Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
J.J. Abrams
Cast :
Tom Cruise……….Ethan Hunt
Ving Rhames……….Luther Stickell
Keri Russell……….Lindsey
Philip Seymour Hoffman……….Owen Davian
Laurence Fishburne……….Brassel
Billy Crudup……….John Musgrave
Simon Pegg……….Benji Dunn
Michelle Monaghan……….Julia
Jonathan Rhys Meyers……….Declan
Maggie Q……….Zhen
Before Mission: Impossible came out in 1996, Tom Cruise was many things. He was a bankable actor whose films always made lots of money, a recognizable face and already with an Oscar nomination for Born on the Fourth of July. He was a serious actor who made great movies, his short stature overcome by his abilities as an actor. While he had become famous in the action film Top Gun, “Tom Cruise: action hero” felt almost beneath him. Action films were still the dormant territory of the 80s style “one man army,” as Bruce Willis was the only stalwart who wasn’t overly muscular with a square jaw. Cruise and his diminutive stature seemed out of place when it was announced he would be bringing the popular television show Mission: Impossible to the big screen. It would become the third highest grossing film of 1996 and launched a new career path for the actor, who used this success to redefine what it means to be an action star in the post Schwarzenegger/Stallone era of action heroes. And after 10 years of being one of Hollywood’s most consistent draws, Cruise returns with the third installment of his franchise with Mission: Impossible III.
Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, IMF agent and resident super-spy. He’s retired from active duty, training newer agents, when he has to come out of retirement to take on the latest villain in Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Luther (Ving Rhames) returns to assist Hunt as well as a new cast of supporting IMF agents. Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is an export in transportation, background specialist Zhen (Maggie Q), fresh recruit Lindsey (Keri Russell) and wisecracking Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Up in the balance is the current love of his life Julia (Michelle Monaghan), caught up in the struggle between the arms dealer and the IMF agent.
The unique thing about this third film in the series is that it isn’t the last part of a trilogy. The unique thing about all three movies is that they are stand alone films showing us different versions of a character from three different directors. Brian De Palma in the original introduced the character in a traditional spy story marked with his trademark story-telling style. John Woo showed us a more operatic, Hong Kong style action movie and hero with the sequel. J.J. Abrams, creator of “Lost” and “Alias,” develops the third film in a different way than the other two. Whereas the first was an action thriller and the second an action movie proper, the third installment is a spy thriller in the mold of a Bond movie.
And that’s what Mission: Impossible III is best compared to. Abrams knows how to craft a story on television in episodic fashion, but his debut on the big screen is moderately well-crafted considering the usual pratfalls and plot contrivances of the genre. The film moves smoothly from action sequence to plot mechanism as Abrams connects the film’s points effortlessly. This is also a well edited and well photographed film; Abrams has obviously taken the time and effort to make the film’s action sequences (it’s centerpiece) its best feature. There’s a lot of creativity in the action sequences as well, as the standards from the first two films are exceeded by the difficulty and grace of the third’s stylized sequences. Having also helped write the film, Abrams knows the material and the sort of story that is trying to be told; he’s able to bring some life into some clunky and cliché spy thriller writing. It’s not a great story, which holds back the film from being a great movie, but it’s serviceable in the capable hands of Abrams.
In an action movie, having great action sequences is a must for it to be good. The other thing that generally ensures quality is a good villain. And fresh off an Academy Award winning performance in Capote, Philip Seymour Hoffman joins Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber in the original Die Hard) in the rare air as one of the best action movie villains of the last 20 years. Davian isn’t an over the top cliché of a villain nor is he a monster. He’s a bad guy so evil and so ruthless it’s almost delightful to watch. Hoffman takes the role very seriously as he does the little things well. His mannerisms and his vocal inflections give a menacingly evil light to his character, who is a bad guy so deliciously evil that one can’t help but cheering for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt to overcome the odds.
Hoffman chews so much scenery in the film that the rest of the cast is a bit over-looked; the thrust of the film is his battle with Hunt, of course, but the cast is loaded with so much talent that it’s almost criminal how little Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Laurence Fishburne are used in comparison. Most action films center on a couple of large stars, and Cruise delivers another good action performance as the heir apparent to James Bond in American spy cinema, but a cast this loaded seems a waste.
| CATEGORY | SCORE |
| STORY | 6.5 / 10 |
| ACTING | 7.5 / 10 |
| LOOK/FEEL | 8.5 / 10 |
| ORIGINALITY | 6 / 10 |
| ENTERTAINMENT VALUE | 9 / 10 |
