Best of the MI movies(so far)

Rating: 7/10 (1 June 2006)

IMF agent Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise,who else?)has managed to cross(and was crossed by)a vile,vicious arms dealer named Owen Davian(Philip Seymour Hoffman,brilliantly evil here)and he and his woman(Michelle Monaghan)are now in a world of trouble,as we open the third movie of this series. From there,we discover that this has been a war of attrition between Hunt and DAvian,which involves plenty of gunfights,globe-hopping and disguises. Ethan's team in tow(the fantastic Ving Rhames along with Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys-Davies),they feverishly work to achieve said Impossible and,in my opinion,improve upon what was previously a somewhat dry franchise of stylish action and "Cruise Indulgence"(a term I've coined for any Tom movie where there are a slough of slo-mo action sequences with plenty of shots of the diminutive scientologist in abject pain and struggle). It is the use of more of the "team" element of M:I in this movie that I prefer this movie the best,since the whole crux of the television series WAS the fact that these were missions that were completed because of a nameless,faceless espionage effort.
Kudos to director and co-writer J.J.Abrams for allowing the movie to give more of a spread out form of tension and kinetics. A supporting cast that also features Laurence Fishburne,Keri Russell,Billy Crudup and Simon Pegg are well-placed. This film is pure formula "Summer actioner" and "Popcorn flick" so one should shrug off any of the convenient plot hooks that arise in this film(and there are at least a few!). Not great entertainment,and it even possesses some unintentional humor,but the movie works for the genre it represents and unlike the first two MI films(No.1 was convoluted and confusing and No.2 was dry and archingly "Arty"),it is an easier digest as a big-screen offering.