Best Mission yet.

Rating: 10/10 (23 April 2008)

Let me begin by first saying that I am a HUGE Tom Cruise fan. I think he is a brilliant actor with terrific on-screen charisma and presence. But trust me when I say this, I am not biased when it comes to his movies. If anything, because he's my favourite actor I judge his movies with a fine toothcomb more than any other actor. Hence the reason that I never enjoyed Collateral and Vanilla Sky, I found them both slightly disjointed. But we'll leave that discussion for another day.
Mission Impossible 3 begins very unexpectedly, with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) tied up and being interrogated by the maniacal Owen Davian (Hoffman). This 3 minute scene ends quite shockingly, and you soon get the feeling that more than any of the previous installments, Hunt has much more to lose this time around. We flashback to a party and we discover that Hunt has retired and now he trains new agents. But when one of his trainees goes missing in Germany, he feels incumbent to lead a rescue mission.
Now this is probably where you'll be thinking 'business as usual', but surprisingly the thrills just never seem to stop as Hunt and his team go from Germany to America to Shanghai. There's even a trip to the Vatican in Rome, a set piece that is actually more faithful to the Mission Impossible series from the 70's than any of the previous movies even got close to. As one expects from a big Hollywood blockbuster, the action scenes are brilliantly orchestrated, one memorable scene in particular being the 'attack on the Chesapeake Bridge'. You'll know it when you see it. Surprisingly, there's quite a bit of suspense, not something one usually gets in an action movie of this nature. Quite fair to say this was actually an action movie with intelligence, no silly one-liners or dumb, annoying characters here, thank you very much.
The acting performances were also quite good. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, fresh from his Oscar victory for Capote, showing more menace than either of Hunt's previous adversaries. And Tom Cruise? Well, like I said, the man is amazingly earnest in any role, and here again he doesn't disappoint. In his tender scenes with his fiancée Julia (Monghan), you can see the pain on his face as he keeps his secret identity from her. And when he needs to be running, or jumping, or diving, he still manages to evoke your sympathy through sheer tenacity in his performance.
All in all, I would have to say this was my favourite movie of 2006. Typically brawny, but it hasn't forgotten it's brain at the door.