Back to its best!

Rating: 8/10 (7 May 2015)

'We put an explosive charge in your head' says Hoffan's Owen Davian to MIF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). Then BANG! opening credits. J.J. Abrams takes Mission: Impossible back to its routes by focusing entirely on Hunt. He may have found himself a new team and a cast who prove their worth, but they're secondary to Mr. Cruise and his stunt-battling, gadget wielding, free running nutter. This franchise is his baby, and no one will stand in his way. His name printed on the posters is almost as big as the title. This third outing plays on Ethan's fears and shows you what makes him tick. Weapons dealer Davian exploits this, staying two steps ahead of Hunt and his team who're sent to find him and dispatch him. The plot doesn't thicken any more than this, it's kept ambiguous so Cruise can work his magic. Abrams' effort is marginally better than Woo's conformity, and even a stretch treacherous than the first. Hunt does his best to keep his fiancée Julia (Monaghan) blissfully unaware of his lifestyle, but she becomes involved none-the-less. Davian brings out opposite emotions in Hunt; he's a Bond-esque villain with zero quirks and a full-scale attitude. He's just what's needed for Cruise to scale, climb, fall and roll his way through set-pieces and just generally be a bad-ass son-of-a-gun. The masks are gone, but that's only a tiny blip in a revitalised franchise.