The day really got away from me, but I did watch M:I 4! I haven’t watched this one in a few years, so I don’t have a good memory of it. 
My impressions as I watched are under the cut—
Ghost Protocol
Oh, I forgot Hannaway got it like immediately ☹️
Yay, Benji and the van!
OK, I don’t think Ethan has any idea that it’s Benji who’s breaking him out of prison. He asks him “how is it that you’re here?” and then later on the IMF tells Ethan they have assembled the team for him with agents Dunn and Carter.
Gotta love how Tom cannot go down stairs normally— he’s gotta swing over the railing. I love it.
I love how Ethan collects people (Bogdan).
I also love how Ethan is basically doing a pantomime until he meets up with Jane. Which I feel is very Brad Bird of him.
As much as I love McQ, it’s too bad that other directors couldn’t have taken the helm because I really like what Brad Bird has brought to the table. There’s a sense of fun and humor, there’s a lot of visual storytelling and cool visuals too. I guess they’ll just have to make more films!
It is a shame that Jane is only in one mission impossible movie because she’s awesome.
Benji looks so young. it’s practically his first adventure.
“I babble when I’m nervous, I’m doing it again sorry, shut up, Benji” 😆
You could definitely read this as Benji being nervous to work with THE Ethan Hunt, but he’s also got a little crush on him. OK, a big crush.
Benji is the king of bad timing and awkward conversations during his time at the Kremlin. “I’m sorry about Julia” DUDE. What were you thinking? (I mean, it does show us what a sweetheart Benji is, but still, maybe don’t bring up Ethan’s trauma in the middle of an op, inside the Kremlin no less)
Ethan’s escape from the hospital is truly by the seat of his pants. I kind of love him for it, like he’s got no plan but he makes it work.
Ethan’s a little artist drama boy and I love him.
“Crude drawing.” Lol Brandt, I’d like to see you do better.
“I’ve always considered you a friend”—Instant death! No wonder Ethan has a complex. If this is what happens to his friends, I can really understand why he’s so protective of Benji. 
I like Brandt, too, but I don’t see how they honestly thought that Jeremy Renner was going to replace Tom Cruise in the Mission impossible movies. Like don’t get me wrong he’s fine, but he’s just not Tom. Brandt is not Ethan.
I love them trying to find the right train. They’re so funny. The retinal scan killed me. IMF did not think of the use case of the train being in motion when they designed that particular two factor authentication.
“I’m spitballing, it’s not all going to be gold.” 😆 Benji I love you so much.
Love how Ethan’s having a mini crisis when he realizes that he’s got to scale the tallest building in the world.
I say this with love — Tom is nuts for wanting to climb the Burj.
Benji is such a fixer. He just knows what to say to try to keep things moving along. He comes with solutions when they can’t access the server, he tells Ethan not to worry about the sandstorm, and when Ethan gets into the server room, he says “you’re halfway home” I mean, Benji just knows exactly what Ethan needs to hear. (Also, the idea of Benji = home starts here.)
Ethan hitting Brandt where it hurts, with analyst logic!
I love how Jane takes off her shoes before chasing down Moreau, she is just like, “I’m going to fucking tear that bitch apart.” I mean, i wanted Jane to beat the crap out of her, but the way she died is horrific.
Poor Leonid. Does this mean his wife and kid was killed too? ☹️
And now we have what I call the Brad Bird shot, which is when we see Ethan’s and Hendricks’s shadows running across the pavement. That’s very Animation. that is a 2D brain at work.
I love how those goggles proved useful to Ethan again. also, he is a huge klepto. He steals everything, lol.
Ethan standing in that sandstorm is a very lovely shot
Boy, Ethan does have some kind of luck. He should be dead a dozen times by now. 
I like Brandt‘s little plot twist, that he feels responsible for Julia‘s “death”. Nice reveal with Jane and Benji.
Damn! Jane and Ethan look so good walking in together. I’m surprised every head didn’t turn as they strolled in. 
I still hate that Ethan kissed Jane. It has always felt very, “well, we have to have Tom kiss a woman. Something for the women folk. Let’s shoehorn that in there,” to me. 
Ethan takes a lot of hits in this one, yikes.
Ethan and the business with the briefcase feels very cartoonish to me. I don’t mind it, i guess, it’s just a little funny. Same thing with Brandt being “caught” by Benji.
That vertical crash in the car, i can’t believe Ethan wasn’t more hurt.
“Mission Accomplished!” Confused look 😆
Shout out to San Francisco, holler! There goes the of top the Transamerica pyramid 😬 (fun fact I live a short walk from there).
Luther!!!!! ❤️
Julia!!!! I’m so glad they let her see Ethan, that they acknowledged each other. I really love Julia. I’m so happy with how the series didn’t kill her and even allowed her to come back.
So I don’t think Benji and Ethan are into each other yet. But I do think that Ghost Protocol is the start of their actual friendship.
I think it’s clear that Benji has a little bit of a hero worship thing going on that. He definitely has a little bit of a crush on Ethan, but I don’t think he’s fallen in love with him yet. And I think that Ethan’s always liked Benji, but this is the first time he’s really taking notice of him and how great he is. 
I’ll watch Rogue Nation tomorrow.
