Mission: Impossible III
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring:
Tom Cruise - Ethan Hunt
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Owen Davian
Ving Rhames - Luther Stickell
Billy Crudup - Musgrave
Michelle Monaghan - Julia Meade
Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Declan Gormley
Keri Russell - Lindsey Farris
Maggie Q - Zhen Lei
Simon Pegg - Benji Dunn
Laurence Fishburne - Theodore Brassel
Looking back on Mission: Impossible III, I find it somewhat amusing that more time is devoted to set pieces than to story or character development. There’s a scene that perfectly demonstrates this concept: Declan (Jonathan Rhy Meyers) and Zhen (Maggie Q) are in a van waiting for Ethan (Tom Cruise) to escape a fortress-building with the “Rabbit’s Foot” which is excellently explained by tech-guy Benji (Simon Pegg delivering a concept that would sound borderline retarded had it come from a less talented comic-actor) as the “Anti-God” (please note that all three films revolve around the retrieval of one key object: NOC List/Chimera/Anti-God). Zhen is quietly reciting a prayer in Chinese and Declan asks her what it means. She humbly explains that it was a prayer she sang as a child for the safe return of her pet. Declan responds, “Teach it to me.” Before Zhen can even get out the first word, Ethan crashes out of the building and the prayer is never mentioned again.
M:I-III simply does not have time for these little moments because there are lots of impossible missions to get to and only two hours to do them all. Before I saw the film, it was described to me as a “a long, expensive episode of Alias” and that assessment could not be more spot-on. Director J.J. Abrams uses all his trademarks: he starts the film in medias-res at a particularly dramatic point where the protagonist is being tortured; the mission (or in this case, missions) all involve heavy use of multiple disguises (but not all disguises involving masks and voice changers like the previous film); and there will certainly be at least one action sequence where everything goes quiet and slow-mo. Fortunately, Alias’ largest flaw can’t be present here since that show’s flaw is that it never progresses as a series.
But there’s really not much room for progression in the first place. Ethan is getting married to Julia (the lovely Michelle Monaghan who hopefully will reach A-List status with this film) and while he’s mostly training IMF agents, he’s not completely out of the field. When one of his former students goes missing, it sets off events which bring Ethan into conflict with the villainous arms-dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and the stakes rise to saving Julia’s life (I’m not spoiling anything because this is shown in the first three minutes and even if it wasn’t, you knew it would come to that anyway).
If you stop to think about M:I-III, you’ll realize how mind-boggling dumb it can be. My favorite moment is when Ethan can’t get a cell-phone signal. They have the technology to identify someone vascularly and creates perfect masks within three minutes, but they still suffer from poor cell reception. Thankfully, Abrams and co. don’t let you think stop to think because the film refuses to stop. When the film does take a moment to breathe, it feels abrupt because you catch a glimpse of these characters as real people and not simply agents for gunfights, car chases, and other spy games.
If this film didn’t have the “Mission: Impossible” title and Tom Cruise, well, for starters, it probably wouldn’t have as much money to make the set pieces as good as they are. It also would not be the film to kick off the summer season since its title would probably be Generic Action Film #105-GXQ. But since it does have Tom Cruise and it does have money, it manages to win you over with charm and espionage. While I wish that the supporting cast got more time to act and flesh out their characters (even Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell seems like a stranger and his friendship with Ethan seems forced by the script and his appearance in the previous two films as opposed to any real camradarie), Cruise and Hoffman carry the day. There are two Tom Cruises: the crazy one of the public sphere and the cool one of the cinematic sphere. Whatever qualms you may have with his faith, family life, or public appearances, there’s no denying that the guy is top-notch actor who always earns his paycheck. As for Hoffman, from the trailers I completely expected him to happily play the hammy villain but brilliant thespian that he is, he takes it in the opposite direction and becomes the series best nemesis yet. What makes Damian such a great character is that he’s so deadpan. He’s 100% businessman with no moral qualms or need for witty one-liners. He sees Hunt not as an adversary but as a nuisance; a bug he can crush at any time. It’s this incredible restraint and subtlety that gives the character so much power and it’s what makes Hoffman’s performance my favorite aspect of the film, even more than the already-admitted-awesomeness of the action scenes.
While Mission:Impossible III will certainly be too dumb and vapid for some, the charm and fun packed into this film make it a solid way to start the summer movie season.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
5.8.06