Mission Impossible III goes more for Noise and Effects than Cunning Intelligence

Rating: 7/10 (30 October 2006)

The reason for the success of MI I and MI II, for this viewer, was the sophisticated, scientific devices and plans used to manipulate evil by good. It was always a pleasure to watch the superior minds win. But somehow MI III seems far more interested in pyrotechniques and mass explosions and derring-do than for smart ideas and for that reason it seems less successful - but then that may be the result of watching it on the home television instead of the vast spaces of a theatrical screen.
The story is negligibly the same as usual: impossible villain is superseded finally by Ethan Hunt. The role still fits Tom Cruise well, if a bit repetitious, but the strong point of this third installment is the supporting cast. We have the pleasure of Philip Seymour Hoffman's acting gifts as the arch villain, and the added pleasure of fine actors like Billy Crudup, Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Laurence Fishburne and the beauty of Michelle Monaghan, Keri Russell, and Maggie Q. And when they are not all covered by fire and broken glass and whirling helicopters and collapsing bridges etc they do make us notice them.
Not a movie for those who prefer intelligent scripts, but for an evening's diversion it is entertaining, Grady Harp