Another impossible mission, but with Ethan Hunt on the job, nothing’s impossible. Tom Cruise teams up with Academy Award-winning director Brad Bird for Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, the fourth instalment of his Mission: Impossible series. Ghost Protocol, Bird’s first live-action film, is written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, and produced by Cruise, JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk.

Cruise, but obviously, reprises his role as IMF agent extraordinaire. Accompanying him on his adrenaline-pumping ride are Ving Rhames, Je­remy Renner, Tom Wilkinson, Josh Holloway, Si­mon Pegg, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist (known for his role in the acclaimed Millennium series as Mikael Blomkvist), and Léa Seydoux. Ghost Protocol has grabbed much attention in India due to the involvement of Anil Kapoor, whose star st­arted shining in Hollywood after Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.

What’s up with Hunt this time round? He happens to be working undercover in Moscow when a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin. Russia ca­lls the attack “an undeclared act of war,” forcing the United States to kick off a black operation (Ghost Protocol), blacking out the agency’s existence and disavowing the entire team. Framed for an attack they are not responsible for, Hunt and his four-member team escape from government custody. There’s a twist in this tale — the MI force has been blamed and allowed to escape as part of an operation that warrants their working outside of their agency’s command structure.

But the IMF is ambushed soon after. With no resources and no backup, the team must figure out how to clear their names and thwart another attack. Hunt is compelled to team up with a team of fellow IMF fugitives whose motives remain mysterious. Will the MI team be able to operate without any official support? Will they be able to get in touch with the source who can tell all on the Moscow bombing and the IMF attack? Will they be able to ensure that world peace is retained? We all know the answer to that! MI4 is old wine in an old bottle — Cruise’s Hunt continues to play disguise specialist, does jaw-dropping stunts (scaling the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, is no joke!), goes down arms outstretched when suspended by a complex pulley system, and escapes an explosion in the nick of time!

The world premiere is planned in Dubai, the emirate that plays a starring role in the film. MI 4 will be featured as the opening film of the eighth Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) on December 7.

As far as Kapoor goes, the first trailer (and his absence from it) led to a lot of eyebrows being raised. Where was his Brij Nath, the fancy Indian tycoon? Kapoor finally surfaced in a trailer released recently. Not much has been revealed about his character, and the actor continues to play his cards close to his chest. He may not have a huge role, but the producers have presented him with a 20-minute cut of unseen footage that he can share with the media and other film personalities.

Will Ghost Protocol live up to the earlier instalments of the espionage franchise? The series has, till now, grossed $530 million in the United States and $1.4 billion worldwide. May be a tough act to follow, but mission impossible? Nah!