Accepting this Mission is fun

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2006)

To find a sequel that is the equal, or even superior, to the original is almost unheard of in movies. A second sequel that is not a precipitous drop in quality from the first two is a near impossibility (although summer 2006 has already bucked that curve once with X-Men: The Last Stand). So imagine the surprise when Mission: Impossible III proves to be the strongest entry in that series to date. By no means any masterpiece, complete with it's share of flaws, M:I III nonetheless proves an enjoyable action romp for it's two hour running time.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has left field duty in the IMF to train incoming recruits and is preparing to marry Julia (Michelle Monaghan) when an agent he trained, Farris (Keri Russell), is kidnapped and tortured while trailing a black-market arms dealer, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Hunt leads the rescue mission, complete with fellow returning team member Luther Stickel (Ving Rhames), and the outcome of that operation leads to a plan to kidnap Davian himself before he can complete his next major arms transaction, involving something called the Rabbit's Foot.
Mission: Impossible III is not the most original of concoctions. The film at times plays like a mixture of the first two films, hitting similar beats in both (double-crossing, agents on the run from their own agency, outrageous action set-pieces), but director J.J. Abrams, executive producer of television's current mega-hit Lost, manages to assemble everything in an entertaining package. For one, the film scales back the over-the-top nature of M:I 2, which was a John Woo super-action fantasy, bringing down the number of times the audience is liable to stare wild-eyed at the film with incredulity. He and screenwriters Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman also do a good job of managing to integrate the team-based mentality of the original series that was somewhat missing from both the first and second films. For the first time, the secondary players, especially Rhames, feel like they have more than just walk on roles. Sure, the film won't win any awards for character development, but at least the rest of the IMF squad proves to be more than background window dressing for once.
Fans of the original series may still be a little disappointed that M:I III is a bit more of an action movie than the original series ever was. Mission: Impossible always was a guessing game, twisting labyrinthine plots to confound an opponent to eventually steal something or obtain information. Here, it's more about suiting up with a whole lot of guns and fighting your way clear of the bad guys. Even so, M: I III emulates the original series better than either of the first two films, and when it does go into full action-film mode, it delivers entertaining action. The set-pieces are more involving than most in an action film for some time, and you can find yourself getting caught up in the events on screen more often than not. Some of that is due to the fact that M:I III has a bit more depth to it than the first two films. Ethan Hunt is still a bit of a cipher, there isn't a tremendous amount to him, but his relationship with Julia humanizes him a bit more than in previous films. Their relationship is a few notches below convincing; they have some nice scenes together, but there isn't enough screen time for it to get us quite as attached to them as the film would like, but there is more to it than Ethan and Nyah's affair in M:I 2, which for a high-octane summer blockbuster is surprising.
One of M:I III's strongest assets is Philip Seymour Hoffman in the role of Davian. Even with limited screen time, Hoffman manages to create a despicable villain you are thoroughly disgusted with. He gives Davian such an air of malicious self-centeredness (he arranges for the deaths of untold hundreds, thousands, perhaps millions, yet he is outraged by Hunt's persecution of him) that you can't wait to see his come-uppance. The rest of the cast is capable, and Cruise is strong as usual. His personal life has turned audiences away from him to some degree, yet if you can ignore the baggage he brings, he still a more than capable performer. Ving Rhames is given the most to do in any of the Mission: Impossible films to date, and his scenes with Cruise where they have the appearance of a friendship occasionally makes you wish the Mission: Impossible films were a little more consistent and had managed to develop this relationship in previous films. Here it feels, perhaps not tacked on, but a bit out of left field.
M:I III does manage to fall into the trap of many modern films in the last several years in that it must involve a "twist" to it's plot. Surprise twists are not a bad thing, but they have become such a stock element in recent years as to become expected and you end up spending your time searching out the film for clues as to what the twist will be, and usually the filmmakers telegraph it far in advance. Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman are a little better at managing this aspect than other movies, but even so, it would occasionally be nice to see a film play straight with it's audience, or at least cover it's tracks a little better.
Still, all things being even, M:I III is an enjoyable entertainment that does it's job of providing appropriate excitement for it's running length and not leaving too much disappointment in it's wake. It won't take the world by storm, but not every film has to. If the filmmakers could manage to make another entry as entertaining as this one, an M:I IV wouldn't be a bad prospect.