An Extended Episode of Alias

Rating: 6/10 (24 June 2007)

Where I stand on MI. Mission Impossible 1: Very cool. MI2: Stop switching faces! Ethan and Thandie Newton should go on mushy double date with Anakin and Amidala.
Where I stand on JJ Abrams. Alias: Often good but unbelievable, I'm more a '24' fan. Lost: Often great but I've stopped watching it.
Put them together and you have Mission Impossible 3
Abrams is a competent and experienced entertainer used to this sort of material: twists, guns, spies, gadgets, villains, devices that could destroy the world, secrets, lies etc. He constantly keeps things moving and interesting. On the other hand, focusing mainly on Alias here, his stuff is sometimes hard to swallow even for action TV. To me, Abrams is kind of old-school in the way he often skips over plausibility to set up the action or drama spectacle he really wants to focus on. Characters endure extreme conditions and combat and come out with barely a scratch on them, they globe-trot everywhere at a moment's notice and only run into realistic obstacles if it is convenient to the story. On Alias, haven't you noticed that Sydney (Jennifer Garner) has to change into 1001 different costumes to remain undercover, while Vaughn pretty much only changes his accent? Maybe I sound kind of stuffy here but this stuff irritates me.
In MI3, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is now engaged to Julie (Michelle Monaghan, lovely) when he is pulled back into the line of fire to retrieve his former pupil Agent Farris (Keri Russel, who looks cool with a gun) from mean arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing standard bad guy). The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse game with Davian, who wants to gain access to a nasty weapon and hit Hunt where it hurts.
MI3 feels like an extended episode of Alias. It does not feel cohesive but quite episodic (gee, wonder why?) sort of split into 3 sections characterised by a major action sequence. The action is sometimes pretty great, but generally not spectacular. Nothing to match the tension of the first movie's famous CIA infiltration. The cast is fine, and Tom Cruise has a really cool run, nice high knees and fluid arm action. Head looking straight ahead... There is some more swapping faces stuff that doesn't seem as annoying as it was in MI2. Overall, the story is pretty basic stuff.
BTW ever since 'Match Point' I've always thought Jonathan Rhys Meyer, playing one of Hunt's team here, would make a really good James Bond. He's dark, handsome, from Ireland (like Brosnan), is only 30 y.o. and does dangerous and confident well. Not that I want Daniel Craig (see my Casino Royale review) replaced but maybe in the future?