M:I III, "Alias" Tom's latest mission, is quite forgettable

Rating: 5/10 (8 May 2006)

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is back in action for his latest Impossible Mission; to track down arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and rescue his new wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan). He is aided by his old buddy Luther (Ving Rhames), Zhen (Maggie Q) and Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers)...
Tom Cruise has not had it as easy as he'd like these days, has he? That infamous "out of the closet" South Park episode, in addition to his blatant showboating of his relationship with Katie Holmes, has left him looking less like the dependable low-key leading man he can be, and more like the smug, insufferable wannabe scenery-chewer he also can be. Alas, the third incarnation of Ethan Hunt, his Mission: Impossible alter ego, comes closest to the latter. It's not that the performance is awful, but let's just say that all that publicity has not helped his cause at all.
It also casts a huge shadow over Mission: Impossible III (hereafter M:I III). The film is loaded with problems, and they don't just exist within the film itself - a change in director and the loss of the likes of Scarlett Johansson from the cast didn't help the film's production. Nevertheless, I had good reason to be optimistic - the final, credited director was none other than J.J. Abrams, the man behind my current favourite TV show, Alias.
For those of you uninitiated with the world of Alias, let me briefly bring you up to speed with what it offers - complex characters, excellent acting (Melissa George excluded), numerous plot twists and brilliantly staged action sequences, all topped with elements of suspense and intrigue.
Abrams' skill with some of the above elements help to redeem M:I III to an extent. Some of the action sequences towards the end of the film are quite gripping, if not breathtaking, there are plot twists (even if a couple are preposterous), and most of the second half of the film is suspenseful.
And, of course, that terrific theme tune is all over the place. (What would the film be without it?) Unfortunately, something else is all over the place - the first half of the film, which is incoherent as well as being uninvolving.
Also, being his first film, it seems that Abrams is frustrated at not having the additional time you get in TV shows to develop your characters. It shows - both Davian and Julia are written as little more than plot devices. Yet Philip Seymour Hoffman (who's always good) and Michelle Monaghan rise above the material to make these people interesting. In fact, thanks to Hoffman, Davian is the best of the M:I villains to date (ahead of the slightly irritating Jon Voight and the low-key Dougray Scott). His Almost Famous co-star, Billy Crudup, is also impressive, though Ving Rhames and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are both underused.
Now if the problems I've discussed so far were the only problems the film had, then I'd recommend it. But there's more. If you thought the shakycam was overused in The Bourne Supremacy, you ain't seen nothing yet; every single one of the fight scenes is very difficult to follow.
And is it just me, or do Simon Pegg and Laurence Fishburne bring certain characters from Alias to mind? Are the IMF headquarters reminiscent of the Alias' CIA offices? It only shows a lack of imagination on Abrams' part when he seems to be cannibalising from his own show.
I understand that M:I III will probably be more appealing to those who haven't seen Alias. But I suspect that even they will be underwhelmed. I know from seeing his TV work that J.J. Abrams can do much better than this cobbled together, recycled effort.
J.J., you have the potential to become a good film director, but you've a long, long way to go. As for this film's position in the M:I series, well, it's an improvement over the last one, but that's not saying much. I certainly won't lose sleep if there isn't another entry in the series.