Mission: Impossible III Review
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 05.05.2006
Ever wonder what Alias would be like if it was a movie and starred Tom Cruise instead of Jennifer Garner? I think it would go a little something like this...
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III
Directed by: J. J. Abrams Written by: Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & J. J. Abrams Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell, and Laurence Fishburne. Runtime: 126 Minutes Rated: PG-13
Getting to the big screen has been a long, obstacle-filled ordeal for the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible series. The third entry has seen cast members (such as Carrie Ann Moss and Scarlett Johanson) and two directors (Joe Carnahan and David Fincher) come and go, before Cruise and co. finally found the perfect man for the job: J. J. Abrams, creator of Felicity! OK, maybe the fact that he also created Alias and co-created Lost had a little more to do with him being given this fim. Whatever the reasons, one thing is clear. We'll never know what Carnahan or Fincher would have brought to the project, but, in the hands of Abrams, M:i:III ends up being the strongest entry in the series yet.
M:i:III opens with a particularly harrowing sequence: Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) beaten and tied up, being interrogated by the sinister Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Davian clearly means business, as he also has a woman (Michelle Monaghan) gagged and tied up across from Hun. It soon becomes clear that this woman is someone Hunt loves. Davian demands to know where an object called the "rabbit's foot" is. This seems to confuse Hunt, who swears that he has already handed the object over to Davian. Davian doesn't seem to agree, and threatens to kill the woman if Hunt doesn't tell him what he needs to know in 10 seconds. Hunt pleads for Davian to spare her life, but as Davian gets to 10 the opening credits kick in and we flash back in time, in order to find out how Hunt ended up in the opening situation in the first place (fans of Alias and Lost are already familiar with Abrams' fondness for flashbacks and playing with time).
As we flash back a few days, we find that Ethan Hunt is no longer the globe-trotting, death-defying IMF agent he was in the last two films. In fact, he's no longer a field agent at all, haven given up a life of adventure for a more stable career training new IMF agents. He is also engaged to Julia, the same woman we saw threatened in the beginning, who obviously does not know what her fiancée really does for a living. Hunt seems genuinely happy with his newfound life, but a two hour film of Tom Cruise training young recruits would be pretty boring, so it's not surprising when the Hunt is called away from his engagement party to receive seem upsetting news.
It seems the very first agent Hunt ever trained, Lindsey (Keri Russell), has been captured while trying to infiltrate the operation of weapons-dealer Davian. Although the IMF would usually disavow any captured operatives, this time they feel the information Lindsey may have is simply too important not to get back, so Hunt's superior and old friend asks him to lead the rescue mission. Hunt is hesitant to see action again, but eventually he finds himself unable to ignore the danger to Lindsey, who he thinks of as a kid sister, and he accepts the mission.
Unfortunately, the rescue mission turns out to have deadly results, and what Hunt was hoping would be his last assignment instead turns into a very personal vendetta for him. Ignoring the orders of the head of the IMF, Hunt and his new team devise a plan to capture Davian and nail some of the men he is planning to sell a doomsday device known as the "rabbit's foot" to (a plan that involves infiltrating Vatican City, no less). They pull it off, but there's one problem. Davian does not take getting captured lightly, and after he escapes he comes back after Hunt with a vengeance, kidnapping Julia and demanding that Hunt return the rabbit's foot to him in exchange for her life.
While I respect Cruise's desire to have each M:i film handled by a different director, in order to give each entry it's own distinct feel, this film makes a pretty strong argument for allowing Abram to helm the inevitable fourth installment. Any worries that Abrams talents would not translate from television to the bring screen are pretty much blown away by the excellent work he does here. Given a huge budget to work with, Abrams gets to make the kind of action filled spy epic he probably envisioned Alias to be (but could never accomplish with a TV budget), and you can almost sense his joy coming right out of the screen. And yes, the film could have simply rested on its amazing action sequences (which are all truly exciting, particularly a mid-film attack jet attack on an IMF caravan crossing a bridge), as many would argue M:i:II did, but Abrams was specifically brought on because of his belief that character is even more important than explosions and car chases. Anyone who watched Alias or Lost knows just how much time Abrams puts into developing his characters, and he brings that same sensibility to M:i:III.
For the first time, Ethan Hunt is more than just an IMF agent, more than just another interchangeable, generic action hero. This time around, we actually get to feel like we are getting to know the man. Yes, the whole "I just want to finally lead a normal life but I can't seem to ever truly escape my past" routine has been done to death, but Abrams and Cruise still manage to make it effective here, bringing a new sense of humanity to Hunt that was definitely absent from the previous films. For all of the attention focused on Cruise's personal life lately, it's easy to forget that he is a talented actor. Although he spent much of his early career pretty much playing the same character over and over, Cruise has spent the last few years noticeably trying new things and turning in a number of compelling performances (Minority Report, The Last Samurai, Collateral). Here again Cruise shows exactly why, despite anything negative people have to say about him, he is a movie star. He's certainly up to the challenge of exploring a new facet of Hunt's personality, and I would assume even those who are sick of hearing about Cruise lately will still find themselves unable to not root for his character by the end of this one.
It should be noted that a big part of the reason Hunt's newfound humanity works so well is the performance of Michelle Monaghan. As Julia, she is sweet, caring, beautiful; basically a dream woman, but a realistic one. You never doubt for a second that Hunt could fall for this woman, and you definitely understand his desire to settle down and live a nice, peaceful life with her. Later, when she is placed in jeopardy, Monaghan ramps up her performance, and holds her own in an action packed climax. Monaghan has been pegged as one of the next big things for awhile now, and this should certainly help her move even further along on that path.
The rest of the cast all handle themselves quite well, also, and Abrams is smart enough to give each member of his talented cast at least one opportunity to shine. After his glorified cameo status in M:i:II, Ving Rhames is finally back in the action as Hunt's best friend and partner, Luther (who, in this movie, pretty much seals the deal as far as now being an indispensable part of this franchise), getting most of the movies big laughs in the process. Because the IMF almost always works in teams, Hunt and Luther are this team joined by the sexy Maggie Q and rising star Jonathan Rhys Meyers as two young field agents. Although their parts are hugely developed, both are given a couple nice character moments that leave you hoping we'll get to see this same line-up in the next film. Laurence Fishburne is his usual self, meaning very good, as the top dog at IMF (it helps that he is given a lot more to do in that capacity than Anthony Hopkins was in M:i:II), and the underrated Billy Crudup shines as Hunt's friend, immediate superior, and the man who convinces Hunt to get back in the game. Remember when I said that Rhames gets most of the film's big laughs? That would be because quite a few of them go to the two show-stealing scenes from Shaun of the Dead's Shaun himself, Simon Pegg, as an IMF tech expert (once again, to not bring this character back next time would be a shame). And, in perhaps the film's most unexpected performance, Keri Russell pretty much wipes out five years of Felicity memories as Lindsey, the in-peril IMF agent. Russell does not look out of place at all in a big action sequence, and it will be interesting to see if this is just the beginning of a new turn in her career.
Of course, the performance that most are probably curious about is Philip Seymour Hoffman, in his first film since winning the Best Actor Oscar for Capote. It should come as no surprise that Hoffman is perfect here, bringing a sense of menace to a character that could have easily seemed like no real match for Cruise in the hands of a lesser actor. Owen Davian is a unique villain for a movie like M:i:III. He's not the typical madman bent on world domination. He's simply the guy who provides those villains with the weapons needed for their plans. To the IMF team he is nothing more than a piece of a larger puzzle, which is exactly why they underestimate him, with deadly results. After Davian is captured and interrogated by Hunt, he is humiliated and angry, and he strikes back with more fury than any of the heroes could have possibly expected (he is essentially every high school bully's worst nightmare = the nerd who is sick of being bullied and actually has the power to now fire back).
For anyone thinking that all this talk of the acting means that Abrams has turned this thing into a just character piece, worry not. It's still full of the usual M:i highlights. Yes, there are fantastic gadgets. Yes, there are death-defying escapes and stunts. Yes, Hunt wears a mask of another character's face (although this time we finally get to see how those masks are made). And, yes, because apparently it is a requirement in every M:i film, you can count on at least one of the good guys turning out to be not-so-good (you'd think by now the IMF would have a much tougher employee screening process).
Much like the excellent job Joss Whedon did with Serenity, Abrams shows here that he is ready to be a Hollywood player, turning what could have been just another action flick into an intelligent, funny, exciting movie with genuine human moments. It would be a shame if the current media fixation on Cruise keeps people from seeing M:i:III, as it's easily the best film in the series yet, and sets a high standard for the rest of the summer action flicks to follow.
The 411: Mission: Impossible III kicks off the summer movie season in a big way, delivering excellent action and, for the first time in this series, real genuine emotion and quite a bit of humor. Co-writer/director J. J. Abrams, Tom Cruise, and an excellent supporting cast are all at the top of their game here. By making Cruise's Ethan Hunt character a real person, with real feelings and understandable motivation, Abrams has brought new depth and energy to the series, and crafted the best Mission: Impossible yet.
