Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The strength of this franchise? Scenario imagination. The things these people think up are simply outrageously entertaining. The Dubai sequence here, for instance, is remarkable for its inventiveness, in multiple dimensions -- not the least of which is Tom Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa's exterior, which set my fear-of-falling response into white-hot psychosis mode. And that’s really just the start of it. So much of the spectacle in these films is so over the top that it serves as its own context and raison d'etre; the details of the story, plot and overarching theme are largely irrelevant to whether or not the film succeeds as entertainment. That may not be truly good moviemaking, but it undoubtedly delivers a high quotient of entertainment. Shakespeare it’s not, but a good way to kill a couple of hours and enjoy oneself? Most emphatically, yes.