BIIIG disappointment

Rating: 2/10 (28 May 2006)

Super secret agent Ethan Hunt is tasked with locating and apprehending Owen Davian, a notorious illegal arms dealer, and when the mission goes awry Hunt finds that his personal life and the life of the rest of the world hang in the balance.
With this film Tom Cruise has finally outdone himself. His superstar status has finally given him an ego to think that no matter what he stars in will draw good crowds and an overall likable, though not fully serious movie. Whoops. Mission most definitely not accomplished.
The first "Mission: Impossible" was a great action movie because it was all about the suspense and action built into a good plot. "Mission: Impossible II" was a great action movie also. It was more about the action then suspense, but with John Woo at the helm it was stylish and hugely entertaining movie. It had some terrible scenes, most notably the playing out of the romantic link between Ethan Hunt and Nyah, but those were all secondary to the all-out action and pulsing thrills provided by the rest of the movie. Both "M:I" and "M:I II" had great stylish directions by top of the line directors and they took themselves for what they were: action movies.
With "M:I III" we are treated to a "The Bourne Supremacy" ripoff visual style that has no place in a silly summer blockbuster. The Bourne film was a more serious movie from good and in-depth source material that used the edgy camera style to show the protagonists inner struggle with himself. It served for a more gritty and realistic presentation of the action. If this was the first entry in this franchise than that would have been OK, but it's not, it is the third. The third movie in an action franchise that is about thrills and action, not a characters inner struggle with himself. The gritty and shaky tone along with the hugely unnecessary drama are painfully out of place here. There are stellar production values and some decent pyrotechnics, but the overall tone spoils pretty much all the fun that you had with those very things in the first two films.
Also, what comes as a huge surprise and disappointment is the big down playing of the hero - Ethan Hunt. In one scene when he breaks into a high tech lab we see none of what he does inside to get what he is looking for. Instead, in a truly ridiculous directorial move, we stay outside with secondary characters one of whom is reciting a nonsense prayer that she used to as a kid. Does this fit? If you watch the film, it actually does, but is it more entertaining than the heroics of the lead character that are being omitted - definitely not. This same thing happens in the conclusion of the film when the hero is omitted from the final action climax in another stupid directorial/story move. In fact the whole movie omits that terrifically exciting climax that the first two movies had. No spectacular set pieces just a mundane fight through which our hero literally sleeps. Oh and more "drama" is also served at the end.
Basically, everything that made the first two enjoyable is gone and everything that brought down the second one in a few scenes has been increased to absurd proportions. Such a waste of good talent and potential. 2/10
Rated PG-13: violence and intense action