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Will it be third time lucky for the Impossible mission team?
Never has a movies title been so relevant to its production, after years of
re-writing the script, financial issues and two changes of director, it appeared that
MI-III had become 'mission impossible'. It was always going to come of course, being
Paramount's biggest finacial success to date and what we have left is a bolder brasher
and more accomplished mission impossible than we have seen before.
The film begins with a scene nearer the end of the film with Cruise, his girlfriend
played by Michelle Monaghan and bad guy Philip Seymour Hoffman. After this the film
switches to the begining of the film proper where a 'retired from the field' Ethan Hunt
is enjoying his engagement party; after a quick phone call however the real action
begins. This begining section works in the films favour as it builds up the tension
more dramatically up until the scene comes around a second time.
Obvious comparisons must be made to the first 2 films of course, both being very
lucrative for Paramount. But while they were exciting action films they were both
let down by overly complex stories not strung together as well as they could have
been meaning that it was hard to keep up to date with with the large selection of
different characters. There are few such problems here as the dialogue is snappy
enough to keep the film moving along at a nice pace. It is often a case of the script
being more streamlined than in previous attempts, with the dialogue being used to get
us into another action scene, which is perhaps reminiscent of the newer James Bond
films.
However there are certain other elements that combine to make this a superior action
film. The first being the director J. J. Abrams who has not directed a movie before
but is famed for being the creator of TV's Lost so is therefore able to keep up with
a vast array of characters, and is able to keep the subcharacters such as Criuse's
teamates interesting by giving them just enough attention.
A superior cast to the previous films as well helps to keep things interesting,
Laurence Fishburne does a very respectable job as the impossible mission forces
president for example. However it is the film's bad guy, fresh from winning the
Oscar for best actor is Philip Seymour Hoffman who turns out to be very versatile.
Hoffman is able to bring a lot of character without the biggest role in the film; he
is believably scary and really makes his scenes his own with a brilliantly gritty
performance.
Cruise too is on fine form and is able to really stretch the Ethan Hunt character
in this film. By adding in the idea of Hunt being in a serious relationship with a
woman, Cruise is able to show just enough emotion to give Ethan Hunt more character
than the one dimensional being we saw in the first 2 films. The romance aspect of
the film is crucially given enough attention in the film so as to make it more
believable as opposed to it being just another tick on the cliched action film
checklist.
Of course the film would be knowhere without the action itself and again it does not
dissapoint. Between the dialogue there is never long to wait until the next action
scene even if it is just a simple punch-up. Rest assured that the big money shots are
awe inspiring and even made this reviewer feel nervous as Hunt jumps from one
Shanghai skyscraper to the next. Also of mention are the slightly more stealythy
moments where the team work together in some very clever set pieces which are
beutifully directed and edited. A scene where Cruise is able to break into the
Vatican in particular leaves programs like the BBC's Hustle to shame.
As the twists and turns in the story unravel, the last 20 miutes in the film become
less focused leaving us with a simple but exsilirating sprint to the finish.
However for the most part Mission Impossible 3 has raised it's depth and appeal
which doesn't just revive the franchise, it actually lives up to it's potential.
Bettering this in the future could indeed be 'mission impossible'.
9/10
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