It’s Christmastime and you have the unenviable task of recommending a blockbuster that will please your whole crew on a team bonding night. Fortunately, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol comes out this week. It fulfills the need perfectly—with action, comedy and lighthearted fun. Plus, everyone will get a huge adrenaline rush from watching some of the most impressive gadgets and stunts of the year.
The Mission: Impossible series has always pushed the boundaries of technology and action, and Ghost Protocol is no exception.  Tom Cruise hangs off glass windows of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. An explosive fight scene, between moving steel platforms in a space-age parking garage, could have been taken right out of a video game. And, in one of the most spectacular gadget sequences of the series, the team uses virtual reality to fool a guard in the vaults of the Kremlin Archives.
Although the film is full of action sequences, it does have a story. The team—made up of Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Jane (Paula Patton), Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Benji (Simon Pegg)—is (no surprise) saving the world, this time by foiling the crazy plan of eccentric madman Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist). After a set-up, Ethan and the team are disavowed by the U.S. government and  forced to rescue humanity on their own. Throughout the story, the movie rewards fans of the series with callbacks to some of the most memorable Mission: Impossible moments.
If you get a chance, catch this flick in the IMAX format. The Burj Khalifa scene alone is worth the price of admission on the big screen. Added bonus: if you watch the movie in a select theater, you’ll be among a handful of people in the country to see the new six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises in all its IMAX glory.