Mission Impossible 3

Tom Cruise
Ving Rhames
Keri Russell
Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Billy Crudup
Lawrence Fishburne

Directed by: J.J. Abrams


Plot: IMF member Ethan Hunt (Cruise) has retired from the field to become a training officer. His life has calmed down dramatically and now he has time for a real life and everything that comes with it. When he is asked to head a mission to bring back one of his recruits he gets caught up in personal vendetta with an evil arms dealer.

Review: Mission Impossible 3 has to be one of the most complete, over the top action films I have ever seen. J.J. Abrams takes the flaws with the first 2 movies, ties an acme anvil around their waist and kicks them over the side of the Empire State building. This movie has everything you could possibly want in a Mission Impossible movie. Starting with better, more elaborate, cloak and dagger than the first film, over the top stunts that probably could have only been done with CGI and a stunt man with a death wish, a villain that could easily hold his own against some of James Bond’s best, along with some of the best “What the hell have I gotten myself into” humor since Die Hard. The movie jumps back and forth mixing each element and ending them just as quickly as they started, giving you time to close your mouth and wipe the drool off of your chin. Book marking them with a pretty believable (and not too convoluted) plot that does not get in the way of why we came to see the movie.

While Tom Cruise gets thrown around like a rag doll through most of the film and beaten to a pulp both emotionally and physically (which is probably more fun to watch than it should be), the real star of the show is Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Is there anything this guy can’t do? He pulls off one of the coolest villains I have seen in a very, very, long time. The perfect balance of focused intensity to Ethan Hunt’s crazy Mighty Mouse routines, you can’t help but just smile when he comes on screen. You get the feeling that he is just crazy enough and motivated enough to do pretty much anything. And it isn’t going to be pretty for the Mission Impossible team.

I can’t finish without talking about the writer/director. Choosing J.J. Abrams to write and direct this sequel to the franchise was an absolutely brilliant move. The fun just kind of oozes off of the screen. You can see it in the dark humor of a particularly intense scene, to the dialog in the scenes that string everything together. And that is exactly what these films should be. Fun. It isn’t Oscar time and this isn’t Schindler’s List. It is all about crazy assed over the top entertainment with a side of buttered popcorn. J.J. Abrams gets that, and you can tell the rest of the cast picked up on it too.

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