Tom Cruise's trump card

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2006)

While one-time action top draws like Gibson, Ford and Willis are all making their genre (NOT a typo for gender) change, Cruise has met with enviable success in filling the vacuum. "Mission Impossible" is unquestionably his trump card.
The first two MI installments went for STYLE, with two directors that, even not quite at the height of masters, have strong claim to membership of the auteur club  Brian de Palma and John Woo. MI-3, however, goes all out for ACTION. More specifically, it offers 4 meticulously crafted action sequences  3 "missions" by the good guys and one by the other side (to rescue of the villain)  that should satisfy even the most hard-boiled action junkie. Each of these 4 sequences has its own characteristic.
The first one, taking place in Germany, is the rescue of Ethan Hunt's (Cruise) protégée Lindsey (Keri Russell) who has not only been captured, but also had a mini bomb planted inside her skull. This one is fast moving to the extent of almost nauseating, from John Woo style shooting on the ground to smart rocket dodging in the air, squeezing in between attempts to disable the bomb-in-the-head with shock treatments.
The second one is the closest you can get to the good old black-and-white TV series, with everything from clockwork planning and execution to mind boggling high-tech, in the teams mission to kidnap the villain in the Vatican. Worthing particular mention is that we see hot-off-the-Oscar-ceremony Philip Seymour Hoffman playing not only the chilling villain, but also playing Ethan Hunt impersonating the villain. Another highlight is model-turned-action-actress, Hong Kong's glamorous Maggie Q in her full radiant beauty in a con scene, a welcome change from the rest of her other appearances in this movie, in top-form action.
The third, back in the US, the rescue of the villain en route, offers some of the most stunning explosions and demolitions you ever witness on a screen. The last one happens in Shanghai when Hunt tries to steal the device "rabbit foot" (we were never told what exactly that is) in exchange for the life of his kidnapped wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan). My only comment about this scene is "Who needs Spider Man"?
All told,the actions are roller-coaster like and the plot conveniently doesn't get in the way, by which I mean being free of unnecessarily convoluted complications. Die-hard fans of the good old black-and-white series are probably going to complain that there's too much of a one-man hero show and not enough of the clever team work. Of the cast, in addition to the ones I've mentioned, there is also miserably underused Jonahtan Rhys Meyers, who is so impressive in "Match Point". There is also huggably lovable Lawrence Fishburne who plays a bureau chief with a large-than-life personality, who does not tolerate having "his rhetorical questions interrupted".