Review of Mission: Impossible III (2006) by Stuart K — 17 Jan 2012

6 years after John Woo's flawed but interesting sequel, Tom Cruise enlisted J.J. Abrams, who had never directed a feature film until that point. Watching the film, you wouldn't think it was his first film, Abrams does it with confidence and passion, and it's the best of the series, it's focused, with some good set pieces to boot too.

Ethan Hunt (Cruise), and his team consisting of Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen Lei (Maggie Q) to save agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), captured by black market dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Lindsey is killed by a chemical chip in her head, so the team go to capture Davian, who is at a reception at the Vatican, where he's receiving a mysterious object known as the "Rabbit's Foot", whose function is a secret.

They capture him, and fake his death, but once Davian is back in America, he escapes and Davian captures Ethan's fiancee Julia (Michelle Monaghan), and sends them to Shanghai. Ethan and his team follow in pursuit, hoping to save Julia and stop Davian, but he's a match for the team.

It's the most emotionally charged of the franchise, and it benefits from having Philip Seymour Hoffman as the baddie, and it has some good moments of action and suspense, (Cruise does all his own stunts), Abrams makes the best of his debut, with support from Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup and Simon Pegg.