Mission: Impossible III
I should say right now that I hated the first “Mission: Impossible” movie a lot and I hated “Mission: Impossible II” even more. Thankfully, “Mission: Impossible III” is way, way better than those horrible movies. Director J.J. Abrams, who created the TV show “Alias” and is executive producer of “Lost”, actually manages to make Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character a human being with a life and something to lose, namely his fiance, Julia, (Michelle Monaghan). Those who have seen “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” and “The Bourne Supremacy” know that secret agents and love don’t mix so well. If you didn’t know this already, the first five minutes of “M:i:III” will clue you in and leave you on the edge of your seat with white knuckles. This human dimension is what makes you care about what happens in “M:i:III” and is what was sadly lacking in the first two movies. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the villainous arms dealer Owen Davian and does an amazing job, making his scenes some of the best in the film. Somehow, it’s not hard to imagine Hoffman being a megalomaniac. Other things that make “M:i:III” better than its predecessors are several great “impossible missions” (oddly lacking in the first films I thought), interesting supporting characters (Ethan Hunt’s team stays the same through the film) and a storyline that you can follow and that makes sense. If you are at all a fan of (good) Bond movies and the Bourne films you won’t be disappointed.
Brad Zweerink