MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL
Brad Bird’s THE INCREDIBLES for mature viewers.
Should You Watch It?
This is a terrific battle between good and evil, delivered with Brad Bird’s highly entertaining style. The production quality is excellent, the acting is first rate, and the movie builds an enjoyable relationship between its task-force members through clever, fun interactions.
The cost is intensity. Fights, shootings, car crashes, explosions, dangerous stunts, and other mayhem come frequently and strongly. There is also some foul language, though the movie is otherwise fairly clean of crude content.
If you are choosing for little children, the action is too intense. For teenagers and adults who can handle that level of violence, this is a first-rate adventure about bravery, integrity, teamwork, determination, and stopping a nuclear war.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESEthan Hunt is busted out of a Russian jail and given a mission involving vital records in the Kremlin. When the operation goes wrong, Hunt and his task force are forced to go off the grid.
The actual bomber is pursuing Russian nuclear weapons codes and intends to start a nuclear war. With their organization shut down and official support gone, Hunt and his team must rely on astounding technology, teamwork, and their own determination to stop him.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a first-rate action adventure, and the film earns that rating. Brad Bird provides all the thrills and action you can bear in a highly entertaining style. He takes moviegoers far beyond believability into a world where impossible feats become fun to watch.
The heroes’ relationships add clever, enjoyable interactions in the midst of the action. The production quality is excellent, the acting is first rate, and the music fits perfectly. Bird clearly understands entertainment value—and appears to enjoy providing it.
The Worldview
The movie presents a strong moral, patriotic worldview in a classic battle between good and evil. Its heroes do all they can to stop a villain intent on starting a nuclear war, and they exemplify bravery, integrity, teamwork, heroism, and determination against evil.
The film also contains strong anti-communist elements. Its villain believes in evolution and survival of the fittest, so the movie’s moral worldview attacks humanist evolution theory. The story’s moral center is its insistence that evil must be resisted and that people should work together for the good of others.
That emphasis aligns with Scripture’s call to overcome evil with good: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong moral, patriotic, anti-humanist worldview with strong anti-communist elements that also attack the villain’s evolutionary worldview in a classic good vs evil story extolling bravery, integrity, teamwork, heroism, and determination against evil; nine obscenities (including about two “s” words, two “d” words, four “h” words, and one “a” word), one possible “J” profanity that was too quick and muffled to determine for certain, four light profanities, and an obscene gesture; strong action violence with many fights, shootings, explosions, man falls to his death, scenes of man dangerously dangling from high skyscraper, woman forces man to give him satellite codes before knocking him out, and other mayhem; no sexual content but woman entices man to take her privately to his bedroom where she can force him to give her secret satellite codes and knock him out; upper male nudity while changing clothes and female cleavage; some drinking but no drunkenness; brief smoking; and, villain wishes to start a nuclear war and heroes are framed and left on their own.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The team must work together when official support disappears. What do bravery, integrity, and teamwork look like when you face a difficult task?
Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 · Philippians 2:3–4The heroes risk themselves to stop a nuclear war. How should concern for other people shape the choices we make?
Philippians 2:4 · 1 John 3:16–18The movie presents a clear battle between good and evil. How does Scripture call you to respond to evil without becoming evil yourself?
Romans 12:17–21 · Ephesians 5:11The villain embraces survival of the fittest. What does the Bible say gives every human life value?
Genesis 1:27 · Psalm 8:3–6The Final Word
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL is an excellent, first-rate action adventure with strong moral themes and outstanding entertainment value. Its frequent, strong violence makes it too intense for little children, but teenagers and adults who can handle that content should find it WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 13 AND UP.
