The III stands for: see it. SEE IT! SEE IT!!

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2011)

Sorry, I try and come up with a better headline for my reviews, but since Mission: Impossible III had the extreme unfortunate timing of being released almost immediately following Mr. Tom Cruise's rants, raving and couch jumping, practically no one saw not only the best of the franchise, but one of the best action movies I've seen.
Though I did not grow up on the original Jim Phelps series, despite my father's futile attempts, I thoroughly understand the concept: Spy + Action. The first Mission: Impossible dealt ONLY with the spy part. The second movie, ONLY action. Finallythey got it right with Part III: they successfully blended both spy and action and(SPOILER don't read the final part of this paragraph if you haven't seen Parts I or III yet) the team lives, like they're supposed to! Unlike Part I, where 90% of the team diesIN THE FIRST 20 MINUTES and they improperly make the leaderJim Phelps, himselfa bad guy.
At any rate, public opinion really should've been thrown out the window on this one. Seriously, I have no opinion on the Oprah couch rants or Tommy's battle with one-time-famous Brooke Shields (The Blue Lagoon) and it should NOT have any bearing on the quality of this nearly excellent film. It's like my fruitless protest of Chick-fil-A since its run by Mormons who like to close the doors on Sundays. I mean, they have great chicken sandwiches, no?
A lot of the success of Part III has to be contributed to the soon-to-be-labeled-MASTER J.J. Abrams (Star Trek (2009).) They had faith in him to rejuvenate the series, and he would'veby a mile with the quality used in this film, if not for the judgmental public. Shame on you! You're missing out on (again) one of the best action movies ever.
I'm all for people giving their educated opinions on topics, but when you dismiss one thing because of another, you're not giving it a chance. I'm not completely innocent myself, but I find more and more, I am opening my mind prior to watching a movie despite past bad performances or public outcries. For example, Sean Penn is not my favorite actors and he's a huge advocate, but that won't stop me from watching his movies to see if I'll ever be impressed. And, unbelievably, I have at times.
I need to step off the pedal stool, and talk about the greatness here. We start at the end with an obvious object of (sorta ex-) spy Ethan Hunt's (Cruise) affection being tortured while Ethan can't do anything to stop it. Going back in (time in) the story we see how Ethan's adjusted well with his personal life after semi-retiring from spying. Unfortunately that (very quickly) goes south when he's called back to duty to rescue an old student of his, Lindsey (Keri Russell.)
She was working on something called the "Rabbit's Foot" that eeevil Owen (Hoffman) wants to obtain and sell. Ethan must scale the globe to solve the case of the missing rabbit's foot, appease his mean boss (Fishburne) and save his girlfriend.
The movie's not in line with the Bourne franchise, but it's fairly close. Its fun, has great dialogue, a wonderful villain in (the ALWAYS impressive) Hoffman, has exciting action sequences, marvelous cinematography and the best score of the (first) three movies. Oh, and it's funny, thanks the always hilarious Simon Pegg.
I understand the movie (unjustifiably) bombed, thanks, America, but I am glad Hollywood still have faith by bringing it back with a fourth installment in 2011especially now starring one of my favorites: Jeremy Renner.
Put aside your feeling of Tom as a human – who are we to judge? – and just enjoy this hugely fun roller-coaster of adventure.