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I never cared much for the Mission Impossible film franchise until Brad Bird (The Iron Giant) took his turn in the director’s chair with the last installment, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. I’m not sure Rogue Nation — the fifth in the series — is better than Ghost Protocol, but it’s pretty solid action entertainment nonetheless. Tom Cruise, bless his insane little heart, is still an engaging action hero. He’s over fifty years old now and holding onto the sides of jetliners in air (that’s no special effect in the movie; Cruise really did that shit!) Gotta give him props for that. But Cruise can’t do it alone. The supporting cast really helps to elevate the material here, particularly leading lady Rebecca Ferguson. She’s stunning, she’s bad-ass, she’s a solid actor on Cruise’s par or beyond. I’m going to be keeping my eye out for her from now on. Simon Pegg is also endearing as Cruise’s beleaguered techie.

Fantastic set pieces are what it’s all about, harkening back to the more light-hearted James Bond films of the Connery/Moore eras. The best sequence takes place at the opera house, where multiple assassination attempts are being thwarted from behind stage and in the rafters above (shades of Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much were welcome).

With Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, and a hammy Alec Baldwin. Directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Usual Suspects.