Explosive...maybe too much so

Rating: 7/10 (17 May 2006)

Over the previous decade we have seen the emergence of the "Mission Impossible" Franchise - kept alive by Tom Cruise's charisma more than anything else. With any public consent he may have had previously, it's pretty much non-existent now, so if people are going to see this film than they're most likely going to gain something, or see some form of merit. For most people, Tom Cruise just doesn't do it anymore.
That being said, JJ Abrams (Hollywood's IT boy at the moment, although a clearly and unashamedly commercially driven one at that) brings something new to this franchise - instead of intelligence, we are faced with explosions. I think the nature of this movie is summed up very easily by one of the first action sequences we see in the movie, where IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is sent to find and re-obtain a captured agent, conveniently being held hostage in some military facility. In the first film, de Palma would have given us ten minutes of planning, of figuring out the strategic weaknesses of the facility, and would have presented the use of stealth in obtaining the package. Instead, Abrams just catapaults us into explosions, as Ethan's crew literally bomb the facility as Ethan runs in and gets the girl.
And that's exactly the problem -- the whole movie is literally non-stop action. There is not enough room to breathe. After an action scene, most people would like at least ten minutes of discussion, or some form of drama, rather than a lead-on to the next action scene. Thus, it doesn't seem that we're really involved in the story. That being said, the scenes themselves are quite breathtaking. Unbelievable, yes, but breathtaking. Personally, I don't like the direction this franchise is heading, but for those morons who don't feel the necessity to be respected during a movie, then this is probably for you.
Marketing pitches from Cruise and Abrams that this movie is in any way a presentation of a love story is an absolute joke, and all scenes that were attempted at conveying some drama were cheesy, unrealistic, completely over-directed and unintentionally funny to the audience. Cheesy dialogue and editing made the attempted drama more humorous than intended.
The throw in of a twist at the end seemed to fulfill no purpose other than for Abrams to convey some form of intelligence, which is rare, considering that the 2 hours prior to the twist attempts no intelligence whatsoever.
Some extra cast members fulfill no real purpose, and at the end of the experience we're left thinking what we really got out of watching this movie. However, it's an explosive ride, and one worth taking, but don't expect this to really last long -- think Bad Boys 2. This is not so much a cohesive film as it is a bunch of well choreographed action scenes with no real (or realistically engaging) plot - hence, the film will die quickly, as people can get over action scenes but will never got over a really engaging story that will question them following the experience of watching the movie. Of course, that's not what the film was going for, but its disappointing nonetheless to see that intelligence is overshadowed for commercial incentives - a concept, I feel, very VERY representative of the entire film industry at the moment.
Cruise doesn't bring any real depth to the film, although Hoffman as the bad guy is pretty cool. Considering he was really the only capable actor in the film (Cruise was, once upon a time, a star, but now has re-hashed the exact same thing in Minority Report, War of the Worlds, and this), Hoffman should have been shown more. He seems like an engaging character, and not enough was shown of him.
All in all, for what it was going for, MI3 does decently. It will never live on, but will make a lot of money immediately. The film proves Cruise has finally found his penache (something non-existent for any really talented actor), but you'll get over it quickly -- attempts at drama were laughable, and I hope this film isn't a representation of the way this franchise is heading.