Bond and Bourne have nothing much to worry about - 67%

Rating: 6/10 (19 October 2007)

As Jason Bourne and James Bond fight it out for the prize for "Best Spy Franchise", one almost feels sorry for poor old Ethan Hunt. I dare say that third place is an unusual position for sofa-jumping superstar Tom Cruise to be in, no doubt accustomed to the success he has had throughout his career. But I've felt that since the first film came out way back in 1996, the "Mission: Impossible" series has had a nasty habit of letting people down. The first was pretentious and confusing while the bullet-laden second film was pretentious and shallow, albeit more enjoyable. So what we have this time is a happy mixture of the two, offering plenty of high-tech gadgetry and explosive action alongside a typically tense tale of spy-versus-spy.
Cruise is, as you might expect, the super-spy Ethan Hunt once again and now on the verge of settling down with his new fiancé Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea what her husband-to-be does for a living. Informed by the IMF of the kidnap of a protégé of Ethan's (Keri Russell) in Berlin, Ethan is lured out of semi-retirement in order to bring her back. But things take a turn for the worse when the disappearance is linked to a vicious arms dealer called Owen Davian (a brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman) and treacherous IMF agents searching for something code-named the Rabbit's Foot. Forced into action, Ethan must prevent the Rabbit's Foot falling into the wrong hands before his old life threatens his new one.
First off, let me emphasise how good Hoffman is. He is just wonderful, a perfectly sadistic foil to Cruise's clean-cut goody-two-shoes secret agent. Something else that is also impressive is the direction the franchise has been taken in by J.J. Abrams, the third director to try his luck with the series. Given his experience with TV shows like "Alias" (which this closely mirrors), it's not surprising that Abrams knew what to do with the source material and he has crafted a highly enjoyable action spy blast with the right amount of brains behind it to engage all but the dumbest of viewers. It might have a bit too many explosions and gun fights for fans of the old TV show but this actually *feels* a lot more like "Mission: Impossible" than the slow-mo nonsense of part two. So far, so good. Right?
Well, not quite. You see, there is a sense of having seen it all before. When Hunt sneaks his way into the Vatican using the old quick-descending rope trick we've all seen in the first two films (and uses it fairly early on as well), you can feel yourself stifling a yawn. New director, different background cast, same old film as before. And to be honest, the other agents didn't really feel part of the story besides Ving Rhames and he's earned at least a few decent lines over the series. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, the pretty (wooden) Maggie Q and an allegedly comedic cameo from Simon Pegg don't really serve any function though Russell and Monaghan are actually quite good. Cruise can play the part in his sleep now and at times, I think he might have been having a quick nap on screen instead of making us cheer for the good guys. Worse, the film veers horribly towards "Transporter"-levels of logic in the action nearer the end and aside from the opening and closing credits, I can't recall hearing the famous theme music once in between. In a weird way, I actually prefer watching the second film to this one because although it's more of an all-out action film instead of a twisting spy flick like "Mission: Impossible 3", it's just more fun.