Mission Impossible III

Mission Impossible III

I hate Tom Cruise. There, I said it. Now, I went into the theater with that attitude.

Mission Impossible III (MI3) surprised me. All in all, the movie is very well made. The action scenes are tightly constructed and the acting is top notch, minus a few scenes (Rooftop Scene is painful). The story, while somewhat thin, serves the action scenes very well.

Given that this movie was directed by J.J. Abrams, there are a lot of Abrams-isms in the script and on the screen. During the action scenes, Abrams likes to keep the camera moving, and has characters doing several things at once. Case point, there is helicopter chase and our heroes are trying to save this woman’s life, while missiles are buzzing by. The entire scene builds upon itself with wonderful pacing. This has to go back to Abrams’s work on Alias, and the main reason he got the job on MI3 in the first place.

One of best sequences in the film has to be the bridge scene. Everything seems to work in this scene. Robotic Jets, choppers, and Missiles, oh my.

Once again, Tom Cruise handles the role of Ethan Hunt like a pro. Despite how you feel about the last two MI movies, you have to agree that Cruise has a screen presence in those films. Ving Rhames is great in his reoccurring role as Luther Strickell. Laurence Fishburne fills in the role of Chief of IMF well enough, but there aren’t many scenes in the movie with him. They needed more for him to do. Philip Seymour Hoffman is a strange choice for a main villain, but it completely works. Maggie Q is one hot piece of a…never mind.

Like with most Abrams productions (LOST and Alias), Michael Giacchino (MG) is the composer of the music in the film. Anyone that has read my blog long enough knows that I love this guy’s work. He is the new John Williams. The difference between Zimmer’s score of MI2 and MG’s score of MI3 is that MG uses actual music from the old Mission Impossible TV show. (I am surprised how many people didn’t know it was a TV show before a movie.). Now, there is a bit of LOST in this score, but not on the same level as say Horner reusing themes over and over again.

Bottom line, MI3 is a fun summer movie that shouldn’t be missed. Enjoy.

Grade: A-