Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) - M5.4/E8

I have to say my initial desire to see this on opening night at an IMAX theater 45 min. away was for the prologue of the Dark Knight Rises, and it was well worth it.  I'm even more excited to see it this summer, and I was pretty stinking excited to see it in the first place.

Mission Impossible 4 on an IMAX theater was pretty amazing, and a lot more intense than it would be in a regular theater (which I loved, but my wife did not).  The opening sequence with breaking Ethan Hunt out of a Serbian prison was mind blowing and had enough neck cracking and bone breaking to set anyone on edge.  The follow-up credit sequence and theme song by Giacchino was excellent.

I liked the fewer corny lines in this one compared to MI3 (Dunn provided a good balance of comedy); and there were a lot fewer cliche Mission Impossible scenarios going on here too.  The missions up to this point seemed to be pretty much the same.  It's introduced as an unthinkable mission (breaking into the CIA, or some other top secret place), and everyone is flabbergasted at the thought, and then Ethan says something like, "It gets much worse..." and then he goes on and explains the unbelievable security that they'll have to breach, and then they do it.  This one had similar elements, but the unexpected circumstances under which they were required to operate made the film more engaging and interesting.

[***Spoiler Alert - Read on if you've already seen the movie, or don't plan on seeing it***]

I was a little bothered at first when it was insinuated that things didn't work out between Ethan and his wife.  The entire third movie was based on their love for each other and willingness to die for each other's safety.  I was very relieved when we find out what really happened with his wife (the second revelation, not the fact that she died, though even that would be better than just leaving her).

The team work that resulted from a haphazardly assembled team was very well portrayed.  Everything didn't just work, they had to work out differences, learn how to work together and trust one another in order to accomplish their mission.  Ethan did a good job as the team lead by not forcing people to cooperate or penalizing them for not working well; he just did the best he could and expected them to follow suit.

Definitely worth seeing in the theater, try IMAX if you have the option.  No sex/nudity, language was better than a lot of PG-13 shows, violence was the main contributor to the rating.