Mission: Impossible III
Seen May 6, 2006 - AMC Fenway #13
* * * * (out of 5)
Ignore the ridiculous amount of negative press Tom Cruise has recently garnered. Ignore his ego. Ignore the less-than-stellar opening weekend. Ignore people that can’t separate real life from the film world. Go see this film. Regardless of whatever reservations you have about any aspect of the production, the opening sequence to Mission: Impossible III negates all that by grabbing you by the neck and throttling you for three minutes just to make sure it has your attention, and makes sure it doesn’t lose it for the rest of the film.
Make no mistake, this is the epitome of a commercial blockbuster, and producer/actor/Supreme Master Cruise doesn’t really allow anyone else the chance to take the film away from him, but if you can do something well… for an hour and a half, I had a fantastic time in a movie theater, and for this kind of film that is what matters the most.Ethan Hunt (Cruise), superhuman ultraspy, has settled down. Now, he only trains the crazies-with-a-death-wish that work for the Impossible Mission Force, and lets them do the dirty work. He’s even getting married to a sweet, gorgeous nurse named Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea what he actually does for a living. So when the call comes in that IMF needs him to go into the field to save one of his former students (Keri Russell) from Owen Davian, a sociopathic evil arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he says, “Thanks but no thanks,” right? Ha. No, Hunt goes barreling balls first into danger, and lo and behold, captures said evil bastard in a job well done. And then shit hits the fan. Seems Mr. Davian is a little more connected than Hunt or the IMF anticipated, and Davian escapes, determined to wreak havoc on Hunt while pursuing the “Rabbit’s Foot,” a doomsday device with enormous destructive power.
This sounds pretty typical, I know. It is, but in truth that places M:I-3 on solid middle ground between the first two films – the plot of the first film was near-incomprehensible without careful analysis, and the second was laughable and impossibly silly. This time around, the film is actually mostly believable, due in no small part to J.J. Abrams and his writing team, many of whom worked with him on “Alias.” I’m told it shows, as the film follows much of the same pattern as many episodes of Abrams’s show – start with the hero in peril, flash back to how that happened, then work up to the present and find some resolution. It’s simple, but it works very well for one reason. Abrams’s opening sequence is perfectly brilliant. In the three minutes before the opening credits, audiences will connect instantly with Hunt in a way they never did in the first two films, and Davian is immediately established as a force with which to be reckoned. It sucked me into the film like no other I can remember. By the time the title credits rolled, I was hooked, as was my girlfriend, who had been entirely skeptical about seeing the film at all.
Read the rest at HBS!
* * * * (out of 5)
Ignore the ridiculous amount of negative press Tom Cruise has recently garnered. Ignore his ego. Ignore the less-than-stellar opening weekend. Ignore people that can’t separate real life from the film world. Go see this film. Regardless of whatever reservations you have about any aspect of the production, the opening sequence to Mission: Impossible III negates all that by grabbing you by the neck and throttling you for three minutes just to make sure it has your attention, and makes sure it doesn’t lose it for the rest of the film.
Make no mistake, this is the epitome of a commercial blockbuster, and producer/actor/Supreme Master Cruise doesn’t really allow anyone else the chance to take the film away from him, but if you can do something well… for an hour and a half, I had a fantastic time in a movie theater, and for this kind of film that is what matters the most.Ethan Hunt (Cruise), superhuman ultraspy, has settled down. Now, he only trains the crazies-with-a-death-wish that work for the Impossible Mission Force, and lets them do the dirty work. He’s even getting married to a sweet, gorgeous nurse named Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea what he actually does for a living. So when the call comes in that IMF needs him to go into the field to save one of his former students (Keri Russell) from Owen Davian, a sociopathic evil arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman), he says, “Thanks but no thanks,” right? Ha. No, Hunt goes barreling balls first into danger, and lo and behold, captures said evil bastard in a job well done. And then shit hits the fan. Seems Mr. Davian is a little more connected than Hunt or the IMF anticipated, and Davian escapes, determined to wreak havoc on Hunt while pursuing the “Rabbit’s Foot,” a doomsday device with enormous destructive power.
This sounds pretty typical, I know. It is, but in truth that places M:I-3 on solid middle ground between the first two films – the plot of the first film was near-incomprehensible without careful analysis, and the second was laughable and impossibly silly. This time around, the film is actually mostly believable, due in no small part to J.J. Abrams and his writing team, many of whom worked with him on “Alias.” I’m told it shows, as the film follows much of the same pattern as many episodes of Abrams’s show – start with the hero in peril, flash back to how that happened, then work up to the present and find some resolution. It’s simple, but it works very well for one reason. Abrams’s opening sequence is perfectly brilliant. In the three minutes before the opening credits, audiences will connect instantly with Hunt in a way they never did in the first two films, and Davian is immediately established as a force with which to be reckoned. It sucked me into the film like no other I can remember. By the time the title credits rolled, I was hooked, as was my girlfriend, who had been entirely skeptical about seeing the film at all.
Read the rest at HBS!
posted by Matt S. at
3:59 PM
3 Comments:
Hello Matt. Haven't found where can I send a message to you, so write it as a comment. Please check out our site it is about movie tastes and recommendations. It's www.alongtail.com If you'll like it, I would be very happy if you could make a post about it, so other people from your community would know about it.
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By
Anonymous, at 3:29 AM
Though a story is good, as for this movie, music is cool.
By
Anonymous, at 7:27 AM
movie is awesome! i even heard that there is gonna be fourth part! :)
By
RSMovies, at 8:30 AM
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