film - Mission: Impossible 3

3/5

Lacks an intriguing story. It's basically about recovering an object, the "Rabbit's Foot," for the bad guys in order to save his wife, who is being held hostage.



Agent Ethan Hawke, recently married, is called away to a meeting at the local 7 Eleven. He's handed a disposable camera which, after scanning his eye for authentication, reveals a mission and later on self-destructs.

The team assembles in Italy with the goal of inflatrating the Vatican to capture their suspect. The getting in part is, naturally, clever and fairly interesting, but also almost too cute and slick. Ditto for the aprehension of the bad guy.

There's a scene that is very reminiscent of True Lies and License To Kill involving a bridge being attacked by missiles and the bad guy escaping.



Philip Seymour Hoffman was excellent as the brutal but elegantly dressed classy bad guy, almost as if the character came from a James Bond film.

There are many scenes that verge on parody. And due to their slickness, they they are almost comical.

They often used hand-held cameras to add a sense of urgency to the film, but where that technique meshed well with the gritty Bourne Supremacy, it didn't have as strong an effect in this highly-polished film.



Director JJ Abrams, best known for creating the hit television shows Alias and Lost, did the best with the script, and is scheduled to direct 2008's Star Trek XI.

Tom Cruise is still convincing as an action star. He's physically up to the challenge and plays the role like he owns it.