There are very few moviegoing experiences more fun and rewarding than the action movie midnight showing. The simple knowledge that everyone else there is as excited as you are fuels a strange, giddy excitement, a feeling of being transported back to childhood, where midnight was way past your bedtime and staying up signified something rare and special. There are many subpar films that when viewed in that way become more than the sum of their parts.

Waiting in line tonight for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (for over two hours actually. The Dark Knight Rises prologue, which I’ll talk about in a different post later, brought out a big crowd of its own) I feared that, though I knew I would enjoy it, that upon reflection it would actually be a disappointment. Luckily, this was not at all the case. In his live action directing debut, Pixar’s Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) has made the best action movie of the year.

I’m a big fan of the MI series, except for the incoherent MI:II, and Ghost Protocol is a more than worthy entrant that very well may be the most fun of the four. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his new team made up of Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, and Jeremy Renner are framed for an attack on Russia, and left fugitives after Ghost Protocol is put into action, dissolving the IMF. Hunted by multiple governments, they also have to contend with a nuclear device in the hands of an evil Michael Nyqvist.

Let’s be honest: story and drama have never really been the series’ strong point, and that doesn’t change here. Luckily, scenes that aren’t dialed up to 11 are few and far between. What’s left is some of the most breathtaking and pulse pounding action I’ve seen in years (especially if you see it in IMAX, which I couldn’t recommend more). Bird knows how to shoot a damn good, completely coherent action sequence without resorting to disorienting closeups.

Tom Cruise is really a consummate action star, and he was smart enough to do all his own stunts here, including some ones that must’ve taken some serious cojones. I always like Cruise, and this is pretty much the role for him. You wear some suits, you look like a star, you engage the audience, and you crack a smile, no more, no less. The rest of the cast is good too, especially Pegg as the comic relief.

But, as I said, the star is the action and the gadgets, both of which are aces. There are some truly jawdropping setpieces, including one shot at the Burj Dubai that I just didn’t want to end. There are even some that, surprisingly, haven’t been spoiled in the trailers, which I know sounds glib but was actually really refreshing. MI:GP isn’t going to change the world, but it’s pulse pounding fun at it’s best. Plus, it’s just really fun to say Ghost Protocol. I’ve been apending it to things all week. Ghost Protocol.

- Whole Milk