Mission Impossible III
Posted by Brian C. Gibson (brian@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 2, 2006
Release Date: October 30, 2006
Aside from the whole Tom Cruise being a raving lunatic thing, this was actually a really enjoyable movie.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has settled down and found a nice quiet life for himself. Ethan has retired as a team leader for IMF and poses as an employee of the Virginia Department of Transportation. His fiance© Julia (Michelle Monaghan) has been lead to belive that their life will be as standard and ordinary as any couple’s life would be. When Ethan is summoned to take part in a rescue mission in Germany, that would all change.
After the rescue mission, Ethan finds himself back in the game and ready to leave for The Vatican to confront a criminal named Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman).After apprehending Davian, Ethan desperately interrogates him for information regarding the sale of his next item “the rabbit’s foot”. A mole in IMF exposes Ethan and his team, and Davian takes advantage of the situation by kidnapping Julia and threatening her life. In order to save his life and Julia, Ethan must obey Davian’s requests while outrunning the IMF.
Seriously how did Tom Cruise go from a Maverick bartending Nascar driver to a raving Scientology lunatic so quickly? How did he go from the “You had me at hello” goldenboy to the “give me your placenta” cult posterboy? I have always liked Tom Cruise as an actor and until he fails in that role I will continue to like him as an actor. His personality may be the reason that the third film in the Mission Impossible franchise has failed to perform as well as its predecessors, because I assure you that the film itself is the best of the three.
Aside from early production problems such as swapping directors faster than John Kruk can eat hot dogs, the film came off extremely well. Big names such as Scarlett Johansson, David Fincher and Carrie-Anne Moss were attached to the picture early, and fled the project much to the dismay of fans. Director J.J. Abrams took command and not only kept The Tom under control, but actually threw together an enjoyable ride. Though the 2 hour runtime scared me initially, the pace and the action of the film made sure to keep me glued to my lazy-boy.
The DVD is an absolute must own. Trust me, during the scene on the bridge you will want to crank your home theater to its limits. The sound in this movie is spectacular. This is easily one of the best DVDs of the year. The special features on the 2-disc collector’s edition are pretty standard stuff, but pretty enjoyable to watch. Seeing both the enthusiasm of Cruise and Abrams was infectious and definately caried over into the film.
The Upside: Fun, fast paced action that anyone could find to be a great time.
The Downside: The Cruise-effect might make you not even want to watch it.
On the Side: Studio filming took place at sound stages at the Paramount Studios lot,
which for the previous 18 years had been used solely for episodes of Star Trek.
Movie Grade: B
DVD Grade: A
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