Mission Possible-Tom Cruises’ “Mission: Impossible 3” (2006)-A Film Review  

DVD Review

By Movie Critic Sam Lowell

Mission: Impossible 3, starring Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, 2006

Recently in reviewing Harrison Ford’s cinematic version of the popular 1960s television series The Fugitive from 1989 I noted that there were several films that had been made from old time television series and that some were able to cross, to “pass” and others were not. (The action has gone the other way as well with a film like say American Graffiti spawning a number of television series and they in turn spawning others). The film (now part of a seemingly never-ending film series) under review, Mission: Impossible 3, is a similar example of the flipping process although the technological gizmos used in that long ago television series which seemed so exotic and improbable are today’s standard fare for, uh, eight-year olds delights. Although the missions were perhaps more interesting (and more politically attuned to then current Cold War realities) than now, or at least this film.

That said every once in a while I like to grab an action-packed adventure thriller and no question this one is a vehicle for the action every minute title. I have not seen the other films in this series and so this review makes no pretense to have an overview of the series or the place of this film in the eyes of other critics but this one had a reasonably interesting story-line along with that mile a minute action.

   

The play here centers around putting  a serious bad guy  out of action, a notorious arms dealer, Davian, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, which means in the post 9/11 era that he will sell to anybody with the price and further means he is not adverse to selling to terrorists and other baddies. He has to be taken out no question (although to beg the question a little the next arms dealer in the food chain will quickly take his place). This assignment if taken by lead good guy Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise who is asked to come out of field duty retirement (if he chose to take the assignment which old or new series was always done-what if they decided not to-that would be an interesting if not particularly action-packed film), is to find a missing female IMF agent who has a lead on Davian’s whereabouts and take him out.      

Needless to say once Ethan has a team selected by Musgrave the operations director, played by Billy Crudup, who asked him do the mission they ride the rails for the rest of the film. They track down the missing agent who dies on duty but who gives Ethan and crew enough information to trace what is up to the Vatican where Davian grabs his query (code name “Rabbits’ foot).Of course after half a dozen false leads and ruses they are able to grab the object from him. Grab Davian too although he doesn’t stay grabbed for long. Then Davian turns the tables. See when Ethan entered retirement he started having dreams of that nine to five job, a nice little house with white picket fence out in the suburbs and a wife. Yeah a fetching wife, his current fetching girlfriend Julie, played Michelle Monaghan. Davian grabs her and the action switches to China as Ethan will move might and main to get his honey back (whom during the earlier part of the film he marries to show the clueless about what his does Julie he is sincere in his devotion to her).

Yeah, no question that Davian went over the line grabbing Julie, went a little crazy even for somebody in his line of work and would pay with his life for putting Julie through the meat-grinder. And he does but guess what that Musgrave who gave Ethan the assignment had been “turned” and also had to be taken out. Guess by who? Yeah, Julie. This Ethan-Julie marriage latch-up was made in heaven. So don’t worry about the thinness of the story line inplaces and the various ruses and false leads and enjoy the bang, bang action for a couple of hours if you need an action thriller fix every once in a while just like me.