JJ Abrams revives the MI franchise!

Rating: 7/10 (11 May 2006)

Firstly, I don't buy into any of the whole Tom Cruise personal life affecting this movie - let me get that off my chest instantly. The reason this movie did not open well was simply because Mission Impossible 2 was so AWFUL, that many people would really not want to see this movie until they heard the buzz from everyone who did pay to go see MI:III. I understand this - movie going is expensive after all, so you have to wait until you are sure you really want to sit thru 2 hours of potentially bad movie.
Thankfully, JJ Abrams, of ALIAS fame, has worked the story well - it has some depth, you get to see Ethan Hunt living his regular life and trying to be a normal guy away from his spying career. Ving Rhames' character returns and is STILL the most likable thing about the whole franchise.
So, we have Ethan with a personal life and a girlfriend ( no spoiler there as that is in all the trailers ), and he gets involved in some stuff, ya dee ya dah.
This is a good action movie - it could have done with some more development of the bad guys role and of Keri Russell's role, as those parts seem to be over really quick and you're trying to work it all out while still following the plot. There are a couple of nice plot twists, which most film-goers will not see coming, much in the line of ALIAS's interesting plot lines.
Go and see this movie if you enjoyed the original mission Impossible movie - read some of the reviews written about it and you will see that it is well worth the price of at least a matinée ticket (big explosions and stunts are way better on a movie screen).
And if you are planning not to see this movie because you don't like Tom Cruise personally because of his behavior I say GROW UP - I have met a few actors in real life and believe me, a lot of them are total JERKS off screen (not saying that Tom is a jerk, but you get my meaning), but here is Tom Cruise, the actor, playing a role, that is TOTALLY not what he is like in reality - therefore, if you are a normal, reasonable human being, you will get that this is a movie, and Tom is an actor playing a role and this movie is well worth seeing.
Mission Impossible 4 now really does seem possible, but ONLY if JJ does this sequel - otherwise forget it - and for goodness sake keep John Woo away from it!