Cruise losing his pulling power?

Rating: 7/10 (5 May 2006)

Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is lured back from semi-retirement and sent on a mission to rescue a captured agent from a sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Hoffman). Reunited with Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) they set off to Germany. Lots of explosions and gunfire later, mission seemingly achieved they find out exactly how bad Davian really is. Bent on capturing Davian the team break protocol and head for The Vatican to kidnap the arms dealer. What happens next is the riskiest mission they'll ever do, all to protect Hunt's love Julia (Michelle Monaghan).
I have two main problems with M:I III. The first is the 'monkey's typing on a type writer' script. Seeing that J. J. Abrams was one of the main writers it looks and feels like a feature length episode of 'Alias'. A revenge theme, a loved one in danger, a possible traitor in the Impossible Mission Force ranks. Any hack could write this stuff. Any hack could write better. You also see traces of Alias in the tech guy (Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn).
The second problem is Cruise. Over the last few years his already thin acting ability has been stretched thin and here he has to do emotions. Running around and getting blown up, Cruise is fine, but the intimate scenes with his on-screen girlfriend Julia don't feel right. There's no passion or spark that I could see.
So, what are the good points? Rhames, although very much a background character here, is great and plays opposite Cruise fantastically. Maggie Q as Zhen is stunning and tough. Hoffman is brilliant, just scenery chewing enough to make a great bad guy, controlled enough so you hate him. The action licks along with great pace. Especially brilliant is the break-in at the Vatican. Also try and spot the homages to Cruise movies of old, including the original M:I film and Top Gun.
If you want a really good spy thriller find copies of The Bourne films (either). If you want a popcorn summer action film, but don't want super hero's then this is okay.