Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol or Mission Impossible 4 is one of the best straight action movies I’ve seen this year. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  It is almost the best of the series. MI3 directed by one of my favorites, J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Star Trek), is the best to me. This one is a very close second though.

The film directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Iron Giant) is your standard action formula film. The IMF team; Jane Carter (Paula Patton), William Brant (Jeremy Renner) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), led by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is framed for a bombing at the Kremlin by a crazed mad man intent on the world going into nuclear war. They have to go out to investigate and clear their names while the Russian police are after them.

The action is wonderful. Crazy landscapes, death defying stunts, crazy cool gadgets, beautiful international locales make up the backdrop of the movie. The shots in Moscow, Mumbia and Dubai were especially beautiful. There is a scene shot in Dubia with Tom Cruise scaling the tallest building there that is something crazy. Cruise is one insane man. All of the stunts for the Ethan Hunt character were done by Cruise himself. He did a great job of  with those. The spy gadgets are pretty nice as well. Don’t get me wrong they are no James Bond but they were pretty nice. The vehicles in the movie were also crazy. Hotness.

The supporting cast was pretty good. I would say that this is the reason that this movie didn’t move up to number one for me. Simon Pegg (Shaun of The Dead, Hott Fuzz) and Jeremy Renner (The Town, The Hurt Locker) were good. Renner was greatly underused in this movie. If they make another movie and Cruise’s character has the same team, I would like to see them give Renner more to do. Paula Patton(Jumping The Broom, Precious) does not ruin the movie like some were thinking. She’s not the best actress but she isn’t awful. Her role in the movie is that of a supporting player and the story and action move along so quickly that you don’t really dwell on her acting. Go see this movie, It’s definitely a must if you like action movies and liked the other Mission Impossible films, just like I said in my Fall Movie Guide.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol  opens in IMAX on Friday 12/16 and everywhere 12/21