A solid action picture to start the summer season-------7/10

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2006)

The 2006 summer season kicks off to a pretty good start with the release of Mission Impossible III, the last(?) installment of the billion dollar grossing franchise. Tom Cruise, who's name is becoming synonymous withe the word "blockbuster", reprises his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, this time tracking down an arms dealer played well by recent Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman. The action and thrills are non-stop, even though some are hit or miss. The beginning and ending action sequences are somewhat blah, while the middle is chock full of fun and exciting scenes, especially the infiltration of the Vatican. My biggest gripe is that the start and end are not up to par with the rest of the film. They seem more like a TV episode, with the set up of the bad guy and the spic and span ending. Still, this is a great flick to catch in theaters since this summers slate isn't that great besides X3 and Pirates 2. This mission will self-destruct in 5 seconds. (Sorry i always wanted to say that.) 7/10