Impossible III: Great villain, mediocre sequel

Rating: 4/10 (31 July 2012)

Originally published on May 2, 2006.
While Scientologist Tom Cruise forced his young wife, Katie Holmes, to undergo a "silent birth" recently, he nevertheless subjects the audience of his newest film to an ear-shattering series of explosions, gunshots, car crashes, whining jet engines, violent arguments and bloodcurdling screams. That's not to say "Mission: Impossible III" is a bad movie – just a little loud, that's all.
What puts this one a little above the average action/adventure, however, is the inclusion of a bona fide actor (like Cruise used to be), Philip Seymour Hoffman, fresh off his Oscar win for "Capote."
I've appreciated his work long before that, though, especially in "Flawless," "Magnolia," "Almost Famous," "Empire Falls" and "Cold Mountain," among others. In fact, he was even good in the Ben Stiller/Jennifer Aniston bomb, "Along Comes Polly."
As the bad guy, Owen Davian, Hoffman brings a fresh new dimension to the typical movie villain, who appears, menaces and then gets killed. Here, he's an international weapons dealer, who (despite little backstory and questionable motivation) squeezes out every minute of screen time and makes you wish Cruise wouldn't hog so much of it.
He is suitably evil (telling Hunt how he will hunt down his wife, torture her and kill her in front of him), but with a boyish, pudgy charm that makes us relate - somewhat - to him. It's a terrific performance in an average motion picture.
The plot has covert IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) about to be married to a nurse, Julia (Michelle Monaghan, "North Country," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"). No longer active in operations, he is now an instructor for new recruits, but you know this status won't last forever.
Julia doesn't know, of course, about his real job, believing him to be employed by the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, but this ruse is soon shattered when a young agent Hawk trained, Lindsey (Keri "Felicity" Russell) is kidnapped by Davian's organization.
These guys are attempting to sell some kind of biohazard device, called the "rabbit's foot," to an unnamed Mideast power.
Hawk is sent in to rescue her, along with his team, Luther Stickle (Ving Rhames, "Mission: Impossible"), Zhen (Maggie Q) and Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "Match Point"), but a device detonates inside her head (don't ask), killing her.
The group then travels to the Vatican and kidnaps Davian, only to lose him when a most unlikely twist takes place. Friends who Ethan thought would support him do not, and those he assumed would betray him aid his cause.
It's all very confusing, but still entertaining in a lowbrow kind of way.
Now free, and really ticked off at Ethan (because he dangled him outside of an airplane, he's funny that way, I suppose), Davian arranges the kidnapping of Julia, which forces the inevitable showdown between the two combatants.
Ably directed by J.J. Abrams (behind many "Lost" and "Alias" episodes), "MI3" is non-stop in its intensity, and is thrilling enough to keep what's left of Cruise's fan base in their seats.