Mission Impossible III
(dir. JJ Abrams)
Ethan Hunt's back in action, and yes, this time it's personal…
Put aside all the Tom Cruise celebratology crapola and this is a pretty proficient sequel. Lots of noisy action, a fairly decent plot (though nothing especially new), some ok lines and more rounded roles for the non-Tom members of the cast - it's a pretty fun summer action blowout.
For once they've remembered that he's supposed to be part of a team, so you get Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhy Myers and Maggie Q out in the field with him; Laurence Fishburne doing the "what's he up to now?" bits back at HQ; and an entertaining cameo from Simon Pegg as the tech boffin (very similar to the Marshall role in JJ Abrams' first TV hit Alias). This time IMF are all trying to take down convincing bad dude Philip Seymour Hoffman (could have done with more from him - he chows down on every scene he's in with relish).
Abrams has put a lot in that works here - a good macguffin in the "rabbit's foot" that PSH's after, the odd witty line, some "how are they going to get out of that?" moments and lots of costume changes - but having loved the first few series of Alias, and still enjoying Lost, I could have done with a little more out-there stuff from him than having Hunt make the classic spy mistake of getting serious with his girlfriend and then having to deal with "trust issues" when his work keeps sending him away. Kind of feels like JJ's reigned it in a bit for the studios. That said, it's not boring or confusing (which M:i II was for me), so hopefully he'll get to make something a bit less generic after this one rakes in all the bucks it's sure to rake.
Giving it 3 as it delivers more than you'd expect if you thought it was going to suck, but less if you thought it was going to be great.
3rd May 2006 - Tumblr
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