2006’s Mission
Impossible III, directed by J.J. Abrams.
Starring Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Philip
Seymour-Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell,
Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Laurence Fishburne, and Aaron Paul.
What is it about?
Super spy for the IMF Ethan Hunt (as always played by Tom
Cruise) returns in the third Mission Impossible movie. We catch
up with Hunt (who I guess has abandoned Thandie Newton after the results of the
last film), and find he has
developed a taste for domestic life. Newly engaged to Michelle Monaghan, he
wants to have a life freed of grappling hooks and tuxedos. But one last job
pulls him and his team (Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q, and Simon
Pegg) into rescuing a former trainee (Keri Russell), and when the whole thing
goes south, bad guy Philip Seymour Hoffman forces Hunt to obtain a biochemical
weapon called, “The Rabbit’s Foot”. Will our favourite hero be able to obtain
the Macguffin and save his partner so he can retire from the Impossible Mission
Force and live happily ever after?
Why is it worth seeing?
One of the appeals of the Mission Impossible series is how they serve as a paint by numbers
canvas for their respective directors. All of them (Brian De Palma, John Woo,
and now J.J. Abrams) have brought their individual brushes and painted in
shades of equal parts suspense and action. III
continues more of the same, but Abrams injects an intimacy to the proceedings
not yet seen in the series previously.
It’s not just in the novelty of seeing romantically agile Ethan
Hunt tie the knot, but also in the enhanced relationships (almost like a
family) that Hunt has with his team members- and even how Abrams frames his
scenes. They’re tighter (using a longer focal length), and more intimate (all
the better for the famed lens flares). At times using a handheld camera to emphasize
the organic nature of the action, it really sucks you in.
In the running for best villain of the franchise, Philip
Seymour Hoffman, fresh off of his Best Actor Oscar win for Capote, makes a strong statement. While not the most gifted
physical performer (there’ll be no jump kicks on beaches here), he brings a
sense of murderous detachment that is equal parts sociopathic and focused. What
a bummer the movie isn’t that focused. The action can be confusing at times,
and we never find out Hoffman’s motivations, nor the purpose to the movie’s
Macguffin. With that lack of clarity, the movie’s run time at times starts to
drag, despite a rash of impossible stunts and a yeoman’s amount of Cruise
cruising.
Speaking of Cruise, he continues here on his path of
effortless recklessness and charm. Comfortably ensconced in the chapter of his
career that would see him cranking out action films with him performing
impossible stunts, lovers and haters
alike have plenty to enjoy as they watch Cruise smash, fall, propel, and
plummet his way to movie star glory. But Cruise also tries on a new facet-
vulnerability. The character of Ethan Hunt typically is a guy who rarely lets
you see him sweat (unless dangling from a Virginia ceiling)- that is until now.
The amount of times that Hunt comes up agonizingly short, and is plagued with
desperation, is a welcome change for the character.
But what of the look at Ethan Hunt’s newfound love for
staying home? Could we ever understand such an extroverted character’s
motivations, in a meta series where an eccentric and polarizing actor plays a
spy who plays multiple versions of themself? Despite attempting to get to know
Ethan better with his newfound goals of not just being a spy, do we really
believe that this is it for him, Batman
Forever style? Will the series turn into Mr. and Mrs. Smith, with Mrs. Hunt handing him his lunch on the way
out the door to fly to Morocco to intercept an intelligence leak? It’s tough to
swallow.
Flush with action and impossible stunts, but also adding wrinkles of domesticity and desperation, Mission Impossible III shows a franchise
that is starting to turn into one of the more bankable thrill rides in Hollywood,
but also wears out its welcome at times and answers questions that perhaps
should never have been answered. One question that begs to be asked: I wonder who the studio will hire next?
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