Name : A.A. Dowd / Alias : AV Club
Blackjack is more of a noose than a needle for this self-destructive blowhard, and if that sounds less dramatic than the tale of a man who just can't walk away from the table, it is significantly funnier.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
A dull, self-consciously arty wallow in the messed-up life of a character we don't care about.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
If someone is really that intent on self-destruction, why should we be his audience?

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
The hopeful ending comes off as too little, too late. Wahlberg gives the role his all, but sticking with him is a futile gesture. The Gambler never pays off. It's a sucker's bet.z

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
What's mostly missing from "The Gambler" is a sense of why Jim is so insistent on squandering his money, privilege and patrimony.

Name : Mark Olsen / Alias : Los Angeles Times
By suppressing Wahlberg's more typical sparkling unpredictability, this new reading of the character recasts him into someone more frustrating than free.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
We didn't really care enough about Jim to be invested in his ultimate fate.

Name : Stephanie Zacharek / Alias : Village Voice
Wyatt . brings some bristly, swaggering energy to the thing, and that in turn may have loosened Wahlberg up: He's both more intense and freer than he's been in years.

Name : Tirdad Derakhshani / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Despite terrific, witty performances by Williams and Goodman, most of the talent is wasted in this picture.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
An agreeable if ridiculous slice of old-school Hollywood machismo .

Name : Liam Lacey / Alias : Globe and Mail
Slick but slight, The Gambler is an unnecessary remake of a well-regarded 1974 film.

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
As The Gambler becomes less about its protagonist's dashed intellectualism and more about the gathering danger of his predicament, the film gains power.

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
Watching a hostile pessimist purposefully sabotaging his own good fortune just isn't as fun as it sounds.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Low on action and tension, long on grand speeches. Wahlberg gets an A for effort in an unlikely role.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
This remake of the 1974 James Caan film written by James Toback . crackles with mordant cynicism.

Name : Elizabeth Weitzman / Alias : New York Daily News
Whether Wahlberg's been miscast or misdirected, we never buy him as a desperate addict. Still, the movie is so quick and cool that for much of the time, we barely notice how little is actually at stake.

Name : Justin Chang / Alias : Variety
There's enough swaggering cynicism for three pictures but barely enough soul to sustain even one in Rupert Wyatt's "The Gambler," a stylish, energetic but disappointingly glib remake of Karel Reisz's still-potent 1974 drama of the same title.

Name : Kristin Tillotson / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
A string of powerful performances, particularly Wahlberg's, and a killer soundtrack - including M83, Dinah Washington and St. Paul & the Broken Bones - redeem a middling entertainment gambit.

Name : Barbara VanDenburgh / Alias : Arizona Republic
The return is as miniscule as the stakes.

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
In a role that would have been ideal for Tom Cruise in psycho mode, Wahlberg is merely OK. Unfortunately, the film's effectiveness turns on whether we buy into his angst.

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
The Gambler is about the torturous dissatisfaction some people feel when they've managed to do everything right but still don't feel fulfilled

Name : Peter Keough / Alias : Boston Globe
It's just like the Kenny Rogers song says: "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." It's time for this "Gambler" to walk away.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
In nearly every scene, Wahlberg carries off the central role with what could be called determined elan.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
The one bit of good news is that the first Gambler is currently streaming on Netflix. Do yourself a favor and watch that one instead.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
The Gambler is a hollow, overwrought and glibly cynical remake of a '70s drama about a self-destructive academic.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
Another wet battery about a week in the life of a gambling addict.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
The Gambler is a solid remake - a film that retraces the path of the original while carving out its own identity.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
This certainly is one driven narrative. Wahlberg reportedly lost 60 lbs. for the role, and his gaunt look makes Jim seem all the more haunted as he repeatedly throws away vast sums on games of chance.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
It's no mystery why actors and directors want to relive the magic of American studio movies from the fabled 1970s, but if you're not going to take the risks that the originals did, or illuminate as much about the characters, why redo them at all?

Name : William Goss / Alias : Film.com
Just as newly gritty heroes seem to have run their course (fingers crossed), Cruise and Bird are doing their damnedest to maintain the escapist thrills that we as audiences will always choose to accept.

Name : Soren Anderson / Alias : Seattle Times
The plot is simply an excuse to show off all that whiz-bang technology.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol is easily the best of the lot.

Name : Dan Kois / Alias : Slate
Along with many other things, the fourth Mission: Impossible movie also functions as a primer on how to use IMAX technology to immerse an audience.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation doesn't have the nonsensical lyricism of Brad Bird's stupendous Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, but it's still pretty good.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
Ghost Protocol is a very good thrill ride and Cruise is better than he's been in a long time.

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
As usual with the series, the movie combines a plot line a toddler could understand with gadgets that would baffle an engineering Ph.D.

Name : Cary Darling / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
The franchise has a lot in common with Old Faithful: it's a popular attraction; predictable as clockwork; and features acts of nature - a geyser of boiling water in one case, Tom Cruise's abs in the other - that remain impressive after all these years.

Name : Glenn Kenny / Alias : MSN Movies
.it's pretty much state-of-the-art.

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Bird has done a stylish and involving job here, turning in an entertaining production that's got considerable visual flair, especially in its action-heavy Imax sections.

Name : Randy Myers / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
After taking a few stabs at the right formula, the series has finally found its voice, and Ethan Hunt and company give James Bond a real run for his blockbuster money.

Name : A.A. Dowd / Alias : AV Club
Rogue Nation, like the similarly propulsive Ghost Protocol, often feels like a pure instrument of fun, dragging Hunt through an ongoing series of precarious situations.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
The most assured and satisfying of the five so far .

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is a sigh of defeat. Now Tom's only goal is to give us a kickboxing fight or a motorcycle chase every eight minutes, and hope for the best.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
This is Cruise's show and the actor brings the role a startling athletic grace and becoming maturity. If someone asks you what a true movie star is, point to Cruise.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Rogue Nation may not be the best, the tightest, or even the most logically coherent M:I flick, but there should be more movies like it: relentlessly thrilling, smart entertainments .

Name : Amy Nicholson / Alias : L.A. Weekly
You'll never see Cruise playing an effortless comic book immortal - his characters are at their best when their backs are to the wall.

Name : Chris Vognar / Alias : Dallas Morning News
The literal and figurative high point of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol comes at about the halfway point, in and around the tallest building in the world in Dubai.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
The protagonists' dilemmas are quite extreme, the surprises come in all sizes and the ultra-smooth professionalism displayed in all departments early on encourages the sense that you're in good hands, a feeling that ends up being justified.

Name : Wesley Morris / Alias : Boston Globe
In its way, the movie has old-Hollywood elegance. The scope and sets are vast, tall, and cavernous, but Bird scales down for spatial intimacy.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
Bird is an interesting choice for the franchise and, as it turns out, a pretty inspired one.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
The Intense Tom Cruise Face - you know the expression I mean, where he looks like he's about to explode and/or start yelling, but doesn't - makes frequent appearances, as does the trademark arm-chopping Tom Cruise Run.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
The eye-candy - from high-tech gadgets to gorgeous people - has only been ratcheted up. And so has the excitement.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
There's a difference between velocity and momentum, and while the chases, shootouts and close-quarters combat rarely flag, our interest does.

Name : Jocelyn Noveck / Alias : Associated Press
It shouldn't surprise you by now to hear that Cruise apparently flirted with on-set danger here, too. And it's impossible to deny that this knowledge adds to the fun.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Though not quite as front-to-finish satisfying as J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible III, Bird's installment nonetheless rocks.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
[Bird] applies the pacing and spatial freedom of a 'toon to a live-action thriller.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
At age 53, Tom Cruise is still a credible action hero. But this time, Rebecca Ferguson really gives him a run for his money, and his heart.

Name : Justin Chang / Alias : Variety
At once questioning and reaffirming the pleasures of cinematic espionage, this is the rare sequel that leaves its franchise feeling not exhausted but surprisingly resurgent at 19 years and counting.

Name : Christopher Orr / Alias : The Atlantic
You don't overcome the "impossible" by thinking it over a little more carefully. You overcome it through the application of sheer, unvarnished willpower, a quality that Cruise has always possessed in abundance.

Name : Brian Truitt / Alias : USA Today
The action bonanza gets a little lost in its own spycraft, but offers action scenes both fast and furious and a fabulous couple of additions to the world of the IMF (short for Impossible Mission Force, obviously).

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
For about 90 minutes or so, Rogue Nation is grandly exciting. But in the final half-hour, McQuarrie makes a critical mistake: He starts taking this enjoyable nonsense seriously.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
Of the many heists and grabs that litter the movie, none is as blatant as the deft, irrepressible manner in which Ferguson, displaying a light smile and a brisk way with a knife, steals the show.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
Gets back to action basics with globe-trotting, nifty gadgets, high-flying stunts and less loquacious villainy.

Name : Keith Phipps / Alias : AV Club
Bird brings a scary amount of assurance to Ghost Protocol. His action scenes are clean, coherent, thrilling, and visceral.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is industrial-strength, stunt-stuffed, thoroughly soulless, yet eminently watchable cinema.

Name : Chris Klimek / Alias : NPR
The most reliable blockbuster series going: Five films, some weirder than others, but not a stinker in the bunch.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : New York Daily News
It's full of attractive people, gorgeous locations, loathsome bad guys and a pounding score that ties it all together. This is what the "Fast and Furious" movies want to be, and the Bond pictures used to.

Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" proves that a summer flick can be as smart as it is exciting.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
A largely successful attempt to reboot the moribund franchise that turns out to be probably the most entertaining installment since Brian De Palma's series opener from 15 years ago.

Name : David Denby / Alias : New Yorker
"Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol" is sheer hurtling mechanism-and it's great silly fun.

Name : Robert Wilonsky / Alias : Dallas Morning News
This is comfort-food cinema. Gorge on the endless buffet.

Name : Barry Hertz / Alias : Globe and Mail
Everything, even Alec Baldwin's tight and itchy turn as a CIA buzzkill, is mere window-dressing to Cruise's attempts to kill himself on-screen.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
At the age of 53 Mr. Cruise continues to give his all to these films, and his all in this latest episode is more than enough.

Name : Tom Long / Alias : Detroit News
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is top-notch popcorn entertainment, chock-full of dazzling stunts and heroic moments, played out at a near-hysterical pitch.

Name : Kerry Lengel / Alias : Arizona Republic
McQuarrie delivers a tense, eye-popping amusement-park ride that's almost as exciting as it is forgettable.

Name : Owen Gleiberman / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Powered by Cruise's moxie, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol proves that in a Hollywood action-ride culture drenched in fake adrenaline, it's cathartic to encounter the real thing.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, whose action movie skills are at best high-adequate, compensates by being good at interpersonal stuff. He can make us feel for the characters as something more than action toys.

Name : Rene Rodriguez / Alias : Miami Herald
The wait for a great action movie is finally over. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is pure popcorn of the highest, most flavorful order, and it's good for you, too.

Name : Andrew O'Hehir / Alias : Salon.com
The most exciting action flick of the year, by a huge margin.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Ghost Protocol is big and brassy, doing many of the things its predecessors did but, in the words of Nigel Tufnel, turning them up to "11."

Name : Kenneth Turan / Alias : Los Angeles Times
Cruise has played Ethan Hunt so often it would be understandable if he phoned it in, but one of the pleasures of "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation" is that he doesn't.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
The real mission is to renew a stale franchise, and here Ghost Protocol largely succeeds, on the strength of good action scenes - including an IMAX-enhanced Dubai skyscraper dangle by Cruise - and the good humour of a well-chosen cast.

Name : Nick Pinkerton / Alias : Village Voice
If the M:I films are immune to the tarnish on the Cruise brand, it's precisely because their spectacle requires us to be impressed by Ethan Hunt, not to like him.

Name : Ian Buckwalter / Alias : NPR
This film exists purely to dazzle and thrill, and by that measure, it delivers expertly, never lagging despite a lengthy 133-minute running time.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Manages to be a pretty good time for much of its overgenerous 132 minutes.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Cruise fires up everything he has as actor and athlete, showing that Mission: Impossible still has gas in its tank even when its engine sputters.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
Possesses the requisite number of expertly choreographed how'd-they-do-that scenes, as well as some terrific supporting performances from "Mission: Impossible" veterans and newcomers.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Hopefully, the reception will be positive because, on the strength of this outing, a sixth big-screen impossible mission is warranted.

Name : Liam Lacey / Alias : Globe and Mail
[A] big, shiny, ever-moving toy of a movie.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
Immersive, unpredictable and crammed with more sharp plot hooks than a fishing basket. It's one of the best wide-release movies of the summer.

Name : Elizabeth Weitzman / Alias : New York Daily News
There's a good chance you'll get so caught up in what they're doing, you won't even notice how stiff and inhuman the actors appear.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
It's a rousing gasp machine that gives the flagging franchise the kick in the pants it sorely needed, and it marks the most impressive segue from cartoons to features since Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
[Bird's] fresh touch gives breathless energy, tremendous excitement and, above all, humor to what could have been a wearying genre exercise.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
McQuarrie devises a film that's a succession of riveting sequences, filmed in a way that's active and yet elegant.

Name : Manohla Dargis / Alias : New York Times
"Rogue Nation" is pretty much like most of the "Impossible" movies in that it's an immense machine that Mr. McQuarrie, after tinkering and oiling, has cranked up again and set humming .

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
Five movies in, Cruise has perfected the M:I formula - a simple spy story, passable character comedy, and extremely long, impressively sustained action sequences.

Name : Richard Corliss / Alias : TIME Magazine
I'm thinking it, so I might as well say it: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is no Fast Five.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
It's not the generic plot that's so memorable, even though its convolutions are clever enough, or the cast of mostly interesting characters, but the surreal swirl of form and color that frequently fills the enormous screen.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Doesn't do anything particularly wrong inasmuch as it overdoes something right - by the time we reach the final chase/shoot-out/hand-to-hand combat set piece, a bit of ice-cream-headache fatigue has begun to set in.

Name : Amy Biancolli / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles), whose first stab at a live-action feature preserves the buzzy exhilaration and carefree absurdity of a cartoon.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
You can discuss the incongruities on the drive home; while the movie's playing, you're having too much fun getting manhandled by experts.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
As much as Cruise dominates "Rogue Nation," it's his co-star, Rebecca Ferguson, who emerges as the film's true and most memorable revelation.

Name : Roger Ebert / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" is a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry.

Name : Tom Huddleston / Alias : Time Out
Tom Cruise goes through the motions in this diverting but empty blockbuster.