I give you "Alias" the movie!

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2006)

From the opening frame this movie is an adrenaline rush, the perfect film to open the blockbuster season. Tom Cruise, backed by solid talent, returns as super-spy Ethan Hunt in the best entry in the franchise since he was hanging on the roof of a speeding-bullet train. With the creator of "Alias" and "Lost" at the helm, we are back in the backstabbing world of intelligence and espionage.
The movie plays largely like "Alias," with Jennifer Garner switched out for Tom Cruise, and Ron Rifkin exchanged for Philip Seymour Hoffman. And while the drama has been cut down to fit into a two-hour action flick, the human element J.J. Abrams is so handy with is still present.
Ethan Hunt has now gone into semi-retirement, training others to become members of Impossible Mission Force. He is engaged to a lovely nurse (Michelle Monaghan), and all her friends and relatives couldn't be more happy to see her finally settling down with a man who seems to be the perfect guy. But the night of his engagement party Hunt is contacted by his handler, Musgrove (Billy Crudup, at his most subtle). Apparently a former protégé of Ethan's (Keri Russell) has disappeared while following a mysterious weapons dealer, Owen Davian (Hoffman). Hunt predictably accepts the mission, and reunites with likable hacker Luther Stickell, as well as two new recruits (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q).
I was surprised and disappointed with myself after watching. I believe I'm actually starting to let the media and gossip go to my head about Tom Cruise. Yeah, I won't deny he's a little cuckoo, but he's still a good actor, and to let that get in the way of enjoying the movie is just pathetic.
Ving Rhames, as Luther, has been promoted to full buddy/partner status. On top of keeping the junior agents in order, he remains something of a straight-man to Cruise's increasingly volatile agent. Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of those villains that are just so bad that it actually becomes fun to watch them kick the hero's ass, because you know he'll get his comeuppance in the end, but he could have used a little more screen time. And some of the best one-liners were distributed quite evenly between Simon "Shaun of the Dead" Pegg as a British version of "Alias"'s Marshall Flinkman, and Laurence Fishburne as the head of IMF. "Well I don't think it's fair that chocolate makes you fat, but I ate my share and, well..." You can always trust that Cruise will make it through, but the fun comes from watching the rest of the cast act around him, especially Rhames, Hoffman, Fishburne, and Pegg. Scientology aside, it's two quick hours that I was happy to give up.