Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol - Script

INT. HUNGARY - SAFEHOUSE - NIGHT The script opens with JANE CARTER and TREVOR HANAWAY executing a precision extraction. It goes wrong. Hanaway is killed by a deadly female assassin, SABINE MOREAU. Carter escapes, but the team has lost a valuable asset and a set of nuclear launch codes.

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EXT. MOSCOW - PRISON YARD - NIGHT ETHAN HUNT is currently an inmate. He has purposely gotten himself arrested to intercept an inmate with vital intel. In a chaotic, visceral sequence, Ethan stages a riot and escapes the prison with the help of BENJI DUNN (now a field agent) and JANE CARTER.

INT. IMF TRUCK - MOVING Ethan gets his mission: Infiltrate the Kremlin to intercept the intel regarding the nuclear codes. They suspect a radicalist group.

INT. THE KREMLIN - NIGHT Ethan and Benji infiltrate the heavily guarded archives. As they hack the mainframe, they discover a file named "Cobalt." Suddenly, a frequency jam hits them. Ethan spots a man carrying a briefcase—who is clearly the mastermind. Before Ethan can intercept, an explosion tears through the Kremlin.

EXT. MOSCOW - STREETS - CONTINUOUS Ethan wakes up in the rubble. Russian Special Forces are swarming. The Kremlin is destroyed. The Russians blame the IMF. Ethan escapes, but not before seeing a transmission from the IMF Secretary. mission impossible ghost protocol script

INT. IMF SECRETARY'S CAR - MOVING The Secretary explains the situation: "Ghost Protocol." The IMF is disavowed. No support, no extraction, no safe houses. If caught, they are treated as terrorists. Suddenly, the car is rammed by a truck. The Secretary is killed. Ethan barely escapes with WILLIAM BRANDT, the Secretary’s Chief Analyst who was in the car.

The Ghost Protocol script famously opens in a Moscow prison. However, the script’s first major trick is misdirection. We watch a rescue of a mysterious asset (Bogdan) only to discover that Ethan Hunt was already free; the prisoner was a mask.

Script Analysis Highlight – The "Face Mask" Rule: Appelbaum and Nemec utilize the franchise’s signature trope (rubber masks) not as a gimmick, but as a plot engine. The script establishes the mask in the first scene, pays it off in the Kremlin heist, and then subverts it when the villain, Hendricks, uses the same technology to frame the IMF.

The Kremlin Explosion (The Inciting Incident): The script triggers the end of Act One with a visceral explosion. Narratively, this is the "Point of No Return." Ethan watches the IMF director (Tom Wilkinson) die. The team escapes, but the world believes the US blew up the Kremlin. Economically, this scene accomplishes in three minutes what lesser scripts take twenty to do: it shatters the hero’s public identity.

The script concludes not with a massive explosion, but with a quiet moment: Ethan and Brandt sharing a look in a London pub. The final line of dialogue ("Light the fuse...") is a callback to the very first movie. The Ghost Protocol script understands that while the set pieces are new, the soul of the franchise is the quiet confidence of a man who will stand on the edge of a skyscraper to buy the world one more minute of peace. The Ghost Protocol script famously opens in a

It remains the gold standard for how to reboot a franchise without erasing its memory.

EXT. BURJ KHALIFA - DAY
ETHAN (late 30s, sharp but exhausted) looks down 130 floors.
A single glass panel remains. He snaps a suction cup onto it.
BENJI (V.O.)
Ethan, if that seal pops, you'll be a grease spot.
ETHAN
Noted.
He pulls the panel free. Wind screams. He swings out into nothing.
 Why it works:  Short action lines

Why it works: Short action lines, VO for tech support tension, no internal monologue.

| Element | How Ghost Protocol Uses It | |--------|-------------------------------| | Cold open | In media res prison escape, then title card. | | MacGuffin | Nuclear launch control device (later revealed as “Cobalt”). | | Team dynamic | Each member gets a specialty (tech, muscle, strategy). | | Set pieces | Script builds story around action locations (Kremlin → Dubai → Mumbai). | | Humor | Benji’s comedic relief with heavy tech (e.g., malfunctioning magnet suit). | | Masks | Used sparingly but crucially (Ethan as Russian general). | | Countdown | Launch timer adds urgency in final act. |

**EXT. DUBAI