The Best In The Series

Rating: 8/10 (5 June 2006)

There are 2 roads you can go down in Hollywood, when an action series reaches it's 3rd film. 1 road is release a great 1st film, and even better 2nd film, and a 3rd film that doesn't quite measure up to the 1st 2 films. Sadly this is the route that the Lethal Weapon series went. The 2nd road you can take is to release a great 1st film, a decent 2nd film and then a 3rd film that is the best in the series. This is the road that the Die Hard series went down, and I am happy to say that this is the road that Missin:Impossible went down. When Paramount released Mission:Impossible in the late '90's, which was directed by Brian DiPalma, fans were treated to a great spy thriller. However action buffs were complaining that there was not enough action and to much story. When Paramount released Mission:Impossible II in 2000, Asian action director John Woo (Faceoff, The Replacement Killers) was called in to helm the film. Now the roles were reversed and while action fans got their fix, there was a big complaint that there was not enough story. Now with Mission:Impossible III paramount has recruited J.J. Abrams, creator of TV's bizarre but brilliant LOST, and the acclaimed action, thriller, spy series ALIAS, to helm the film and the results are perfect. Abrams mixes great action and great story together that action fans, and thriller fans should be happy. Abrams should just stay on the series for Mission"Impossible IV (like there won't be one)because he was born to make great spy, action, thriller movies. Tom Cruise, who get's my vote for most annoying person in America, is 1 of the 2 things that make this film work. Cruise's Ethan Hunt, is a good guy that you actually want to route for. It seems to me that in most action films the bad guy's are 10 times cooler than the good guys. The 2nd thing that makes this film work is Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. Hoffman is the villain you love to hate, and that's something that is usually overlooked in action films. Soem might call M:I III ALIAS: The Movie. I hope that people who have never seen ALIAS & Like what they see with M:I III will give ALIAS a shot on DVD. Here's to hoping that Abrams sticks around for M:I 4. On a scale of 10 I give Missin:Impossible III an 8.