See it regardless of what you think of Tom Cruise

Rating: 9/10 (19 August 2006)

We have all heard many things in the media about Tom Cruise, good or bad. We all might be a sick of hearing about him preaching about his "religion" and ideas. We all might be sick of the whole "TomKat" media infatuation, but one thing that I am not sick of is his movies. The man makes decent movies and that is what we pay our money for anyway. If you are using everything you hear as an excuse to boycott this don't because you would be missing an entertaining movie.
Ethan Hunt has retired as an active agent in IMF, but he has stayed on to train new field agents. Ethan Hunt is then called back into action to recover a missing IMF Agent. Complications arise when Owen Davian holds his fiancée hostage. To safely get her back, Ethan must go retrieve the "Rabbit's Foot". Ethan Hunt does retrieve the "Rabbit's Foot", but loses it. Ethan Hunt still saves Julia though, without even being able to retrieve the "Rabbit's Foot".
"Mission: Impossible III" is a great start to the summer movie season. From the first scene to the very last "Mission: Impossible III" grabbed me by the hair and never let go. The action is not too over the top, were you are thinking, "You have got to be kidding me" like it was in "Mission: Impossible II". The opening scene, which I will not go too into, is very intense and made me want more. A rescue mission was the first of the big action sequences. There are other action scenes too, like an explosive battle on a bridge which is shown in the trailers, which will not disappoint action movie fans. When I was watching this, I was thinking to myself, "I hope I don't have to use the restroom during this movie."
What I liked most is that this was more of a team effort then the previous ones, especially "Mission: Impossible II", and in order to do that you need a good cast, which this had. Tom Cruise is well Tom Cruise (I mean Ethan Hunt); there is nothing more I can say about that. He does carry this movie but not as much as the other two "Mission: Impossible" movies. This is what makes it much better then "Mission: Impossible II".
Philip Seymour Hoffman stole the show as Owen Davian; he was very threatening and villainous. Michelle Monaghan played Ethan Hunt's fiancée Julia. Ethan and her had had some chemistry together, but it does not seem hard since Michelle Monaghan at times looked like a Katie Holmes clone. Maggie Q (who plays Zhen Lei) and Keri Russell (who plays Lindsey Farris) were both butt kicking females; which JJ Abrams (the co-writer/director) is very familiar with because of "Alias". Lawrence Fishburne and Billy Crudup played Ethan's bosses, John Brassel and Musgrave, which were very likable. Ving Rhames returns from the other films as Luther Stikell and he gave a nice performance as a familiar face. Jonathan Rhys Meyers had a nice role as the transportation expert, Declan. Simon Pegg had some humorous lines as Benji Dunn, an IMF Technician that assists Ethan Hunt.
Another cool thing is that the movie kept it open for a fourth installment. So why does this movie keep it open for a fourth? It is because the "Rabbit's Foot" was never revealed. The audience does not know what the "Rabbit's Foot" is. In a way this is a negative though, since there was so much emphasis on finding the "Rabbit's Foot", that not discovering it is was a little disappointing. I picture a fourth movie dealing with understanding what the "Rabbit's Foot" is and what it does.
JJ Abrams did a great job. I expected this to be more like "Mission: Impossible II", where it is more of a brainless action movie then anything else. Instead, this was a realistic spy movie along the lines of the first "Mission: Impossible". It was not only a brainless action film, but a brainless action film with twists and a decent plot. This had an "Alias" type feel to it, which was not a bad thing. JJ Abrams proved that he could do more then just direct popular television series like "Alias" and "Lost", he is a motion picture director as well. I cannot wait to see what his future brings up!
Overall this is a lot better then "Mission: Impossible II", and just about up to par with "Mission: Impossible". I definitely recommend watching this at least once. This has a lot of action, suspense, good supporting cast, and an engaging plot. This is a must see regardless of your thoughts of Tom Cruise!