One of the best action films in years!!!

Rating: 10/10 (14 January 2012)

What a bloody thrilling adventure!!
Your assignments, and you all had better accept it, is to check out this amazing film!!!!!
Shoot! I'm chomping at the bit to see it again! It is without question the best in the M:I series, without question the best action film of the year, and probably the best film that I've seen since maybe 2007 - that was LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD. Maybe 2008 with EAGLE EYE. But this is way better than anything in 2009 or 2010 - no doubt about that!
I have to give some praise to the score by Michael Giacchino. I especially love the "Kremlin with Anticipation" track - the first opening bars are basically Lalo Schifrin's work from the 60s TV show. Then it transitions into the Red Army choir and finishes off with the classic 60s main theme by Lalo. All in all a great soundtrack from Giacchino! And I love his rendition of the main theme (the track called "Light the Fuse") - played during a very cool retro Bondian title sequence. It starts out sounding like something from THE INCREDIBLES and then transitions into the old-school 60s version by Lalo!
As for the movie it's basically the perfect template for what a Mission Impossible movie should be. I love MI:2 but there's no hiding that it was more of an action thriller. I'm fine with that because that film (thanks to John Woo) delivered in spades on a visceral action level! But this film really is the best of both worlds - it's both an adrenaline-soaked action movie as well as a movie that strongly homages the classic 60s TV show! Just perfect!! Even Giacchino's music reveals this. Some of the early stuff (especially at the Kremlin) could have been right out of the TV show. I half expected Martin Landau to pop up! Brad Bird (who would have thought?) really got the right combination here! DePalma somewhat missed the mark with the first one - does anyone still know what the first one was about? Very confusing. Woo thrilled me with the second one as a straight-up action movie but it's no secret it didn't feel like a M:I story. Abrams seemed to satisfy some folks with the third one but to me it seemed a bit convoluted and somehow felt like an extended episode of ALIAS or something. But this one really got it right. Very true to the spirit of the TV series (minus the crazy stunts of course but that's par for the course - like Guy Richie's SHERLOCK HOLMES) and very cinematic! Again - very surprised by Brad Bird's accomplishment here! Really... who would have thought? The guy does 3 animated films and suddenly he's given his first live feature - and it's a franchise juggernaut! Damn!!
P.S. The stunt sequence at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai is worth the price of admission alone. Don't pass this one up, folks! So now let's all get up, power down our computers, and in a single file head down to our local cinemas.