Introduction
Mission Impossible is one of my favorite action, intrigue movie. The movie with it’s action, intrigue and music seemed to enthrall me completely. So when Mission Impossible II came I was there to lap it up, but the movie turned out to be a complete farce. So this time around when Mission Impossible III came around, I was a bit cautious and finally made up my mind to see it just for the sake of the original.
The Plot
Ethan Mathew Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from his job at IMF (Impossible Mission Force) and is heading for a retired married life with the lady of his love, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). But when his ex-student Lindsay Ferris (Kerri Russel) is kidnapped, Ethan’s conscience forces him to return to get her back.
Ethan’s crack team comprising of his old friend, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Zhen Lei (Maggie Q), attempts to rescue Lindsay, but fails in its mission. This leads to brickbats from the head of IMF, Theodere Brassel (Lawrence Fishburne).
But, Ethan does not give up and seeks to unravel the mystery behind Lindsay’s murder which takes him on collision course with Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who does all kinds of shady weapon and secret papers deals. Owen is onto something big with the code name of Rabbit’s Foot which Ethan has to unravel.
To make matter’s worse Owen kidnaps Ethan’s wife and then asks Ethan to get the Rabbit’s Foot if he wanted her alive.
So what does Ethan and his crack team have in store for us? How is this impossible mission going to be resolved? Who is the inside man this time around scheming against Ethan?
Critic’s Viewpoint
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, the beaten and bruised IMF agent, who always manages to find a way out. So is his right hand Ving Rhames. Tom has given a much better performance in MI-III compared to MI-II where in the whole cast looked strangely disoriented.
MI-III has all the action elements of the MI series with the action this around in Shangai no less. The action scenes, the bombardments etc. are good, but there are no breathtaking moment like the bike scene in MI-II and the robbery scene in MI-I. The scene that does come closest is the huge jump across the Shangai skyline by Tom Cruise.
Compared to MI-II which had a shambolic storyline and everytime a character had more than 5 minutes on the screen, it had to be behind a mask, MI-III is much better. The ever-present mask is used just once which was a big relief. The story has it’s moments of intrigue, but the suspense does not come close to matching MI-I.
Apart from Tom Cruise, the rest of the crew have minor roles, which they have performed creditably. Michelle as Tom’s wife tries to look a bit like Renee Zellweger in Jerry Mcguire but comes of decidely worse. But, still she gives a decent performance in her small role.
The trademark MI music is back and the soundtrack looks as inviting as the earlier ones. But now that it has become familiar, time for some change!!
Summary
Director J.J. Adams has done more justice to the storyline than John Woo in MI-II, but MI-III falls behind in comparison with Brian De Palma’s original.
All in all a movie worth watching for its action factor, but falls short of the expectations created by MI. I would give this movie an average three starrer rating.