You know a tent-pole movie series is in trouble when it has to explain its title in its dialogue.
As in Tom Cruise saying, about midway through “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” to the rest of his crew, “We’re going to Ghost Protocol. Ghost Protocol is…” and then explaining exactly what Ghost Protocol is. It has something to do with being disavowed by the government – always a risk – and going rogue to prove your own innocence.
Which turns out to be the same thing the IMF agents are always having to do: proving their innocence after terrorists make them the fall guys for some heinous deed. (In this case, it’s the dynamiting of the Kremlin to cover the theft of nuclear-missile launch codes.)