Excellent entertainment

Rating: 8/10 (14 June 2011)

The third instalment in Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible is better than its predecessor. It has the best start of pretty nearly any film I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot of films in nearly 60 years). The starting sequence actually comes from about the two thirds point of the movie ie. the majority of the film is a flashback from that moment. But that opening sequence tells you straight away how high the stakes are and, more importantly, that Ethan Hunt loses the game.
It's not as simple as that of course but, after the screaming suspense and unbearable tension of that opening sequence, the earlier events hit the ground running and you soon forget about that opening. The stakes remain high though, and action sequences and set pieces follow in quick succession with sympathetic characters in real jeopardy.
I really enjoyed this film. I was engaged from start to finish and experienced some real emotional highs and lows. As well as being visually striking, this is a pretty good ride on a deeper level than just eye candy.