely fictitious movies that reflect real world trends? Why does a “reality component” make the story more believable and interesting?

How many product placements can you identify in this film? When technology fails, are the products ever branded with actual company names or logos?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol movie is April 17, 2012. Here are some details…

Note: Mission: Impossible 5-Movie Blu-ray Collection is releasing on December 15, 2015. This package features:
Mission Impossible
Mission Impossible 2
Mission Impossible 3
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Home Video Notes: Mission Impossible—Ghost Protocol

Release Date: 17 April 2012

Mission Impossible—Ghost Protocol releases to home video with the following extras:

- The feature film in Blu-ray/DVD/Ultraviolet Digital Copy

- Mission Accepted

- Impossible Missions

- Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by director Brad Bird

- Alternate Opening

- Trailers

Home Video Notes:Mission: Impossible Collection
Release Date: 23 June 2015
Paramount Pictures is releasing a Mission: Impossible Collection. This four-disc box set offers Blu-ray copies of the following films in this action/adventure franchise:
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible 2
Mission: Impossible 3
Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

Related home video titles:

This is the fourth film in this franchise. It was preceded by Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible 2, and Mission Impossible 3. (They obviously decided to get more creative with the title for this one.)

J.J. Abrams, who helped produce this movie, worked on Star Trek and Super 8 as well. Director Brad Bird has also had a hand in The Incredibles and The Iron Giant.

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