Overall Rating: ****
M:I-3 @ IMDB
Synopsis:
IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has left field duty behind and is beginning to build a life with his fiance, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Hunt now trains the future agents of the IMF. When his brightest pupil, Lindsey (Keri Russel) is captured by the sadistic and elusive arms dealer, Owen Davian (Philipe Seymour Hoffman), Hunt jumps back in to action to save the day. But things go terribly wrong and Davian takes Julia in retaliation. Now Ethan must deliver a doomsday device known as the Rabbit’s Foot to Davian or Julia will die.
Review:
This movie surpasses John Woo’s M:I-2 by leaps and bounds. I was worried when I went to see this movie. There was potential here to redeem the franchise, but also the chance to run it deeper in to the ground. I can honestly say that J.J. Abrams has given the IMF new life. My only hope is that they end the series with this film. Any future sequels would be beating a dead horse and tarnish what is left of the franchise.
Having watched the original Mission: Impossible series, I can tell you that the plot to any M:I movie needs to be a balance of intrigue and action. Woo failed to keep this balance in the second installment of the series. M:I-2 was full of action sequences, masks, and explosions, but it had no intrigue or mystery. M:I-3 brought a little intrigue back. It wasn’t as strong as it was in the original film, but it was enough to make the movie interesting.
The acting was pretty good. Cruise performed typically as Ethan Hunt. His performance was the same as it was in the last two films. The true gem in this movie is Philipe Seymour Hoffman. His performance as Davian really does make this movie. He plays the perfect villian, a true villian if you will. His character is cold, calculated, unflinching, and sadastic. He is everything you expect a monster to be. My one complaint was that he is not utilized as much as he could have been.
I gave this movie four stars because it was such an improvement over the last sequel. I think that it could have still been better. The plot could have been a little more mysterious and Hunt’s theft of the Rabbit’s Foot was a little too reminiscent of his attempt to destroy the Chimera virus. Overall, this movie is worth watching. I would recommend a matinee showing, considering how over-priced primetime tickets are these days.