Mission Impossible: III
Starring Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Written by Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci, J.J. Abrams
Directed by J.J. Abrams


You ever catch an episode of Alias on TV before? Well, if you haven’t -- here’s your chance. Mission Impossible III is essentially a really long episode of Alias and happens to star somebody named Tom Cruise. Yes, we know Tom Cruise is a little wacky as of late with his couch-jumping and Scientology related antics, but that does not deny the fact that the man can make one hell of a summer blockbuster movie. After all, the last two Mission Impossibles both grossed over 200 million at the box office each, and had acclaimed directors (Brian De Palma, John Woo) at the helm. So naturally the third installment should be just as big with J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost) in the driver’s seat. And big it is.

The movie does not waste any time getting the action started -- opening with superspy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) tied to a chair begging to the big bad arms dealing villain of this film, Owen Davian (Capote’s Philip Seymour Hoffman) to spare his wife’s life. The audience is then treated to the ever-so-catchy Mission Impossible tune by Lalo Shifrin and off we go to a time and place way before Ethan ends up in the chair predicament. A time where Ethan is a boring Traffic Analyst and engaged to marry a pretty girl named Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Life looks pretty simple now for Mr. Hunt and the world of exploding gum and motorcycling through fire seems like a distant memory. But the movie would not be called Mission Impossible if this were the case. Ethan gets the “phone call” and back we go into Mission Impossible land.

Billy Crudup (Almost Famous) plays Ethan’s new mission director, John Musgrave, who informs Ethan that one of his students, Felicity’s Keri Russell has been captured on a mission where she was doing some spying on our dangerous arms dealing friend, Owen Davian. Of course Ethan wants to save her, but what about his fiancee, what about his new calm and peaceful life, what about the fact that Tom Cruise is getting a little old looking... Well, forget that! We want to see exploding helicopters, violent gunplay, and lots of masks! Can you hear the theme playing in your head? (dum, dum, dumdum, dum, dum)

Of course Ethan can save the world on his own, but how fun would that be? In this installment of Mission Impossible, we meet two new members: Zhen (Maggie Q) and Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Ving Rhames also returns again as the wise-cracking computer hacker, Luther Strickell.

From this point on the audience is treated to pretty much the same kind of action-orientated fair we have come to expect from a movie titled Mission Impossible and that I am afraid to say is a little boring. But don’t blame everything on the typical special effects laden action, some of the blame lies on the aging Ethan Hunt and the by-the-book directing of JJ. Abrams. The glaring difference between the Ethan Hunt of MI:I and II and the Ethan Hunt of MI:III is that the previous versions of him were not so, shall we say... sensitive. The newest Ethan Hunt is engaged to be married, likes being normal, and long walks on the beach. When somebody goes to see a Mission Impossible movie, we want to see a hero that is just as ruthless as the villain and prides himself on blowing things up with chicks to spare in all countries of the world. J.J. Abrams managed to effectively balance the whole romance and action thing on Alias, but that was a TV show. This is Mission Impossible! I realize that this is J.J.’s feature film directorial debut (the biggest budgeted debut for a rookie film director at $150 million), but I want to see something that doesn’t feel like a television show. J.J. Abrams is a very smart and pop-culture orientated kind of guy, so I know he was capable of something more unique. Now don’t get me wrong, MI:III is a very well executed movie and offers lots of action, a couple of nice twists, and plenty of bang for your buck, but in this day and age -- I think audience’s are expecting a lot more than just that.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: Lots of visually pleasing action sequences.

The Bad: By-the-book directing and has a hero on the brink of retirement. Not very Mission Impossible-like.

The Law: Only accept this mission if you are a fan of Tom Cruise or just want to see things blow-up for a couple of hours.