Review of Mission: Impossible III (2006) by Cameron J — 15 Feb 2012

So, we've gone from the director behind a violent crime epic about a Cuban drug dealer, to a legendary modern kung fu filmmaker, and now... some dork. Don't get me wrong, I love good ol' J.J.A., but the guy behind "Person of Interest" wouldn't exactly be my first choice for a sci-fi mystery spy thriller with over-the-top concepts brought down to earth. ...Yeah, that's got to be the biggest miscast since Rosie O'Donnell as Betty Rubble in that film adaptation of "The Flintstones". Well, sarcasm aside, back in 2006, five years before "Person of Interest" came out, that probably would... still not really seem like a miscast, because Abrams is almost the go-to guy if you want stylish, sweeping spectacle to break up consistent intrigue and perfectly buyable physics. I mean, with "Fringe", he actually put Anna Torv in something that people are actually seeing, and a mission doesn't get any more impossible than that. Hey, bless him for it, because that is quite the lovely-looking-lady, even if she does spend 98% of the show with her hair tied too far back. Of course, "Fringe" was still after this film, but it's not like we couldn't see him doing the impossible with this film, because although the previous films have been decent, it seemed all but impossible to get a "truly" good "Mission: Impossible" film until Abrams came along, which isn't to say that flawless filmmaking is an impossible mission that even Abrams can crack.

I once heard someone describe this film as not quite as fast-pace as many make it sound, and really, I kind of agree, unless, of course, the consensus writer slipped up and instead of "fast-pace", he meant to say "rushed". No, the film isn't told that overly quickly, but if you're expecting that, with all of this additional substance, there would actually be development, I hate to tell you this, but this film still tells us little about Ethan Hunt other than the fact that he's getting married, which is weird, because Tom Cruise had to be, like, 82 or something when he was playing the groom-to-be of then-30-year-old Michelle Monaghan. Granted, Cruise doesn't just look almost younger than Monaghan, but probably younger than he did back in 1996, but still, just because he's clearly this Xenu guy that he keeps spouting on and on about, that doesn't mean that you can't get the idea that there is some definate Reverse-Cougary going around here completely out of your head. Eitherway, we don't get quite enough immediate depth into the characters or relationship, and while the rushing in the film smooths out so radically after the beginning, a few moments feel glossed over, even with this relatively large runtime of approximately 125 minutes. Of course, what the film does choose to dwell upon, it dwells upon a little too much, particularly the early-on death of Keri Russell's Lindsey Farris character, which only seems to intensify the underdevelopment's effectiveness as a flaw, because we know such little about the Lindsey Farris character that all of this emotional resonance that's just packed on and on and on comes off as cheesy and manipulative, but hey, at least they had the excuse of giving us all of that overdrama to make us forget about the too realistically stupid face that she died with, whereas other moments like that - very few though, they may be -, don't really have an excuse to be as sappy as they are. There is so much more substance this time around that it feels - nay - "is" an almost entirely different film from any previous "M:I" film, and the film isn't about to let you forget it, overwhelming itself with too much substance, whereas if things were more balanced, this film could have been more. Still, although this installment doesn't do a whole lot to play up the fun factor that more than saved the first two films, it's still superior to the predecessors, almost entirely because of the very substance that dilutes this addition, because for every misstep in substance execution, there is a highly respectable execution in substance that makes this an ultimately satisfying turning point for the series.

Now, I know that it sounds like quite the praise to call this "GoldenEye" of the "Mission: Impossible" film series, in terms of really smartening things up, especially considering that the dialogue is still rather hit-or-miss, but it feels appropritate, as this such an extremely different take on the series, being smarter and with more intrigue, focusing more on the spy aspects, rather than a butt-kickery. Maybe most of the spying sequences run a little too long, but whether it be through such classic tricks as the security video disruption and lip reading or through something that we've always wanted to see out of these films - like how they make those cool disguise masks and voice-modifiers -, we see a lot more of the whole spy shebang than ever, and it's deeply fascinating, due to J.J. Abrams' experience with creating intriguing, yet believable espionage strategies. Seeing stuff like that really gives you deeper insight into the mission, making the story less messily convoluted and more compellingly complex. It certainly raises tension, and although I'm making it sound as though compellingness and smarts set in as the film progresses, the film really doesn't waste any time in showing you that this stuff is deeper than ever, opening up with a flashfoward to the climactic "Give Me What I Want or I Kill Her" sequence that may be a little too familiar, but is executed so gracefully by Abrams that you not only get a delicious dose of intrigue, but a real feel for what you're in for this time around, and sure enough, Abrams delivers on consistent tension. That sensation is certainly helped by Tom Cruise, who rode charisma alone throughout the first two films, but this time, he's given genuine material that he plays up with powerful emotion and a deeply compelling presence to give you that long-awaited thorough insight into the Ethan Hunt character, both as the impossible hero and a genuine human being, making him a more engaging lead than ever, and it certainly helps that he has sharp chemistry with just about everyone, from the charming Ving Rhames, to the effectively villainous Phil Hoffman (Shut up, that's what I call him). Still, as much as I praise the film for having the guts to go deep with this blockbuster, at the end of the day, it's still a blockbuster, and with it being a blockbuster in the hands of the great Mr. Abrams, you can expect some dazzling style to top off your substance. Well, sure enough, Abrams controls the slick camerawork, sharp sound design, tense atmosphere, explosive set pieces and dazzlingly fantastic special effects in a cooperative fashion that all but exceeds Brian De Palma's grip on the action in the first film, resulting in plenty of spectacle that's as air tight as it is all-out awesome and helps in making this that kind of generally satisfying style-with-substance blockbuster that we always love to see and have always hungered for out of this series.

In the end, the film makes it all too obvious that it wants to be that big, smart turning point for this blockbuster series by overwhelming itself with sometimes too much substance - to the point of getting a touch manipulative at points -, though not quite enough to keep it from getting either too tight or too loose when it comes to storytelling, but even with all of the missteps in substance, the film still does the "impossible" by giving itself enough tight cleverness in its structure, acting and storytelling to make it the more respectable and impressive installment of the saga that it wants to be, which isn't to say that J.J. Abrams doesn't still provide plenty of the explosively dynamic spectacle that makes "Mission: Impossible III" just as dazzlingly thrilling as it is compelling as both a blockbuster and major game-changer for the series.

3/5 - Good.