'Action-packed' is an understatement

Rating: Null/10 (8 August 2008)

Brian DePalma, Robert Towne, John Woo. My personal opinion on DePalma aside, if three critically respected names like those delivered two films that were respectively mediocre and terrible, what hope was there for a "Mission: Impossible" movie directed and written by "Alias" alumni? Not much, really. I had liked J.J. Abrams' work on the "Lost" pilot as director, but there was nothing there that convinced me that he could pull off a big-budget action film.
Shockingly, "Mission: Impossible III" doesn't feel like an extended "Alias" episode. Not at all. It feels like a damn good, straightforward action spectacle. Certainly fans of the TV show still haven't gotten a faithful adaptation, but this film is closer in spirit to the show than the other two films in the series. Abrams' kinetic style works perfectly for the film, and the action scenes are spectacular, hugely entertaining, and quite well-shot and edited. It's nice to actually see what's going on in an action movie these days.
I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong with John Woo and "Mission: Impossible II". Woo is certainly a better director than Abrams, but I had much more fun with this film than with the previous two. The action scenes are just pulled off better. There are some iffy moments with Abrams' work, certainly, but for a feature debut this is very impressive. There was clarity in the storytelling, the action scenes were great (aside from the decidedly average helicopter chase early on), and the film just looks good throughout.
I'm still undecided on whether I dislike Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci yet. As screenwriters they certainly did their job here. A hackjob by a good screenwriter is a thousand times worse than a passionate script by average writers, and this is the ultimate proof of that. The love story angle doesn't quite work, but the story is fun enough and provides plenty of excuses for action. Anyway, who cares? You've got explosions, Tom Cruise in the sort of role he was born to play, and Michael Giacchino's score, which I suppose doesn't contain all that much original music, but is still very fun. That's more than enough.
I actually timed the scenes that weren't action-oriented, and they barely make up twenty, twenty-five minutes of the movie. The rest is pure, unadulterated action spectacle, and well-done action at that. There can be more done with a Mission: Impossible film, but for this third film in the series it was the right way to go.
8/10