"Who are you? Do you have a wife? A girlfriend? Whoever she is, I'm gonna find her. I'm gonna hurt her. And then I'm going to kill you right in front of her."
The first two installations of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series were a kind of revelation in themselves. Neither was gushed over by critics, nor by audiences. Neither boasted extraordinary budgets, and there were already and have since then been bigger marketing campaigns. For some reason or another though, they make money. Boatloads. Truckloads. The first two “M:I” films each broke the record for largest opening weekend gross at the time of their release, and because of this, their parent company, Paramount Pictures, is able to throw a lot of money around on the third Mission: Impossible movie, and it shows. In fact, they gave director J.J. Abrams (the creator of TV’s LOST and ALIAS) the biggest budget in history for a first time director, $150 million. It shows.
What I’m trying to get at is that M:I 3 is very like its predecessors. It has Tom Cruise in the role that may define him, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, has extraordinary stunt work, attempts (not particularly valiantly) to add a three-dimensional love story, and overall, its a hell of a lot of fun while it lasts. Oh yeah, it too will make truckloads of money.
The scenario in M:I 3 is that Hunt is now settled down. He has had enough of the glory days (for the first ten minutes of the film, that is), and is in love with a Virginian nurse named Julia (Michelle Monaghan). He tells her that he is a traffic control engineer, and she buys it, sort of. Meanwhile, he is really training future IMF agents, his protégé being a girl named Lindsay Ferris.
Ferris is kidnapped while on a mission in Berlin, investigating a weapons dealer named Owen Davian. Davian is the best at what he does, as is Hunt, and it is very entertaining when either is on screen (although Davian is given very little actual screen time). Davian is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who gives a terrific performance similar to that of the vintage James Bond villains: genius, crazy, rich, cocky, and always planning. He brings an intensity and class to the performance that could have easily been turned into a self-mockery, and may be the brightest light in the entire film (as well as the only memorable performance).
It should be common knowledge though that not many people go to the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies looking for great performances, and neither do I. The stunts, explosions, and the sight of Tom Cruise running around while everything that could go wrong does is why millions of people see them. The film is technically superb, with several action sequences that will leave people riveted to their seats. The pinnacle action scene is a battle of sorts of a bridge, featuring Hunt duking it out with a helicopter full of guys with machine guns, several explosions, upturned cars, an inconvenient fifteen-foot hole in the ground, and a drone plane. What impressed me most was Abrams’ ability to weave through these scenes with a sense of continuity instead of the usual several-cuts-per-second style used by most directors in modern Hollywood. He lets the audience see the action unfold from one perspective instead of causing nausea with jagged editing.
The plot, other than the basics that Julia is kidnapped by Davian, and that Cruise has to find her and make a deal with Davian to get her back, is rather hard to explain. The surprisingly stellar and entertaining supporting cast includes Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), who returns as Hunt’s partner in action, the tech whiz who makes sure Hunt doesn’t do anything to crazy without telling him first. Maggie Q, Jonathon Rhys Meyers, and Simon Pegg all play roles as fellow partners, and Laurence Fishbourne and Billy Crudup are Hunt’s bosses. As the number of plot twists mounted I remembered the saying that says “to fool someone once is good, to fool them twice is bad, and to it three times is genius”. This quote does not say what happens after the third plot twist. There are also enough plot holes in M:I 3 to drive every truck, car, helicopter, and boat that explodes through.
Overall though, I really have no complaints. The story may lack a strong emotional backbone, which is an element Abrams really wanted to touch on, but that is forgivable. M:I 3 delivers exactly what it promises, which is a good time that has a story line that is easy to understand but not stupid, terrific action, a menacing villain, and some very good looking people. This is the perfect film to start off summer, and it will reflect in the box office.
B+
The first two installations of the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series were a kind of revelation in themselves. Neither was gushed over by critics, nor by audiences. Neither boasted extraordinary budgets, and there were already and have since then been bigger marketing campaigns. For some reason or another though, they make money. Boatloads. Truckloads. The first two “M:I” films each broke the record for largest opening weekend gross at the time of their release, and because of this, their parent company, Paramount Pictures, is able to throw a lot of money around on the third Mission: Impossible movie, and it shows. In fact, they gave director J.J. Abrams (the creator of TV’s LOST and ALIAS) the biggest budget in history for a first time director, $150 million. It shows.
What I’m trying to get at is that M:I 3 is very like its predecessors. It has Tom Cruise in the role that may define him, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt, has extraordinary stunt work, attempts (not particularly valiantly) to add a three-dimensional love story, and overall, its a hell of a lot of fun while it lasts. Oh yeah, it too will make truckloads of money.
The scenario in M:I 3 is that Hunt is now settled down. He has had enough of the glory days (for the first ten minutes of the film, that is), and is in love with a Virginian nurse named Julia (Michelle Monaghan). He tells her that he is a traffic control engineer, and she buys it, sort of. Meanwhile, he is really training future IMF agents, his protégé being a girl named Lindsay Ferris.
Ferris is kidnapped while on a mission in Berlin, investigating a weapons dealer named Owen Davian. Davian is the best at what he does, as is Hunt, and it is very entertaining when either is on screen (although Davian is given very little actual screen time). Davian is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who gives a terrific performance similar to that of the vintage James Bond villains: genius, crazy, rich, cocky, and always planning. He brings an intensity and class to the performance that could have easily been turned into a self-mockery, and may be the brightest light in the entire film (as well as the only memorable performance).
It should be common knowledge though that not many people go to the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movies looking for great performances, and neither do I. The stunts, explosions, and the sight of Tom Cruise running around while everything that could go wrong does is why millions of people see them. The film is technically superb, with several action sequences that will leave people riveted to their seats. The pinnacle action scene is a battle of sorts of a bridge, featuring Hunt duking it out with a helicopter full of guys with machine guns, several explosions, upturned cars, an inconvenient fifteen-foot hole in the ground, and a drone plane. What impressed me most was Abrams’ ability to weave through these scenes with a sense of continuity instead of the usual several-cuts-per-second style used by most directors in modern Hollywood. He lets the audience see the action unfold from one perspective instead of causing nausea with jagged editing.
The plot, other than the basics that Julia is kidnapped by Davian, and that Cruise has to find her and make a deal with Davian to get her back, is rather hard to explain. The surprisingly stellar and entertaining supporting cast includes Luther Strickell (Ving Rhames), who returns as Hunt’s partner in action, the tech whiz who makes sure Hunt doesn’t do anything to crazy without telling him first. Maggie Q, Jonathon Rhys Meyers, and Simon Pegg all play roles as fellow partners, and Laurence Fishbourne and Billy Crudup are Hunt’s bosses. As the number of plot twists mounted I remembered the saying that says “to fool someone once is good, to fool them twice is bad, and to it three times is genius”. This quote does not say what happens after the third plot twist. There are also enough plot holes in M:I 3 to drive every truck, car, helicopter, and boat that explodes through.
Overall though, I really have no complaints. The story may lack a strong emotional backbone, which is an element Abrams really wanted to touch on, but that is forgivable. M:I 3 delivers exactly what it promises, which is a good time that has a story line that is easy to understand but not stupid, terrific action, a menacing villain, and some very good looking people. This is the perfect film to start off summer, and it will reflect in the box office.
B+
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