Mission: Impossible III Review

My series of reviews for all the Mission: Impossible films before the release of Rogue Nation continues with the first sequel after the messy and rather forgettable M:I-2. J.J. Abrams took over directing duties for this one. At the time, he was not yet a formidable feature film director. He was primarily known for his work on television. In fact, this was his feature debut. And looking back, it was a good sign of things to come. Mission: Impossible III is a thrilling burst of top-notch action, intriguing espionage elements, and surprising depth, all of which combines to make my favorite Mission: Impossible movie.

M:I-3 follows IMF agent Ethan Hunt who has retired from his adventures out in the field as a member of the Impossible Missions Force and instead trains young recruits to do what he used to do. He has also gotten engaged to a nurse named Julia, who he feels offers a taste of the life before he became a spy, when life was much simpler. He chooses to hide his past as a spy from his fiancee in order to protect her. He is pulled back into the fray when one of his trainees, Lindsey Farris, is captured while investigating a black market arms dealer named Owen Davian. Ethan, along with his team of IMF agents, must rescue Farris and continue the investigation she started of the elusive Davian.

Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, giving his best performance as the character. He retains the persona of a skilled spy but adds a whole new layer that can't be seen in any of the other Mission: Impossible movies. He's vulnerable in this one. We actually get to see him open up to someone. But, he's stuck in a double life, continuing to perform death-defying stunts in order to complete missions predetermined as impossible, yet also attempting to settle down and start a family with the woman he loves. Cruise portrays this conflict beautifully. One of his better performances, I'd say, and he's got some great ones under his belt.

The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the greatest Mission: Impossible villain (which honestly isn't saying a whole lot), Owen Davian. While his fellow M:I baddies are weak, he stands out definitively, and would even if the other villains were good. He's menacing, he's mean, he's got a dry sense of humor, and he feels like a legitimate threat to Ethan and his team. The opening scene alone is better than what any other M:I bad guy has to offer. It's a really impressive performance.

The supporting cast is strong as well. Michelle Monaghan plays Julia, and I'm always surprised by how good she is. She's not mind-blowingly amazing, but she's sneakily the most effective female lead in the entire series. I usually forget that. Ving Rhames is back as Luther Stickell with a bigger role than either of the previous films, which is great because he's such a great character. He's got some really good moments, particularly involving his relationship with Ethan. Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers round out the rest of Ethan's team as Zhen Lei and Declan Gormley respectively. They're effective sidekicks, even if their characters aren't particularly fleshed out. Simon Pegg also makes a brief appearance as Benji Dunn, a role that was expanded for later sequels. I'm glad he's given more time in the later films, because he truly is a comic genius. Laurence Fishburne is also terrific as the head of the IMF, and Billy Crudup is solid as the IMF Operations Director.

J.J. Abrams is a director who knows how to film effective action sequences. Whether its the sleek space battles of his Star Trek movies or the old-school, white knuckle action of Super 8, he knows how to get his audience on the edge of their seat. Mission: Impossible III is no different. Abrams serves up scene after scene of fist-clenching excitement that I don't believe any other Mission duplicates. Some highlights include a fighter plane's attack on a bridge and a sequence in which Tom Cruise descends into the streets of Shanghai after jumping out of a building below the minimum height for a safe parachute jump. Those are a couple notable scenes, but every action sequence in this film is impressive.

As I previously mentioned, the film also contains a surprising amount of emotional depth. The large majority of this stems from the relationship Ethan has with Julia. That whole emotional thread provides a backbone for the action, something that was sorely missing in Mission: Impossible II. This is most fully realized in the scene that actually opens the movie. We see Ethan's panic and utter desperation as he tries to keep his wife alive while not having the means to do it. Even after the curtain is pulled on that scene and we're shown that not everything is what it seems, the emotional core remains. And Cruise and Hoffman are both phenomenal in that sequence.

Where the film errs occasionally is with its pacing. There are moments throughout the movie that fly by at breakneck speed, which fits the tone of the film, but also prevents certain plot and character elements from being explored more thoroughly. It manages to maintain the aforementioned depth that gives us a reason to connect with the plot, but it is sometimes a little too nonstop with its action for its own good. The movie also unashamedly utilizes a MacGuffin - the Rabbit's Foot - which is never explained. That's because it is simply a MacGuffin and holds no lasting significance to the plot. Luckily, it doesn't bog this film down too much, as Ethan is given further motivation for obtaining the Rabbit's Foot (saving his wife).

I think most people say that this film's subsequent sequel, Ghost Protocol, is their favorite of the franchise. Some say it's the best by far. I have to disagree with these people. I think M:I-3 is superior to Ghost Protocol in a few definitive ways. For one, we are given more to care about in this film. Ethan is actually a human being with real feelings, and as a result he's easy to root for. Ghost Protocol, while a blast to watch, is ultimately nothing more than a series of vignettes, held together loosely by a weak plot and an even weaker adversary. M:I-3 has a stronger thread that keeps it together and propels the action more convincingly. Ghost Protocol is a great action movie, but Mission: Impossible III is a great movie.

I'll get a little more in-depth with my thoughts as to why I believe this one is better than its immediate sequel in my review of Ghost Protocol. For now, all I have to say is that Mission: Impossible III is not only my favorite installment in the entire series so far, but it's also one of the best action movies of the 2000s in my opinion, and probably even more than that. It satisfyingly combines the elements of espionage that the series was built upon with some really terrific action sequences, which ultimately creates a pulse-pounding spy thriller that, in my mind, can not be topped by its fellow Mission: Impossible films. We'll see if Rogue Nation gives it a run for its money.

A