Better than the first two

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2006)

I saw this at a sneak preview last night, and the only thing holding me back from giving this a higher score is (no surprise here) Tom Cruise. I know he's an actor, but for crying out loud, this is a summer action movie, not Shakespeare in the park. His performance goes from intense to intense and then back to intense again. Beyond that, Philip Seymour Hoffman was a great villain and the decision to put J.J. Abrams in charge was nothing short of inspired. The characters and their motivations were much more believable, the action sequences were exciting, and I even enjoyed the supporting characters - especially Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Definitely a great start to the summer movie season.