I hate to sound cliché, but it's the roller-coaster ride of the year - and quite possibly the decade.

Rating: 9/10 (6 May 2006)

Mission: Impossible, which came out in 1996, starred a whole slew of big-time acting names. Cruise, Rhames, Voight. A blockbuster success that was ripped off many times by many movies. An enjoyable action flick with a twist of Thriller-lemon.
Mission: Impossible II, high off the hype from its predecessor's success, disappointed many, including me. It's the only movie in memory which I've literally fell asleep to.
So what am I to expect, in the midst of crazy Tom Cruise antics and pointless 'action' movies that bore, not excite?
I've recently developed a philosophy when seeing movies: Take how much hype you have about the movie going into it, slice it down to half, and you'll usually enjoy yourself. So naturally, I went into Mission: Impossible III expecting a decent flick. Fun popcorn fair, right?
I went in expecting a good time.
During the time I went in and the time I came out, I was on the edge of my seat every single second. The first minute was over and already it was the best Mission: Impossible of them all.
Tom Cruise (as protagonist Ethan Hunt) comes back after his outing in War of the Worlds to once again prove that he can lead a movie like none other. What was once just a spy role has become a multi-layered, emotional acting job. Don't go in expecting an Oscar-performance, because you won't get one. Cruise isn't that type of actor. But what you will get is Cruise's best performance since Collateral. You feel with his character, you run down the blown-up bridges with his character, and plummet down dozens of stories with his character. The super-spy is back and better than ever, no doubt.
Next up on the list is academy award-winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Devian). To be honest, he doesn't have too many speaking lines throughout the movie, but when he does speak, he's scary. Scary, scary, scary. You really do believe he is going to do what he says he is going to do. He's smart, creative, and downright creepy. Does he have an evil plot? Oh, yes. But he never reveals it out and out. Instead, he's trying to figure out what Ethan's plans are by cleverly playing an emotional and intellectual game of strategy. Brilliant.
The rest of the cast performs remarkably. Rhames is awesome as Hunt's partner Luther Stickell. Simon Pegg is funny as the Q-character. Fishburne floats around perfectly in the gray area as the head of IMF. Everyone is really top-notch.
Now down to the real reason why this movie soars. Pure and simple, it's an action movie that does precisely what a true action movie should. It never bores. It never lets you down. It always gives you something new, something fresh. It keeps going and going like the battery bunny, from the very first second to the very last. There are many movies out there that claim to be action movies. They're cheap imitations compared to MI:III. This movie contains so much energy that you could power the city of New York with it and still have leftovers for Tokyo and Los Angeles. There hasn't been an action movie this good, this nonstop, this crazy, or this unrelenting since 'Speed' or - dare I say it? - 'Aliens'. Who cares as to why we're really in Shanghai or Berlin? They're stages for the best action scenes in a really, really long time. The scene on the bridge was particularly heart-pounding. Yes, heart-pounding. This is a movie worthy of all those kinds of phrases.
Big props to J.J. Abrams and the director of cinematography. Incredible style. I'm absolutely dying to see what happens in the fourth if it keeps the same crew on-board. Face it, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot with a .50 caliber handgun if they didn't anchor J.J. Abrams to the sequel. I've never seen Alias or Lost before, but now I think I might just have to go out and get some DVDs.
This is it - the film that really deserves all those clichéd review accolades. "No-holds barred, edge of your seat, non-stop." The roller-coaster ride of the year - and quite possibly the decade.
Mission: Impossible III is the first perfect action film of the 21st century.
Well played, sirs. Well played.