Mission: Impossible 3
By: Patrick Vu | Category: On DVD | 05/06/06 | 01:07 AM
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 Grade: A- |
Genre: Action Adventure
Summary: M:i:III, in this writer's opinion, lived up to all the hype and seems to be bullet proof when going up against Cruise's current love lost with the media and public.
Tom Cruise's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to prove that he is still the world's biggest movie draw, and Mission: Impossible III is the vehicle that he will be riding all the way to the bank. The first Mission, directed by Brian De Palma, was more about substance wrapped around a story line too convoluted for us simple minded folk to follow. The John Woo sequel was an over done spectacle that showed that Cruise's ego is as big as his smile. Now, the third installment by J.J Abrams, finally brings it all together and does the franchise proud with a film loaded with action that makes the first two look like gymnastics on Oprah's couch. However, what fuels the film though is not the impossible action sequences, but rather the inner personal story that humanizes Ethan Hunt and engages you more in the man than the flash. |
Just as J.J. Abrams has done on several occasions on his television show Alias, we begin the story right at the climax of the film. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) awakes, strapped to a chair, with his love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan), across from him also strapped to a chair with tape over her mouth. Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is after one thing, "The Rabbit's Foot," and has given Hunt a count to ten before he kills Julia right in front of him. Six...seven...Davian shoots Julia in the leg, and Hunt is desperate to keep his love alive while not revealing the location of the "Rabbit's Foot." Nine...ten...BANG...we are taken back just a few days earlier where we find Ethan and Julia celebrating their engagement as Ethan lives a quiet life training operatives while telling people he works for the Department of Transportation. It's enough to totally pull you in to watch the events unfold leading up to the climax.
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q and Keri Russell
Director: J.J. Abrams |
| View the Trailer (Quicktime) |
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At the party, Ethan gets a mysterious call that he instantly recognizes as a new assignment. Upon meeting with his operations director, John Musgrave (Billy Crudup), Ethan is informed that his protégé, Lindsey Ferris (Kerri Russell), was on a field mission trailing Davian and has since been captured and held hostage. Ethan must come out of retirement and act quick to bring his favorite trainee home and, with the help of fellow agents: Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen (Maggie Q), the team quickly track down Lindsey. But just as soon as they think they are home free, an explosive charge in Lindsey's head, previously inserted through the nasal cavity, is detonated causing the mission to take a turn for the worst.
We soon realize that the true mission here is to capture Davian and bring him to justice, but being the nasty villain that he is, it is no easy task. Hoffman, fresh off his oscar win for Capote really shows his evil side but unfortunately isn't utilize as much as I would have like to have seen in a principle character. We are taken all over the world to Berlin, Vatican City, Shanghai and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which lead up to where we started...Ethan and Julia strapped to chairs with the menacing Davian in full control of their destinies.
Score one for J.J. Abrams for his big screen directorial debut. Forget the slow-mo-hair-blowing-in-the-wind-high-wire-act that was the last film. Fans of the human drama found in television action series like Alias and Lost will surely enjoy his style of story telling and plot twists that translate well on film. Even Felicity herself shows off her chops as an action star when she's not going back and forth between Ben and Noel.
M:i:III, in this writer's opinion, lived up to all the hype and seems to be bullet proof when going up against Cruise's current love lost with the media and public. His antics are no match for this well conceived film combining frenetic action and real human emotion. Ethan Hunt is more approachable this time around and his love affair with Julia is genuine and even more sincere than the science fiction that is "Tomkat." This Mission is a great spy caper, and little Surin can rest assured that Daddy is still the biggest move star in the world...at least for this weekend he is.
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