Up until this point, the marketing campaign for Brad Bird’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has been “Tom Cruise” this and “Burj Khalifa” that. And rightfully so. When you have arguably the world’s biggest movie star leaping off of the world’s tallest skyscraper, you are going to show it, from every possible angle. But new clips hitting the Web for the upcoming sequel are starting to shine a light on Cruise’s co-stars. Like Paula Patton, who is beating the daylights out of a beautiful (but likely evil) chick in this new clip:



Tough chicks are so damn sexy. How tough? Let’s just say I would have tapped out after crashing through that first table. And by the end of the clip, it looks like Jeremy Renner’s waking up and preparing to enter the fray. But since we don’t yet know what side of the equation this spy supports, we don’t know if that’s good news for Patton or more trouble.

Either way, I think she can handle herself.

As I’ve been saying all year. I’m primarily interested in Ghost Protocol to see how Bird transitions to live action after his outstanding animated features (from The Incredibles to The Iron Giant). And specifically, I’m anxious to see how he’s able to manipulate his actual, human characters through animated action sequences. This clip shows that his cast is up to the physical challenge to their Impossible stunts. Let the spy games begin.

Ghost Protocol opens in IMAX theaters on Dec. 16, then goes wide on Dec. 21.