Grab some popcorn! This movie is worth seeing!

Rating: 7/10 (6 May 2006)

Mission Impossible 3 is a good movie, in part because Mission Impossible 2 was not and in part because nothing else was there during its opening week. Lowered expectations do help enjoy a movie! For the action junkies, such as my friend with whom I viewed this movie, this latest Mission Impossible movie does provide continuous action and repeated team action.
Regarding the domestication of Ethan Hunt, this does not add to the movie, but more importantly it does not detract from the movie. That said given his responses to his professional life crashing into his domestic life, it really should not be a part of the movie. M:I:III flows better than M:I:II, it does not over do Tom Cruise, although there are moments in the movie that can best be described as a Tom Cruise product placement.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a good enough reason to view the movie, except that there is just not enough of him in the movie. Laurence Fishburne in this movie is great, again there could have been more of him. His work here offers the imagination some food for thought as to what could he do with the role of M in a James Bond movie, or something in the spirit of Harry Palmer from The Ipcress File.
With all due respect to Tom Cruise's amazing achievements, he was on to something with keeping his private life private as we could have done without his parading his newborn and mother to sell this latest movie of his. I mention this as I almost did not go see the movie for that reason alone, suspecting that this type of movie promotion was an indication of somebody trying to cover up a lousy movie. And to top that off I went on the opening weekend, something I was nervous about, but given the restaurant in the city we survived earlier that day, M:I:III did not seem that great a risk.
Oddly with all the action going on, the middle of the movie was slow and could have shed at least ten or maybe even twenty minutes from the movie's duration. Hey, checking one's watch in the middle of the movie is not a good sign. Still, grab some popcorn and be entertained, this movie is worth seeing in the theater, although best as a matinée!