Exceeds expectations

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2015)

So a lot of people thought the Mission: Impossible franchise was maybe pretty much done after M:I III, which was great, but many people (including myself) thought Tom Cruise was too old and that maybe the Mission: Impossible movies had shown everything there was to show.
Boy, were we proved wrong. Not only is this a great movie, it is in my opinion, the best in the franchise. Ghost Protocol delivers stunning cinematography, excellent action sequences and great charismatic performances by basically every main character in the movie. Tom Cruise is great, Simon Pegg's return adds so much comedy and charisma to the movie, so pretty much everyone in the team is great. This movie delivers something the Mission: Impossible franchise pretty much forgot about: suspense. Many scenes in the movie, particularly two of them: the prison break sequence and the nuclear launch codes-diamonds exchange are really well executed and very suspenseful. Another thing they did great and brought back was the sense of urgency throughout the film. The IMF is disavowed and the characters really have nothing to rely on but themselves. I love the fact that this is also the first Mission: Impossible movie in which the gadgets malfunction, so the suspense and sense of need is elevated.
There are a few flaws for me in Ghost Protocol, mainly the lack of a compelling villain. It is said that an action movie is only as good as its villain, and the one in this movie isn't really compelling. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best villain in the franchise so far in M:I III, and in this movie it just feels like a shallow character that is really never explored. Also, the Dubai sequence really feels like the movie's climax, although it's not, really. The climax is supposed to be the India sequence where they abort the missile, and it is great, but after the Dubai sequence, the movie feels like it slows down a little bit, and then it picks up the pace again.
These are only small details, but they cannot deny the fact that Ghost Protocol is a pretty fast paced, action-packed, stunt-heavy movie that is, in my opinion, the best in the franchise so far.