Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)

If someone had told me after the first or second M:I entry that there would be a fifth in 2015, I would have dismissed the prediction with a raspberry. If someone had told me in 2006 that it would star Tom Cruise, I would have rolled my eyes. Funny how these things change.

In Ghost Protocol, Ethan Hunt and company had their remote support cut off and dealt with failing gadgetry among other new problems. This time it's worse: The CIA director (Alec Baldwin), believing that the Impossible Missions Force made up the destructive force known as the Syndicate to justify its own less ruly acts, gets the IMF officially disbanded. When Ethan doesn't stop doing what he does, he becomes a wanted man, worrying the few people willing to help him track down Syndicate honcho Solomon Lane (Sean Harris, who needs little more than a stone face).

Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) has a bigger role this time around. Tired of long-distance computer assistance, he welcomes the chance to get out in the field. Of course, he may be in over his head, which doesn't keep nearly as cool as Ethan's. You know Pegg won't play him all that seriously. I'm less certain whether William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) have more to do or I just notice them more after all this time.

If anything complicates matters more than the genius of Lane, it's British double agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). As usual, Ethan and the woman have a bit of chemistry together, but how well can he guess what move she's going to pull next? The story gets almost dizzying with intrigue, though at least it doesn't feel like a bunch of plots mashed together like the first M:I.

Cruise is 53 now, but you'd hardly know it from his stationary appearance or his action sequences. And the actor likes to do his own stunts! How does he stay so hardy? Not that he can hold a candle to his own unstoppable character, who hardly looks the worse for wear after leaping through glass.

Yes, things get a bit ridiculous as always for the series. I consider that a plus. With its exotic travels, extraordinary obstacle courses, sci-fi tech, vehicle chase, and well-choreographed battles, it's basically James Bond with more teamwork and without the modern darkness. (As much as I like Skyfall, I wish the Spectre trailer didn't promise more of the same.) And unlike with M:I2, the script doesn't look like it was fished out of an MGM wastebasket.

Each M:I movie has a different director, the previous ones all pretty famous by now. Christopher McQuarrie, who's done plenty of writing but little directing, would not have been my first choice to follow Brad Bird. But follow he does, so well that I couldn't have told you it wasn't Bird without looking. In fact, he might just have done my overall favorite part of the series. Hope to see more from him.