I must say, it’s good to be back. After a long summer of many movies — some good, some bad — I walked out of the theatre the other day feeling more refreshed and satisfied than I had all summer. What had I seen? Not the comic silliness of Ant-Man or the dullness and boredom of the Fantastic Four. No, I walked out of the theatre having seen Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Usually, a series is mostly dead by its fifth installment, but this film happens to be the best of the franchise so far. Go figure.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation stars Tom Cruise as IMF super spy Ethan Hunt as he embarks on yet another adventure, this time to take down a mysterious underground organization called the “Syndicate.” Ethan is joined by familiar faces Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) as well as newcomers Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) as he travels the world in an attempt to take down the Syndicate. Meanwhile, Ethan must deal with being hunted by the CIA, which thinks Ethan has gone rogue.

The Mission: Impossible series has always been strange. The first three installments were good, but nothing really special: By the end of the third installment, the series had seemed to have used up all of its tricks. However, the fourth film pulled off the impossible (ha ha… sorry), reinvigorating the series with a new direction and a more exciting purpose. This fifth installment improves on the fourth, expanding the action, upping the stakes, and containing just enough characters and new storylines to keep viewers excited while taking the story in a positive direction.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the star, Tom Cruise. 53 years old, he is still a better action star than most of the wannabees nowadays by a long shot. Surprisingly, the actor insists on doing his own stunts (including hanging on the outside of an airplane while it is taking off), This gives the film a sense of realism and personality that stuntmen just can’t provide. The rest of cast members were functional in the movie at best, but one standout is Rebecca Ferguson’s performance as Ethan’s rival (and sometimes stalker) Ilsa Faust. This is the newcomer’s first major film role, and after her performance, I certainly want to see more of her in mainstream movies.

To make a good action movie, the most important part is to make the action memorable. We’ve seen explosions and car chases before, but doing them memorably is what this film is good at. We’ve seen a fist fight before, but we’ve never seen one on top of a narrow catwalk above an ongoing opera. We’ve seen a motorcycle chase before, but we’ve never seen one on a highway with turns so sharp the drivers are scraping their knee on the road. We’ve seen foot chases before, but we’ve never seen one on the streets of London late at night with every bad guy in Europe after the heroes. Mission: Impossible -Rogue Nation manages to be a unique action thriller while retaining its signature charm.

There are few downsides to this movie, but there is one worth mentioning. While most of the movie keeps the viewer drawn in quite well, the last half hour or so had me checking my watch every once in a while — probably because all of the high-octane thrills had been reserved for the first half. The second half of the film is relatively low in thrills, even if it is dripping in tension and depth, so just a fair warning to viewers there.

In the end, it’s worth saying I haven’t had this much fun with a movie in years. I walked out of the theatre feeling pleasantly full, as if I had just eaten a memorable dinner. If you’re looking for a great popcorn movie to enjoy for two hours, I recommend Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation more than any other movie this summer. I give it a 5 out of 5 star rating, which is very well-deserved. Now I can only hope that they don’t mess it up with the sixth movie.