In his fifth and most kinetically charged outing as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, ageless star Tom Cruise delivers another dynamic performance in this first-rate espionage action thriller. Re-teaming with Jack Reacher (2012) writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise continues to do his own stunts, which in this case involve high speed car and motorcycle chases and clinging to the side of a plane as it takes off. Add a pulse-pounding free dive into a submerged security terminal and a few well-choreographed martial arts fights and M:I's status as the best blockbuster of summer is cemented.

Returning from various preceding installments are Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames as what remains of a disbanded, disavowed IMF once Alec Baldwin's CIA chief calls the organization to task before an oversight committee. While Baldwin gets the best line of the season when describing Hunt to the English Prime Minister, the spotlight should truly be on Rebecca Ferguson's scintillating turn as a brilliant femme fatale with undisclosed motives. She brings confidence and complexity to her Ilsa Faust character in what should be one of the year's breakout performances.

Also noteworthy is Sean Harris as the heavy and head of The Syndicate, a shadowy international network of assassins determined to eliminate the IMF en route to affecting global change through terror. Finally facing down their equals, Hunt and his team utilize some of the coolest gadgetry yet, but ultimately it's clever strategy, presented through the script's sharp plotting and dialogue, that tips the scales. With pure entertainment spectacle enwrapped in a twisty, humor-laced spy tale, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation stands atop the heap of this summer's popcorn offerings.

Final Grade: A- | 93/100 | ★★★½