REVIEW: Mission Impossible 3

Yes, I know it is called "M:I:III." The third entry in Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise is helmed by Hollywood's latest wunderkind J.J. Abrams (creator of television's popular and cult favorites Lost and Alias and potential saviour of Star Trek) and written by Abrams and his Lost and Alias collaborators (Alex Kurtzman & Robert Orci). I really wasn't planning on seeing this second sequal to the fairly decent original Mission: Impossible since the first sequel was so execrable. However, a friend had an extra ticket to a sneak Tuesday night preview at the Arclight Cineramadome at Hollywood and Vine so I tagged along. I'm glad that I did.

Mission Impossible III is a well-written, impeccably executed, taut thriller packed with action and emotional impact. The plot is convoluted (of course!) but not excessively so, and the supporting players are well-cast and exceedingly capable. Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman is outstanding as the über-villianous Owen Davian and Michelle Monaghan (who looks disturbingly similar to Katie Holmes) is distracting as Ethan Hunt's love interest.

Abrams has eschewed a number of tics which were central to earlier Mission: Impossible films but which also bloated those vehicles. This time there is very limited exposition of detailed plans for the many "impossible" capers Cruise multicultural crew (always reliable Ving Rhames, skinny and sexy Jonathan Rhys Meyers and skinnier and sexier Maggie Q) endeavors. (Kidnap a paranoid, megalomaniacal arms dealer from inside Vatican City without his security detail or his clients noticing his absence? Piece of cake! Steal a cutting-edge WMD from the top of a well-guarded Shanghai skyscraper with 2 hours notice? No problem! Escape from inside the CIA IMF headquarters while shackled like Hannibal Lecter? Why not!?) The much-derided "full-face masks" of the first films are used sparingly but also given much more verisimilitude presumably due to the enhanced special effects of the 6 years elapsed since the first sequel. The new director has also brought along one of his effective touches from his Alias days: show the audience an excruciatingly harrowing scene of our hero in danger and then flash back in time so the audience's raison d'etre is provided for them at the onset: "I wonder how he got into such a mess? I guess I'll have to watch the movie to find out!"

I don't want to reveal too many plot details to spoil the movie for others, but I will say that the script actually does kill off important characters, which I thought was brave. This heightens the suspense and deepens the emotional impact of the film immensely.

RATING: A