The best "Mission: Impossible" -- or at least on par with the original

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2006)

I don't think anyone will deny that the second "Mission: Impossible" was...well...to be blunt, crap. Way too long, silly, overly-dramatic and John Woo-ish for an "M:I" film, it also abandoned much of the basic concepts of the television show and first film in the series - mainly the whole spy angle. "M:I-2" was an action film thinly veiled as something it wasn't.
"M:I-3" has a lot of action - more weapon combat than any of the previous movies - but it's also the smartest and most entertaining film of the series (or, at least since the original, which I know was only two films behind, but it's been a decade and feels a lot longer).
I was really worried because the ads for the movie didn't look very reassuring and the director, J.J. Abrams, was a TV veteran who had also co-scripted that awful Joe Pesci/Danny Glover blunder, "Gone Fishin'," a few years back.
However, the direction is apt. (Reminded me of Spielberg in recent years with his hand-held shots to be honest.) The plot is confusing at the end because they try to implement the typical "twist" - and in that sense it's a lot more like the first film, which did a similar thing - but the build-up actually works quite well and the two hours + fly by.
The acting - Tom Cruise picked up a lot of criticism recently because of his stupidity as a public figure (being the Scientology-promoting, couch-jumping, Katie-loving, psychiatry-slamming guy he is), but he does well here - the audience only laughed at him a few times to be totally honest.
The scene-stealer is Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is the best villain any of the "M:I" films have had yet. His strong presence and chemistry with Cruise makes the movie a lot better.
The movie has its fair share of breathtaking multi-million-dollar action set pieces - including one aboard a bridge that involves helicopters that reminded me a bit of "True Lies" - but it also has a good number of quieter scenes, and builds up Ethan's home life before the action begins, which none of the other films managed to do. As a result he comes across as a believable and very human character as opposed to the long-haired mountain-climbing god he was in the last sequel.
Overall, this is probably the best "M:I" (although it's been too long since I've seen the first to really compare them properly) and is leagues ahead of the last film. If you hate Tom Cruise and were one of the people who protested him by boycotting this movie, you may want to reconsider because as a film it's pretty good.