Dun dun DUN-DUN, dun dun DUN-DUN, diddle-derrrrr, diddle-derrrrr...

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to use exactly that phrase without looking like a dick when writing about the Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol trailer. Your dignity will self-destruct in 5, 4...

I happen to believe that the Mission: Impossible movies are up there with the Bourne trilogy as the best action franchise of the last 20 years. Sure, they aren't without flaws – I'm thinking Tom Cruise rock-climbing with douchey hair for one – but what series doesn't have blips?

What I like best about them is that each new movie has had a new director and a new flavour. MI1 was Brian De Palma so was heavy on the subterfuge and complex plotting; MI2 was a John Woo joint, meaning slow-mo fights and guns that jizzed doves; MI3 was JJ Abrams' movie debut, was swathed in msytery and was a pretty awesome thriller at that (and no, five stars is not excessive in this case).


Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is Brad Bird's live-action directorial debut, but it hardly seems like a risk, because he's behind some of the finest animated movies ever made (The Iron Giant, Ratatouille and The Incredibles), not to mention his work on The Simpsons way back when. As Tom Cruise is basically his own cartoon now, Bird should be able to make a decent hash of it.

I'm a sucker for all things MI but this first trailer already has my anticipation level at Code Washcloth: Dangerously Damp. This is how you cut a trailer – little to no mention of the actual plot, plenty of tantalising glimpses of larger action scenes and Tom Cruise ducking a flying car. He's done it so many times now, I'd like to think he checks his reflection in the windscreen as it flies past.