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Submitted by cinemascope on Fri, 2006-05-12 08:27. :: Cinemascope 5
Movie title:
Mission: Impossible III
Starring:
Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg
Directed by:
J.J. Abrams
Written by:
J.J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci
Genre:
Action/Adventure/Thriller
Year:
2006
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Runtime:
126 minutes
Imdb:
Rating:
Synopsis
Ethan Hunt has given up active duty with IMF in order to settle down into an 'ordinary' life, training recruits and becming engaged to a nurse. When an ex-student is killed by a sadistic arms dealer, he is drawn back into the business...
Ethan Hunt has given up active duty with IMF in order to settle down into an 'ordinary' life, training recruits and becming engaged to a nurse. When an ex-student is killed by a sadistic arms dealer, he is drawn back into the business...
Review
After a troubled history of cast members being fired and directors bailing out, Tom Cruise (as producer and star) made a brilliant decision: he hired pop-culture savvy J.J. Abrams, creator of TV's Alias (itself owing a huge debt to Mission:Impossible the TV series) and the blockbuster success story that is Lost to direct the latest in the M:i series. Abrams may claim to have made the franchise his own through bringing emotional depth to the characters, but the success of the picture - and it is the best of the three M:i movies so far - is not owed to the kind of awkward romantic sublot that Cruise is so utterly unconvincing at. Instead, it succeeds through Abrams' understanding of how this kind of thriller works - take the gadgetry of Bond, weld it to the grit of Bourne, and take the whole thing seriously, despite its obvious ludicrousness. For example: planting a tiny bomb in a pellet that is shot up the victim's nose and timed to go off in their brain later is silly in theory, but compelling in its simplicity and unbelievably tense when you're in a cinema with a huge audience watching it on a big screen. Two other factors make this a thrilling summer-movie experience - Oscar-winner Hoffman bringing his spitting, snarling aggression to the surface for the first time since Punch Drunk Love, and some breathtaking action sequences, notably an attack on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that still rumbles in your ears and flashes on your retina minutes after it's over. Excellent blockbuster fun.
After a troubled history of cast members being fired and directors bailing out, Tom Cruise (as producer and star) made a brilliant decision: he hired pop-culture savvy J.J. Abrams, creator of TV's Alias (itself owing a huge debt to Mission:Impossible the TV series) and the blockbuster success story that is Lost to direct the latest in the M:i series. Abrams may claim to have made the franchise his own through bringing emotional depth to the characters, but the success of the picture - and it is the best of the three M:i movies so far - is not owed to the kind of awkward romantic sublot that Cruise is so utterly unconvincing at. Instead, it succeeds through Abrams' understanding of how this kind of thriller works - take the gadgetry of Bond, weld it to the grit of Bourne, and take the whole thing seriously, despite its obvious ludicrousness. For example: planting a tiny bomb in a pellet that is shot up the victim's nose and timed to go off in their brain later is silly in theory, but compelling in its simplicity and unbelievably tense when you're in a cinema with a huge audience watching it on a big screen. Two other factors make this a thrilling summer-movie experience - Oscar-winner Hoffman bringing his spitting, snarling aggression to the surface for the first time since Punch Drunk Love, and some breathtaking action sequences, notably an attack on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that still rumbles in your ears and flashes on your retina minutes after it's over. Excellent blockbuster fun.
