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840 reviews in total

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250 out of 395 people found the following review useful:
So what is the "rabbit's foot" anyway?, 3 May 2006

Author: badidosh from Philippines

"Mission: Impossible III," the latest installment of the blockbuster movies which in turn were based from a TV series, is for those looking for a way to start off the summer season at the movies. Here is a movie filled with action and nothing more. There are the usual: Tom Cruise running and getting banged up, high degrees of improbability, explosions, gadgets, the whole shebang. Still, "M:I:III" is a fast-paced thriller that manages to get hold of you for the 120-minute span of its running hour and never lets go.

After retiring as Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team leader to lead a "normal" life with his fianceé Julia (Michelle Monaghan), Ethan Hunt (Cruise) returns to the team to help recapture criminal arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has escaped from prison and is now making life difficult for the IMF. As for Hunt, his encounter with Davian has upped the ante for him: he not only has to save the world now, he also has to save the woman he loves. Cruise (either you love him or you hate him) still fits into his role well, and Hoffman, who has just won an Oscar for his portrayal of Truman Capote, also effectively displays a chilling seriousness to his villain role. The rest of the cast - Billy Crudup, Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Michelle Monaghan, etc. - all give nice performances.

It's a given that this film would offer little in terms of intellect or depth in the script. Yet the way director J.J. Abrams and his co-writers injected humor and emotions, plus how its action scenes were superbly handled, save "M:I:III" from becoming just another passable popcorn movie which is why I liked it. It is a film intended solely for the purpose of escapism and it achieves that purpose. Although there is a feeling that it could have been more, it easily surpasses the first two "M:I" in an explosively stylish way.

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255 out of 438 people found the following review useful:
Adrenaline Rush, 27 April 2006

Author: baseballrhs from Nashville

I saw this as a sneak preview with my fraternity. I was hesitant to see it because of how bad Mission Impossible 2 was, but I think it more than makes up for the 2nd flop and I would even argue that it's better than the first. The action really is non-stop, and there aren't any cheesy love scenes slowing anything down. The bad guy doesn't change every five minutes either. The plot moves quickly but it doesn't lose the audience at all. You don't need to have seen either of the first two to understand what is going on (I can't remember the plot from either). Lots of guns, loud explosions, cool gadgets and fun locations. I can remember on more than one occasion where the audience clapped or reacted to the action. It does everything an action movie should do very well. I would highly advise anyone who likes action movies to go see it. Even if you think Tom Cruise is a little insane, MI:III is extremely enjoyable.

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141 out of 211 people found the following review useful:
Thrilling, Entertaining and Occasionally Smart., 8 May 2006

Author: PizzicatoFishCrouch from United Kingdom

J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost, takes on the third instalment of the action franchise, which sees human yo-yo Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in rare human mode as he plans on making an early retirement to be with his nurse wife (Michelle Monaghan), only to be go on another impossible mission as he plans catching sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). To aid him are Ving Rhames, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q, and, this being a third, there are gadgets, explosions, sets and plot twists like now other.

You've got to hand it to Abrams – he certainly knows how to keep an audience on their toes. Drawing on a few of his popular plot devices from Lost (flashbacks, a crescendo to the turning point), he sets us up neatly into his little world, where Ethan Hunt is now a man trying to live a normal life. Whilst that scenario may be a hard to buy, this is redeemed by the many action scenes in the film which are each exhilarating. To go into detail would be spoiling it, but let's just say there is an extremely breathtaking sequence involving a fulcrum, an amusing one involving Tom Cruise disguising himself as someone, and lastly, but by no means least a helicopter chase which is utterly awe-inspiring and barely lets the audience pause for breath. All this, and you get a Michael Giacchino score that perfectly blends action, anxiety, fear and anger.

The cast in themselves are a treat. Tom Cruise, though not given the most trying of tasks in playing an action hero, does a good job with his usual intensity. In the action scenes, his facial expressions are concentrated and focused and utterly convincing. However, Cruise fails in having any genuine chemistry with Michelle Monaghan, for and the romance comes across as rather bland. This is not aided with the poor writing in these scenes. Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q merely look cool as his helpers, and Laurence Fisburne and Billy Crudup successfully bring that edge of moral ambiguity to their characters. And Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellently malicious as the elusive and extremely dangerous Davian, shining in his lizard-eyed role and bringing some genuine terror to the villain. His scenes aside Tom Cruise are superb, as they practically tremble in tension and quiet hatred on both characters parts.

You will go to see Mission Impossible III expecting some grand-scale set pieces, and you will not be disappointed here. Each one of the four is masterfully executed, with a breezy slickness that is both cool and exciting. We're talking non-stop action, occasionally interspersed with those corny Hollywood love formulae, cruising as "emotion." Its big, its bombastic, and it could be the Summer blockbuster of the year.

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76 out of 120 people found the following review useful:
Lived Up To The Hype: Very Entertaining, 22 November 2006

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from United States

I heard nothing but good things about this movie, so I rented it the first day it was available recently.....and I wasn't disappointed. Oh, it does have a bit too much action and a few politically-correct annoyances but neither are much and overall the movie is a lot of fun to watch.

The action scenes are not only interesting; they're spectacular at times. Overall, the photography is slick. It's a good visual movie. Not only the cinematography, but the director did a nice job with many of these shots. The version doesn't have all the gimmicks the first Misssion Impossible film, but it certainly has the best action scenes. The only bad movie of the three MIs was the second one. This one makes up for that.

All the characters are interesting. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as usual, is excellent as the main villain "Owen Damien." Michelle Monaghan makes for an attractive fiancée of Cruise in this movie, but her role is not a major one. Cruise's "team" is fun to watch: a PC group consisting of a white guy, black guy and Asian woman.

The action is improbable as Cruise's "Ethan Hunt" would have to be Superman to perform the stunts and acrobatics he does here. (I would never claim this movie is credible, or even "intelligent" - just escapist fun.)

Just put your brains on hold, and go along for the wild ride. The name of the game is entertainment, and this movie provides it in spades, hence the good rating.

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67 out of 108 people found the following review useful:
A Depressingly Ordinary Action Film, 7 May 2006

Author: snackmaster

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

If you liked "The Bourne Supremacy," then... go watch it again instead of seeing this movie.

MI:3 tries to have intrigue, espionage, action, suspense, and a touching romantic subplot, but it falls short on all levels. There is no 'mystery' to the mystery - only vagueness and obscurity that fails to engage the imagination. The action is unoriginal and confusing, and the "Ethan's love interest" plot line is more of a hindrance than an enhancement. The 'twist' ending fell flat as no suspense had been built and I didn't really care about the characters or their mission. The eventual (and obligatory) scene in which the bad guy explains "why" is simplistic and lacks any sense of high drama.

Paramount has managed to take one of the most incredible high-concept television series of all time and in the course of three films turn it into a mediocre franchise that bears only a passing (and mostly musical) resemblance to the source material.

On the plus side, Hoffman is brilliant as always, and the people in this movie are certainly pretty (Maggie Q wearing an evening gown that qualifies as "half-a-dress" is definitely a highlight). It's not that it's a BAD movie, but there's nothing great or worthwhile about it. 5/10

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97 out of 170 people found the following review useful:
M:i:III? Why not just use the frickin' title?, 5 May 2006

Author: mutty_mcflea from Bristol, UK

The 'Mission: Impossible' movie franchise continues its tradition of bearing little resemblance to the TV series but, unlike John Woo's instalment, this one is a cracking film on its own terms. Nods to the show are welcome when they come along, though (musical cues, the astonishing shot where Cruise puts on a disguise and the ensuing mini-'Mission'). Small screen genius J.J. Abrams and two of his 'Alias' writers have crafted an intense, smart actioner that takes a ton of potentially stock genre sequences and makes them fresh again, the plot jacknifing in unexpected directions any number of times with characters interacting in unexpected ways. The Cruiser again displays an astonishing amount of charisma and star power, while Philip Seymour Hoffman makes for the coldest, most hateable villain since Clarence Boddicker.

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203 out of 388 people found the following review useful:
MI:3 Raises the Bar Again, 2 May 2006

Author: Kidd Kraddick from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

When you walk into a movie expecting to be blown away by death defying stunts and tremendous special effects, it's easy to be disappointed. What a monumental task directors had in making MI3 even more over-the-top and more spectacular than the first two. Mission Accomplished. (Sorry.) Tom Cruise takes Ethan Hunt to new heights. Fishbourne is great as the ambiguously dirty IMF leader. But the best actor in the movie is Philip Seymour Hoffman. Not many actors can take a role that's more one-dimensional than Doctor Evil and turn it into a deeply layered performance. From an acting standpoint, there was almost a feeling that he was too good for this movie and the actors around him. He doesn't breathe the same air as this cast, not even Tom Cruise. The women in the movie are a dichotomy. On the one hand you have Bahar Soomekh, an unknown actress who kicks ass and takes names on par with the bad boys, Cruise, and Ving Rhames. On the other you have Keri Russell in a part we've seen too many times in this kind of movie. The wide-eyed innocent who becomes the villain's prize and the hero's salvation. Keri Russell and Michelle Monaghan spend most of this movie tied to a chair. I hope they're not method actresses. They would have to spend the last year of filming at home, bound and gagged in the kitchen. At least they made Monaghan a doctor, so we know she's smart, even if she's so naïve she thinks her husband works for the department of transportation. Forget the love story, forget the corruption at IMF, forget the plot entirely. None of it matters. All that matters is "how are we going to get in" and "how are we going to get out" and the magnificent twists and turns that follow. Some action movies spend way too much time milking the set up of a weak script before the explosions and the stunts finally kick in. Others dull your senses with one mindless montage of violence and car chases, without a point to be found. MI3 walks the line perfectly…the story is simple enough to understand but well-thought out enough to not poke gaping holes in it. Now let's get to the action. MI3 manages the action sequences smartly, expertly getting your heart rate (and hopes) up and then bring you crashing back down to earth. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, followed by a 10 minutes of blah blah blah. "You shouldn't get married," Ving says to Tom in the middle of a dangerous operation. "You know guys who do what we do can't be married." By the way, this is another well-worn action film technique. Inject casual talk between principals during the most intense and dangerous scenes. It shows that they're so highly-skilled and confident, they can chat nonchalantly about relationships while in the middle of an elaborate Vatican City break-in. Thank you Quentin. Thank you Bruce Willis. But the breaks in the action work. They give you a chance to buy into the suspense each time, from your feet up. Acknowledging that you're drained from the previous sequence, they give you time to catch your breath and then come at you all over again. The air-to-ground assault on the Washington Bridge is astounding. Cruise attempting to catapult between two skyscrapers in Shanghais is beyond belief. Watching him descend way too fast from said skyscraper in a flimsy parachute, knowing he's going to crash down onto the busy freeway and immediately be run over by a gas tanker? Priceless. Remarkable stunts, solid acting, and a villain that may be the best ever in this genre (Hoffman) makes MI3 the best of the series and maybe the best action movie ever made. Until 4, that is.

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50 out of 84 people found the following review useful:
Too much Cruise, not enough Schifrin, as usual, 7 May 2006

Author: schappe1 from N Syracuse NY

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The TV show, which I loved, was about outsmarting people. The IMF was a government sponsored confidence team whose job it was to manipulate events in such a way as to thwart and get rid of the bad guys without anybody even knowing they existed. They use some gadgets but mostly impersonate people to set things up so that they didn't even need to be there for things to play out the way they wanted. They hardly ever used violence and their plots never came down to a car chase, a firefight or a boxing match between the head of the team and the bad guy. That would have been way too sloppy. They would be clinking champagne glasses, knowing "Our work here is done" while Lalo Schrifin's classic theme, which had followed them throughout, accenting their every move, began to play in an upbeat mode in celebration of their achievement. They made their impossible missions seem very possible while the audience wondered what it must be like to be that clever.

The movies are about a government sponsored high-tech commando team that uses force to achieve their goals, including Spiderman-like stunts, video-game-like chases, explosions, firefights and duke-outs with the bad guys, all of which would advertise their presence to the world and likely negate anything they accomplish while signing their own death warrants. Obviously a decision was made that this is what the public wants in its action films and that it would find a tradition Mission: Impossible story too boring.

I don't find the movies boring but I do find them exhausting and not very satisfying. What I would have liked is for the first half of the film to a sort of biography of the villain, showing how he became what he was and how he formed his plan for what he wants to do that makes him, (or it could be her), such a threat. Then have the IMF head show up in the middle and get his assignment in some imaginative way, pull together his team, (and let's find out who these people actually are and what interesting things they do when they aren't on assignment-remember that in the TV show they all had other professions), and then run a con that foils the villain, who never knew what hit him.

But the conventional wisdom is that you have to give your audience their first glimpse of the star immediately and these films are all about conventional wisdom. Unfortunately the conventional wisdom didn't include the liberal use of Schifrin's classic theme, which appears slightly at the beginning and over the closing credits of MI:3. I recall in the first movie that the use of the theme over the final action sequence, (its only use in the film), brought the loudest ovation I've ever heard in a movie theater.

That sequence illustrates the problem with the movies better than anything. The bad guy arranges to exchange the MacGuffin for money on the bullet train as its heading for the Chunnel. He then climbs to the top of the speeding train to grab a ladder dropped from a trailing helicopter just before they get to the Chunnel. Does that sound like something a genius would think up? Does any of it in any of the three movies? The impossible has been replaced by the improbable.

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189 out of 362 people found the following review useful:
I loved it!, 3 May 2006

Author: blonde_mr from Netherlands

Well, this was straight to the point. Finally Hollywood seems to be over their boring (hoping for Oscar) drama movies. Good old Cruise returning as Ethan Hunt is what you will see here. Action consisting of explosions, clever bombs, helicopter chases, flashbacks to True Lies without spoiling too much, evil villains, heartbreaking stunts and a pretty okay script is what you can expect.

Some predictable scenes, but the fast paced action made the effort worth it with some very welcome ideas. You also got to love the scenery. Berlin, Vatikan and China is refreshing to see.

007 look out, hard to match this one!

Long time since I had such fun at the cinema. 9/10!

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31 out of 47 people found the following review useful:
The fun, the adventure, the creativity, never ease up…, 13 August 2007

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

In this third film of the series, Ethan Hunt has retired from the field, and is training new agents…. His sweetheart Julia (Michelle Monaghan) thinks he works for the Department of Transportation…

When one of his pupils is kidnapped by a sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Hunt decides to assemble his old team to retrieve her, putting in mortal danger his new love…

J.J. Abrams—in his first feature film—shot "Mission: Impossible III" with a sense of timing and suspense… We're dealing with full-flash blanks, glass breaking, explosions… And we see Hunt, in a quite interesting shot, running up a wall to enter the Vatican… Also, in the bridge sequence, he runs away from a rocket hit on one of the vehicles… It's cool because the way he's running, the look on his face, before, during and after that impact could only have been done only by an actor as good as him… In China, in an old fishing village, we see him jumping off tile rooftops, with incredible grace, precision, coordination and footwork… Then, with Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) they jump out of a building on a cable landing on a truck…

The special effects, and visual effects are great… They all work together... The Shanghai street chase with Tom leaning out of the car at some insanely dangerous angle to shoot a gun under a truck; Also Tom, in a high-speed boat, on the Tiber River in Rome, Italy; the blowing of a nice spectacular sports car; and, of course, the helicopter chase sequence where, in pursuit, the bad-guy helicopter emerges out of a fireball…

Also, in a fantastic shot, in Shanghai, China, when the camera comes in and then goes around Tom as he's standing on top of a Shanghai roof… The camera comes over his shoulder and look down at the ground, so we'll see Tom on the top of the Shanghai building, hundreds feet in the air, and just to show and set up the jeopardy of what he's about to accomplish…

Well, I loved the director's work… He's so detail-oriented…The fun, the adventure, the creativity, never eased up…

And, please, don't miss Colleen Atwood, entering the Vatican, with a head-turner red dress…

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