Tense and exciting, this is a great entry into the series.

Rating: 8/10 (19 May 2014)

What's really surprising about "Ghost Protocol" is that Brad Bird, its man at the helm, made the jump entirely from animated fare - and he's remarkably capable with action movie staging and direction. Color me impressed.
The disbanding of IMF is a novel approach to changing up the franchise. Without support, these superspies are forced to improvise to the nth degree, giving this movie an unpredictable edge. The core group of actors gel together pretty well (with Cruise continuing his unique brand of age-defying ass-kickery; man, that guy is nuts), and it's a team I'd see again in a future installment. That stuff with Ethan's wife at the end was a little much, but his walk into the vapors more than made up for it.
This series still has some kick left in it. A great collection of popcorn action movie talents.
8/10
Also: my god, Paula Patton is unnervingly good-looking.