Mission Impossible 3
MI:3 Review:
So yeah I don't think there's much of a need to really drag this one out - this of course is not exactly United 93. But what Mission Impossible 3 WAS was a damn good action movie, containing pretty much everything you'd want out of a mostly-mindless summer blockbuster.
First let's talk Tom Cruise. Sure, the man may be pretty nutty in real life, but let's face it - he's an excellent action-movie leading man and his big-budget film performances rarely disappoint. I mean do we have to run down the list? The guy has been above-average to great in everything from Top Gun to Risky Business to Last Samurai to War of the Worlds. And the thing is, if you start dismissing movies or TV shows because their stars are loopy in real life? Well, that severely limits your entertainment options. Guess you won't be watching any more movies with Kevin Costner - he is apparently a sketchball if recent reports are true. And John Travolta, Beck, the girl from That 70's Show - all card-carrying Scientologists. No more My Name is Earl - Jason Lee is also one of "them" as well, the few, the proud, the crazy - Scientologists. Sad, I know, but what can we do? Charlie Sheen seems like a pretty sleazy guy as well. We all know about Hugh Grant. Hell, even the almighty Kiefer Sutherland is far from a model citizen.
The sad truth is that most of these Hollywood people are nuts. Trust me. In an ideal world, our movie stars would be as great in person as the heroes they play on screen. But it just is not that way. So Tom Cruise, as an actor, is excellent here. It's not worth it to me to focus on his real-life antics with regards to this particular movie, and the weird Scientology stuff was definitely not going to prevent me from seeing the first big action movie extravaganza of the summer season.
But yeah, Cruise is very good as always as Ethan Hunt. But what about Philip Seymour Hoffman? Damn, he plays a great cold-hearted, bad-ass villain here. I only wish he had a little more screen-time. Former Felicity girl Keri Russel shows her secret-agent side in a nifty turn. Vhing Rames, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, and Michelle Q all do a great job of filling out Ethan Hunt's Team Impossible - and the team aspect of the movie is really fun and adds a cool new element to the franchise. Laurence Fishbourne is pretty much playing Badass Authority Figure #1 here, but who better to play such a role? And Michelle Monoghan as Ethan's newlywed wife is good as well, even if her main job is either to nod and smile or squirm in horror after she becomes the defacto damsel in distress.
And congrats to JJ Abrams - the Lost and Alias creator busts out some kickass action scenes. Helicopter chases, kung-fu fights, death-defying leaps from tall buildings - he delivers everything but the kitchen sink. His decision to play around with time a bit and open with a great scene that occurs towards the movie's END really pays off and sets up a lot of tension for the rest of the film, as we all wonder how Tom Cruise is going to get INTO, and OUT OF the deadly predicament we see him in as the movie opens. JJ also makes sure to throw in plenty of cool gadgets, intricate disguises (yes! after all those NBC Studio Tours where I talked about the "Mission Impossible effect" off ripping off a latex mask, I finally see it in action on the big screen ...), and exotic locales (cool, the Vatican! Shanghai! Sweeet.).
As far as the plot, it's a pretty standard Search-For-the-McGuffin-and-Beware-of-Traitors-in-the-Ranks a to b to c deal, but hey, it works. And the emphasis on the characters rather than the details of some overly complicated destroy-the-world plot is a nice change of pace.
Overall, this is your basic action movie fare. But it's done really well, has a great cast, and never lets up for a minute in the action department. So while I may not remember all the details of the movie in a few week's time, I can say that seeing this movie in the theater on the big screen was one of the most purely enjoyable, "oh-damn-did you see what just happened" experiences I've had watching a movie in a while. This was definitely a great way to kick off the Summer movie season.
My grade: B+
So yeah I don't think there's much of a need to really drag this one out - this of course is not exactly United 93. But what Mission Impossible 3 WAS was a damn good action movie, containing pretty much everything you'd want out of a mostly-mindless summer blockbuster.
First let's talk Tom Cruise. Sure, the man may be pretty nutty in real life, but let's face it - he's an excellent action-movie leading man and his big-budget film performances rarely disappoint. I mean do we have to run down the list? The guy has been above-average to great in everything from Top Gun to Risky Business to Last Samurai to War of the Worlds. And the thing is, if you start dismissing movies or TV shows because their stars are loopy in real life? Well, that severely limits your entertainment options. Guess you won't be watching any more movies with Kevin Costner - he is apparently a sketchball if recent reports are true. And John Travolta, Beck, the girl from That 70's Show - all card-carrying Scientologists. No more My Name is Earl - Jason Lee is also one of "them" as well, the few, the proud, the crazy - Scientologists. Sad, I know, but what can we do? Charlie Sheen seems like a pretty sleazy guy as well. We all know about Hugh Grant. Hell, even the almighty Kiefer Sutherland is far from a model citizen.
The sad truth is that most of these Hollywood people are nuts. Trust me. In an ideal world, our movie stars would be as great in person as the heroes they play on screen. But it just is not that way. So Tom Cruise, as an actor, is excellent here. It's not worth it to me to focus on his real-life antics with regards to this particular movie, and the weird Scientology stuff was definitely not going to prevent me from seeing the first big action movie extravaganza of the summer season.
But yeah, Cruise is very good as always as Ethan Hunt. But what about Philip Seymour Hoffman? Damn, he plays a great cold-hearted, bad-ass villain here. I only wish he had a little more screen-time. Former Felicity girl Keri Russel shows her secret-agent side in a nifty turn. Vhing Rames, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, and Michelle Q all do a great job of filling out Ethan Hunt's Team Impossible - and the team aspect of the movie is really fun and adds a cool new element to the franchise. Laurence Fishbourne is pretty much playing Badass Authority Figure #1 here, but who better to play such a role? And Michelle Monoghan as Ethan's newlywed wife is good as well, even if her main job is either to nod and smile or squirm in horror after she becomes the defacto damsel in distress.
And congrats to JJ Abrams - the Lost and Alias creator busts out some kickass action scenes. Helicopter chases, kung-fu fights, death-defying leaps from tall buildings - he delivers everything but the kitchen sink. His decision to play around with time a bit and open with a great scene that occurs towards the movie's END really pays off and sets up a lot of tension for the rest of the film, as we all wonder how Tom Cruise is going to get INTO, and OUT OF the deadly predicament we see him in as the movie opens. JJ also makes sure to throw in plenty of cool gadgets, intricate disguises (yes! after all those NBC Studio Tours where I talked about the "Mission Impossible effect" off ripping off a latex mask, I finally see it in action on the big screen ...), and exotic locales (cool, the Vatican! Shanghai! Sweeet.).
As far as the plot, it's a pretty standard Search-For-the-McGuffin-and-Beware-of-Traitors-in-the-Ranks a to b to c deal, but hey, it works. And the emphasis on the characters rather than the details of some overly complicated destroy-the-world plot is a nice change of pace.
Overall, this is your basic action movie fare. But it's done really well, has a great cast, and never lets up for a minute in the action department. So while I may not remember all the details of the movie in a few week's time, I can say that seeing this movie in the theater on the big screen was one of the most purely enjoyable, "oh-damn-did you see what just happened" experiences I've had watching a movie in a while. This was definitely a great way to kick off the Summer movie season.
My grade: B+
posted by Danny B at 11:51 PM
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