Best of the three? Not for me, but it runs a VERY close second to the 1st.

Rating: 8/10 (15 May 2006)

Review Massive Spoiler Alert, do not read if you don't want to know what happens!
It starts with a flash-forward in the middle of the action. Ethan cries out in pain and the villain tells him that he has just been implanted an explosive charge in his head. Our hero is bound and helpless pleading for his wife (sitting opposite of him, bound and gagged and with a gun to her head) not to be shot, while the one holding the gun keeps asking him about a "rabbit's foot" and threatens to shoot at the count of 10. The numbers are counted and our hero gets more and more desperate as the villain seems not willing to negotiate as our hero insists on having delivered the "rabbit's foot" already and asks if the villain wanted something else. The villain is not happy, counts up to 10..... and we go into...
Flashback to the party at Ethans home where he celebrates his engagement to his girlfriend (Julia) with some friends, until an old friend from his former life as active IMF agent calls him out to meet with him. He tells him about a trainee of Ethans being kidnapped during fieldwork and asks him to rescue her. Ethan is hesitant at first but eventually commits himself to the job, he gets a team at his side and they discover where the trainee is being held captive, succeed in rescuing her and try to bring her home. It turns out that the trainee has an explosive charge in her head and before they can discharge it, it goes off and kills the trainee on the helicopter home.
This puts Ethan in the game as he is more than eager to get back at the guy that killed his favorite trainee. Unfortunaly is the villain smarter than him (or has just better friends!) and kidnaps Ethans wife to force him to bring the "Rabbit's foot" along in order to save her life.
We never get to see the heist scene (They could have dropped another very cheesy- other scene and put that in instead) but there is lots of action to make up for it and really liked it.
Just for clarification: The plot is, someone in the IMF plays wrong and wants a war between Middle East and the US, so to get that he wants to give the US a reason to attack them. How to do that? Right, provide a weapon of massive destruction and hush about the origin. So, Davian is hired to sell that stuff, Ethan is forced to play along and deliver the goods to Davian and the inside mole kills both and gets rich. Right?! Well...find out for yourself. It's a fun ride, that's for sure.