Film Review: Mission: Impossible III (2006) B

Date Viewed: 11/27/06
Venue: DVD

I hated Mission: Impossible 2. It's one of the worst big-budget summer action flicks ever made. The original M:I film, while not necessarily great, was a serviceable spy thriller. John Woo's 2000 sequel was an exercise in ridiculous over-the-top action and a prime example of Tom Cruise's sizeable ego.

So all that said, I had zero expectation for M:I 3. Even with new director J.J. Abraams' television pedigree (he created the hit spy show Alias), I couldn't muster any enthusiasm.

But guess what? This is actually a pretty darn entertaining film. Abrams ably mixes the action of part two with the spy stuff from the first film, and the result is a pretty satisfying popcorn flick.

Cruise again plays secret agent Ethan Hunt, who in previous installments really wasn't much of a character. Two-dimensional might've been an exaggeration. But here Abrams gives Hunt a little more to go on; a fiancee (Michelle Monaghan) who knows nothing of her beau's dangerous government work. It's not much, but at least it gives Cruise a few scenes that make his character remotely human.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays a nasty international arms dealer who tangles with Hunt and his crew (finally nice to see the M:I team aspect brought back. Cruise was effectively a one man show in M:I 2), and eventually kidnaps the fiancee to get to Hunt. While Hoffman is a fine actor and a decent enough bad guy, he really isn't given too much to do and I was left wanting to see more of his character.

What really shines in this film are the action sequences. For a PG-13 film, they are rather well executed and feature a high volume of pyrotechnics. A highlight is a helicopter chase through a series of windmills at a power station.

All told, M:I III is sort of like the most expensive episode of Alias ever produced. There's some great action and fight scenes, some interesting relationship dynamics, and even some snappy dialog. I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised.