Mission Impossible 3
Mission Impossible 3 is the third film in the Mission Impossible film franchise and was released in 2006. The film stars Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Crudup, Maggie Q, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers, Keri Russell, and Laurence Fishburne. Having such a loaded cast unfortunately doesn’t do much for this mediocre action adventure, as most of the truly good performances are confined to fairly minor roles.
Mission Impossible 3 was directed by J.J. Abrams, the creator of the TV show Alias and one of the executive producers of the popular show Lost. Abrams was apparently approached by Cruise to direct the film after Cruise saw an episode of Alias, demonstrating further that much of the film was Cruise’s idea and that he was behind many of the central elements of Mission Impossible 3. Not that Tom Cruise can diminish a film, but in this case a little too much of his input turned out to be a bad thing. In an instance mirroring current events, Cruise asked to film a portion of this film in Berlin but was denied access to the Reichstag building.
The film’s plot centers around an arms dealer (Hoffman) and the IMF’s attempts at capturing him and finding out what he’s up to. Sure, the film makes it sound a lot more complicated than that with its usage of hollow technical terms and goofy spy speak, but those are the basics of this oft-convoluted plot. Eventually, the IMF loses the arms dealer in a daring bridge escape (the action highlight of the film, by far) and things get personal between Hoffman’s character and Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. Hunt has to hunt (get it?) for a mysterious object or the arms dealer kills his new wife. Uh oh, indeed.
Hoffman is quite good in this film as the nasty as hell arms dealer, Owen Davian. He is unflappable under pressure and has the potential for great evil. Hoffman is generally always good at what he does, however, so it’s no surprise that he pulls of big budget action villain quite well. It’s nothing astounding, but it certainly is the best performance in an otherwise normative film in terms of acting. Cruise is bland, as usual, as Ethan Hunt.
But really, who watches a Mission Impossible film for the acting? The film is all about blowing stuff up, making daring rescues and breaking into buildings by descending big heights. The “big moment” of the film involves a crazy jump and a couple of buildings in Shanghai, yet that “big moment” appears to be rushed and tossed together in a matter of moments, using the plot device of a generic “race against time” as an excuse to blow what would be a rather stunning segment. Instead, Hunt makes the jump, we’re in and out, and we’re in another generic car chase.
The big scene is definitely, for me, the shoot-em-up on the bridge with the missiles and the big guns. Cruise does do one impressive stunt here, as I’m sure you’ve all seen it on the commercials, in which his body is flung from a blast and smashes awkwardly against the side of a car. Unfortunately, he pops right back up as though nothing happened and without so much as a wince of pain. While the stunt is impressive, nothing else about that particular moment actually is. I can handle films being unrealistic, but Ethan Hunt is still human and to be flung against a car like that without so much as a grimace of pain……you get the idea.
Mission Impossible 3 isn’t all bad. There are some good chase scenes and a few nice stunts. Things do blow up and Hoffman’s demise is rather impressive, although nowhere near original. Somehow this film was rated as the best of the series on IMDB, but some strange things usually happen over there. I think this is, easily, the weakest of the series with the best film being the John Woo-directed Mission Impossible 2. Mission Impossible 3 is a little too “full of itself” for my liking and lacking in the style, sexiness and raw power that the other two films allowed us. It’s just a little too generic, but still worth a popcorn afternoon viewing.
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