Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

It's hard to say precisely what it is that did it, but with Ghost Protocol the Mission Impossible franchise feels like it has finally settled into its self, knows what it is, an has made peace with a formula that could be replicated almost indefinitely. Basically its James Bond with a team of Felix Leiter's. There is a steady rotation in said team (and especially in agent Hunt;s boss) but still some continuity. The foreign location and action set pieces (I'm particularly thinking of Dubai) are strong, events of previous films are referenced lightly and their plot threads are resolved, while the story does not feel as if its built solely around previous fall out. The villain here is even an interesting variation on the routine, a crazed academic rather then a mad scientist. It has its footing, it's fun, its a well oiled machine, and that the franchise took awhile to figure itself out makes that achievement more satisfying then it probably deserves to be. ***