So Tom is a dork- still see this movie

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2006)

I will be the first to tell you that Tom Cruise is turning into a very stupid person. He's hurting the revenue of the movies he's in, whether or not they are good, he's hurting his own public image, he's hurting the public image of his poor young wife, and he's setting the stage for a rocky life for Suri.
But Tom Cruise is not this movie. There are many other good things about this movie that have nothing to do with Tom Cruise at all- thank God.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of them. He makes possibly one of the most realistic antagonists in recent movies. But while remaining realistic, he's still incredibly creepy and intimidating.
The plot, too, is quite good. I didn't see the first two, but I didn't need to, and now I don't care if I did or not because this one was satisfying enough. The new impossible mission for Ethan Hunt in this third installment is to retrieve an agent from the possession of Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an arms dealer than keeps out of the public eye, but from this mission stems a far more dangerous one centering around something called the Rabbit's Foot. There's a twist that I saw coming, but I was the only one in my group that did, and it was still a good idea; I admire J.J. Abrams for pulling it off so well.
So Tom's in it too, in case you didn't know. He's really not a bad actor, and though he tends to play the same character, he's very good at that character- intense gaze, everyman smile, casual talk. The man plays Tom Cruise very well, and he'll continue to make millions of dollars doing it through a great deal of movies, so I move that we accept that and move past it- because most of those movies are good. Like this one.
Forgive it for having Tom in it, and see it despite that flaw.