Tried to overdo it and got a standard product.

Rating: 6/10 (24 August 2016)

This wasn't a horrible movie, but it embodies a lot of the qualities that I dislike in action movies. All genres have equal potential for unique strengths and weaknesses, but MI3 definitely fell prey to most of the pitfalls. It looks nice and the action sequences are good, but it lacks in its story. I don't know who story artists think they're kidding when they jack up the suspense and the stakes when we already know that the hero's going to win in the end. It is possible to maintain this archetype but still have suspense if you make the central conflict something that could go a lot of ways, but this was not the case here.
The Rabbit's Foot plot motivator was okay for the situation. In some ways it was disappointing that it never got explained; the conversations surrounding it would have been more engaging if we knew what it was. But then again, it would probably have been a waste of time to tell us what it was. Plus, Ethan's real goal was Julia rather than anything involving the Rabbit's Foot. Besides, we are naturally more interested in the conflict between Davian and Ethan.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives a decent performance, but I thought Davian was a little bit forced as a villain. His taking pleasure in other people's pain is something that is used a lot for villains, but his cruelty is never backed up by anything or given any kind of motive. Our protagonist Ethan presents problems as well. As an action hero he doesn't really need a strong motive, but he gets one in his wife Julia. I think the filmmakers were trying to make him more likable by having him get married instead of being a serial womanizer like James Bond. But their relationship feels static; I never got the sense that they knew each other that personally or intimately. In the end, all Julia really turns out to be is another damsel in distress. I actually kind of liked how Musgrave and Brassell (Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne) were incorporated. They had personality, some of which was stereotyped but much of it felt organic. Ethan's team wasn't great, particularly Benji.
The spy action sequences were a bit of a letdown for me, but they won't be for everyone. If you like seeing spy gadgets in action, there is a lot of that featured. But I enjoy more of the strategy and outsmarting the system kind of spy scenes, which there weren't that many of here. The action set pieces are very big and explosive, evoking excitement rather than character tension like one on one fights do.
So you're definitely in for a cool Mission Impossible, but probably not the best one. If you didn't like either of the first two, this isn't that similar to either of them, but I would say it's more like 2 than 1. If you don't mind a weak story or aren't that critical of a viewer, you'll probably enjoy this enough to watch the whole thing. If you are critical, there's a lot of problems to pick out: overly dramatic dialogue, a shaky storyline, C- dialogue, mediocre acting from big stars, and rather predictable twists that can insult your intelligence. Overall Rating: 6.9/10.