Review of Mission: Impossible III (2006) by Seth S — 16 Jun 2014

On an exceptionally lazy Saturday, I decided to fill in my gaps in the Mission Impossible series. I watched the first movie years ago, and was confused and bored by the whole affair. I watched the fourth movie shortly after it was released on home media, and loved the stuffing out of it! Now I move on to the the middle two entries. After I finished watching Mission: Impossible II, I started the third movie with the highest of expectations. Not because I thought the movie deserved the highest of expectations; but because after the gigantic failure that the second movie turned out to be, I really wanted to believe that all the quality in the Mission: Impossible series wasn't stranded in the fourth film.

So I went in to M:I-3 a bit upset, basically asking the movie to prove me wrong. I thought, "there's no way this is going to be as good as Ghost Protocol." And I wasn't entirely wrong there. The fourth entry of the series remains the best, but the third movie manages to give it a heck of a run for its money! Mission: Impossible III far exceeded my expectations, and made the first two movies in the series look that much more lame. If the entire franchise had managed to be as great as III and Ghost Protocol, than Mission: Impossible would have rivaled Jason Bourne in spy movie goodness!

The story finds Ethan Hunt up against his toughest opponent yet: marriage. While trying to balance his job as an IMF agent and his personal life with his fiancee Julia, Ethan must hunt down an arms dealer named Owen Davian.

What shocked me most about this movie is the excellence of the story and script. Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and J.J. Abrams - the screenplay is just fantastic! The story actually holds significants, with a very solid emotional force at its core. It's not just a story for the sake of having a 3rd movie, everything that happens in this movie is in direct connection to Ethan's personal life. It makes the whole things so much more tense and rewarding. Right out of the gate, the film makes it crystal clear that its taking itself more seriously than either of the previous entries. There is a brilliant "in medias res" opening that grabs you, and you are not let go until the credits roll!

M:I-3 is also the darkest of all four of the movies. Which is great when compared to the first two films in the series. But in the process, it cannot compare to the electrifying fun of Ghost Protocol. But that's OK, because a serious story is exactly what this franchise needed. It blows my mind that the same Kurtzman and Orci who wrote The Amazing Spider-Man 2, also wrote this awesome movie. I guess they need J.J. Abrams to turn out a quality product.

And speaking of J.J. Abrams, this is one heck of a debut feature film! He does nearly everything right, and in the process, he makes a movie that any director would be proud of. At every turn, he polishes the formula of the M:I series into something truly fantastic!

The action scenes are easily twice as good as anything the previous entries in the series had to offer. Yes, they are still goofy at times, but they are never stupid. And there is a difference. The infiltration of the Vatican City is an absolute blast! The Shanghai sky-scraper air drop is utterly thrilling! I really wish it didn't take two movies for the franchise to get to this point. The only slip-up in the action department is the final fight between Ethan and Davian. It's just a rote, punch and kick kind of thing. But other than that, Mission Impossible III offers some first-rate, modern action movie excitement!

Tom Cruise has always tried his heart out with the Mission: Impossible movies. But here, he actually has the pieces around him to make his effort a success. He gives easily his most dramatic and effective performance as Ethan Hunt. Of course, the action and stunts he performs in the film are super impressive. But the scenes of drama are what make this performance.

The supporting cast is one of the many reasons why this entry is so much better than the previous two. Michelle Monaghan is one of the most underrated actresses working today. And I hadn't seen her in a while before I watched this movie. But this just reminds me why I hold such a high regard for her. If the Julia character doesn't work, then the movie won't either. But thanks to Monaghan, it all runs smoothly!

For one reason or another, three fourths of the Mission Impossible movies just could not provide a compelling villain. Even Ghost Protocol's villain was nothing more than incidental. But big props go to Abrams and Phillip Seymour Hoffman for creating a bad guy that actually does what a bad guy should. PSH's Owen Davian is a stone-cold villain who feels like a threat every moment he is on screen. It's a deadpan performance, but that's what makes it so effective. It never feels like Davian is out of control. That's what makes him work as a threat. Plus, he target's Ethan at his weakest point: his family.

Billy Crudup, Ving Rhames, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, and Laurence Fishburne all give stellar supporting performances! Of the entire lot, Fishburne and Pegg probably do the best. Pegg, just because he is naturally hilarious. And Fishburne because gets the funniest lines in the movie. Also, Ving Rhames gets to work with material that is infinitely better than whatever he was given in the second movie.

Michael Giacchino takes over the scoring duties for this third entry, and it is a welcome change from Zimmer's past score. You can always count on Giacchino to deliver the goods, and that is exactly what he does here. He even manages to work in one of Lalo Schifrin's secondary M:I themes.

So it took three tries, J.J. Abrams, and Simon Pegg to finally make the Mission Impossible series into something awesome! But I can't, in good conscious, say it was worth the wait - because the first two movies are so dull. But better late than never. There were multiple occasions during this film where I chuckled, thinking "this is how it should be!" So with the most dramatic story of the franchise, a rock-solid script, wonderful performances by the cast (new and old), thrilling action scenes, and a villain that actually functions on par with the heroes - Mission Impossible III is a sensational surprise that doesn't so much function as a sequel, but a reboot. And while it still comes one step shy of reaching Ghost Protocol's level of shiny excitement, M:I-3 will go down, in my book, as an underrated and totally brilliant entry to this long running series!

"You can tell a lot about a persons character by how they treat people they don't have to treat well." 8.5/10.