Mission Impossible 3 DVD > Reviews > The Impossible Has Been Achieved

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Outstanding
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Good Action, Mainly Good Acting, Exciting, Tense
Disadvantages:	Cruise = Dull

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Ethan Hunt has quit the life of a grand master espionage agent. He wants a normal life and had built up a relationship with the stunning and intelligent Julia, they are together and he trains prospective agents away from the danger and pain of a life as an undercover agent. When one of his recruits is trapped in combat and being tortured for information he is forced to jump back into the murky world of an international spy. When his home life is endangered and his family on the brink of destruction, he has to face up to his responsibilities and go after the super villain Owen Davian. But as the stakes get increasingly higher, the CIA after him and his whole happiness on the line will he ever be able to restore some normaility into his life?

I walked into Mission Impossible 3 with dwindling expectations. The original was a fun piece of escapism, but hardly worthy of a sequel and much less a third in the already over tired action genre. Fortunately -and surprisingly- I enjoyed every single moment of it, and found myself smiling, crying and edging closer to the edge of my seat as the film hurtled towards its touching and exhilarating final act. Mission Impossible 3 is a proper action film with a plot, a lot of guts and some pretty pleasing flourishes of style. Perhaps most pleasing though is its 'quiet' moments, the scenes which hint at emotional resonance, without requiring too much investment or threatening the eye popping and frankly breathtaking stunts. In a time where everything is about packaging and very little is about actually delivering, this flick delivers and then smashes you in the face, kicks you in the stomach and leaves you reeling from the attack, but I guarantee you'll be wanting more. J. J Abrams has created a film with the tension and dramatic poise of a Hitchcock, the feel good sentiment of a Nora Ephron film and the striking visuals of a Tarintino. It has all the thoughtful pathos that he himself injected into his successful and brilliant television show Alias and manages to build up one of the most pleasantly frenetic paces in recent cinema. It's a juiced up, hyped up, super stylish, freakishly entertaining action adventure that, put in one word, rocks.

Action adventures are becoming grittier, darker and more serious by the day and when Mission Impossible 3 opens with Cruise, beaten and bleeding tied to a chair being forced to see his fiancée cruelly slaughtered you know that this is going to join them. It is a tense scene. It is a scene displaying great acting. It is a wonderful introduction. But by lord it's a shock! It then allows the film to zoom back in time -leaving the audience gasping for breath and moving from the edge of their seats- to a place where Ethan Hunt and his wife are happily throwing a party for their families. This allows for a Seven-esque hit of emotion, you know what will happen, but Abram insists on showing you their sweet and highly touching relationship. Then the time structure changes to Tom Cruise on a quest for 'The Rabbit Foot' a mysterious artifice that may save his lovers life. Then a stomping twist comes and messes the film's time structure again. Mission Impossible is like a constant race and if your not savvy you may miss some integral parts. If you stick with it and pay it your full attention you will probably revel in the productions free and sprawling structure and sense of self.

For an action adventure Mission Impossible 3 has some really moving and touching scenes, it really does carry you on a journey, and that journey includes some heart breaking and thought provoking ideas about lies and survival. When asked why he loves his fiancée so much Hunt replies 'because in her I see life before all this'- referring to the life of an international spy- and I thought that encapsulated so much power into so few words, expanding the fantastical world of espionage into a more realistic and thoughtful place. By adding an essence of realism to the story's scope, the cast and crew craft a much more identifiable film, it is more accessible for an audience and in turn much more affecting and enjoyable. Abrams probes deeper into Ethan than either of the first two films and really tries to build him as a realistic and engrossing character, without letting him lose any of the steely heroism that made him an appealing hero in the first place. This story feels much more human and intimate, much more willing to let the audience in and much more capable of carrying a credible plot line, in short it's an action film with courage, heart and brains. This film does have strands of character development that tie the action sequences together and make for a stronger more memorable movie going experience, but the sheer scale and vision of the production is where it really comes into its own…

Mission Impossible 3 has some of the tensest and most awe inspiring scenes of action that you are likely to see this year. Fast cars, death defying base jumps, exhilarating fight sequences and eye popping vehicle chases make for a thrilling and adrenaline fuelled two hours, the stunts are phenomenally well choreographed and have a real sense of immediacy and elegance to them. The production manages to generate the boyish excitement that made the Indiana Jones so much fun with the grit and sinister atmosphere of a more gown up thriller and delivers the spectacle whilst still keeping things realistic and understated. One scene which sees Cruise running across a bridge whilst being shot at from helicopters and being thrown through the air by an explosion succeeds in being one of the most nail biting, furiously astounding and impulsively enjoyable sequences in recent memory. Boring is not a word you could use to describe the latest summer blockbuster, but it never becomes over blown or pushes the action too far, Abrams shows remarkable restraint -unlike John Woo when he made the trite and convoluted Mission Impossible 2- and always reigns the action back to add human interaction and an engaging wit. Any fan of Abrams television show Alias will see many elements of that show mixed into the film and some of the smaller action scenes have been plucked right from that source, which is just fine by me. Alias is an example of amazing television and Abrams and he injects the same untapped energy, pleasing emotion and jaw dropping stunts that made that programme such a gem.

In fact the new Mission Impossible has very few flaws. But that does mean that it has some. Namely Mr. 'I'm in love!' Cruise. He is perfect when throwing himself through windows, shooting psychopathic murderers and leaping onto moving motorbikes and is even very affecting in the characters most emotional scenes, but he is a hopeless romantic lead and quite unbelievable as anything other than a Ken doll. He just doesn't seem to be a very convincing person; he always seems tightly scripted and choreographed. However for Ethan Hunt he is passable, his relationship with the beautiful and confident Michelle Monaghan feels stifled and flat -mainly because of him it has to be said- but his action sequences are stunning. Some may find the film shaking camera angles -not frequent, but annoying- decreases the films enjoy ability. I am not a huge fan of the action genre, and I enjoyed it, but if you loathe this type of high octane espionage thriller then you will most likely hate this. I can't really say another bad word about this film. I wasn't expecting to, but I loved it.

Bar Cruise's monotone performance there are some really good performances on display here. The above mentioned Monaghan is extremely good and an engaging and energetic romantic lead and is fairly convincing as an action babe. She is also strikingly beautiful and gives the dialogue an anchor with her emotional vulnerability and contrasted strength. Philip Seymour Hoffman is absolutely brilliant as the scheming and scary hyper villain Owen Davian, he is snaky and slick, dominating and demanding with his raspy phone voice and searching eyes. He doesn't look like the master villain mould but he is completely convincing and has a great screen presence.

Overall I thought Mission Impossible 3 was one of the best action films in recent memory, it is a serious, gutsy adventure with style and finesse and enough intelligence to keep you completely engaged. It is tense and funny with enough action to keep even the most explosion hungry happy. It is the best in the trilogy and one of the most sparkling Hollywood blockbusters in quite awhile.