It isn’t often you witness a theater full of critics clapping, cheering and laughing out loud, but that’s exactly what happened at the all media screening of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. That film is just so much fun and rife with heart stopping action that you can’t help but become immersed. And for all Tom Cruise’s odd behavior off screen, onscreen he is a real movie Star with a capital ‘S,’ and an action Hero with a capital ‘H.’

Witness the beginning action scene, which for all intents and purposes should have been considered ridiculously cheesy, with Simon Pegg as IMF agent Benji hiding in a field and disguised as a bush. Suddenly Tom Cruise, as the mercurial Ethan Hunt, streaks across the screen, jumps on a plane wing as it’s taking off, and attempts to relieve said plane of its dangerous cargo. Sounds silly, but it works, dammit, it works! As does the rest of the film, adroitly written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, also known for writing and directing Unforgiven, and for penning The Usual Suspects, X-Men and Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow, the latter in which he also worked with Tom Cruise. Same with Jack Reacher, but that one I’d rather forget.

One of the more memorable aspects of the fifth installment of the Mission Impossible series is Rebecca Ferguson, who was so wonderful in Starz’ The White Queen. Here she’s a tough but sexy agent of dubious loyalties, who is a master of mixed martial arts, bullet bike racing, sharp shooting, several foreign languages, torture and so much more. All this, and she actually has a voluptuous figure that looks as good in a silky evening gown as it does in a skin-tight leather motorcycle suit. No anorexic willow-the-whisp she, you can fully understand why Ethan wants to hug those curves. She’s a refreshing take on the female action star: Women want to be her, men want to “date” her and gay men want to borrow her shoes.

While Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is packed with non-stop action, it’s not a flawless film. Like so many movies these days, it’s at least 20 minutes too long, and the plot line gets a little blurry in parts. If you get confused, don’t worry. It’s not you, it’s the film. Just sit back and enjoy it, and you’ll have one of the best movie going experiences of the summer.

Rasted PG-13

2 Hours 12 Minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE Review — A Rogue Nation of Spiffy Spies