In the Mission: Impossible films, Tom Cruise's hero Ethan Hunt is always executing wildly dangerous acrobatic stunts without ever betraying even a hint of fear, but a new clip from the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol changes gears just a little bit. Cruise is on hand, as is Simon Pegg playing tech geek and exposition-machine Benji Dunn, but the man in action here is Jeremy Renner as the mysterious Brandt, who might just take over for Hunt s the lead in potential continued sequels. Here, Brandt is about to take a huge, deadly looking leap, with some technology in his outfit meant to save his life. In a refreshing change of pace, Brandt is nervous and freaked out about making the big move, fretting over the possibility of dying a horrific death in the middle of his vertiginous stunt.
Paramount Pictures unveiled this new clip at MSN Movies, where you can find it in high definition, as well.
The third sequel finds the entire IMF being disavowed by the government after a frame-up makes it appear that Ethan Hunt's team is responsible for a massive bombing that destroys the Kremlin. Together with a few rogue IMF agents and Brandt, whose motives are less clear, Hunt must set out to clear the organization of wrongdoing.
Brad Bird makes his live action directorial debut here, and that's reason enough to hope for something special. Bird's The Incredibles demonstrated his obvious affection for old school James Bond-style espionage, and hopefully he can translate that into a proper action vehicle that will keep the fifteen-year old film franchise on its feet. Cruise is front and center yet again, and he's joined by Pegg and Renner, along with Paula Patton, Josh Holloway, Tom Wilkinson, Anil Kapoor, Ving Rhames, Lea Seydoux, and Michael Nyqvist.
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol arrives on IMAX screens December 16th, followed by wide release on December 21st.
