Mission: Impossible 3 Review

by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)
May 7th, 2006
Mission: Impossible III - More of the Fun; More
of the Impossible
by Homer Yen
(c) 2006

I'm torn. On the one hand, Ethan Hunt has all of
the power and affection of Jerry McGuire. And
then on the other hand, he has the cavalier
bravado of James Bond. I'm not sure which one I prefer. But I am feeling that it's hard for an
IMF agent to be both.

It's now a few years later since the last M:I installment. And Ethan is no longer an agent in
the field. In fact, he's engaged to sweet Julia (Michelle Monaghan) and is settling into the
suburban life. You can tell that he loves her,
and trading secret gadgets for a stable home life
is something that seems overdue for him. That's certainly not what one would expect after hearing
the familiar Mission: Impossible them song. The
bass thumps with an attention-grabbing pulse,
wanting to let us know that here comes the first summer blockbuster. Once an M:I agent, always an
M:I agent? Sure! A superspy that's also the
marrying kind? That's impossible!

I believe that we've come for the action and for
the use of those lifelike rubbery masks to
stealthily accomplish their espionage goals. And
we get a heaping serving. In the opening
sequence, Ethan leads a recovery team to rescue a fellow M:I agent. Running into resistance, there
is an adrenaline-fueled helicopter chase sequence around and through propellers in a field of wind turbines. Equally impressive is how Ethan's team infiltrates The Vatican's security to go after a suspected arms dealer named Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). This Oscar winner is more
menacing and cold than the other villains that
Ethan had to confront.

Yet, something seems off. The film has sort of a been-there-done-that feel.
Hoffman makes a great bad guy, but there's no motivation for his evilness. Even Ethan's team
seems to be just going through the basics,
despite precision execution and even some impossible-yet-entertaining sequences. It's nice
to see the reliable Luther (Ving Rhames) return
as his tech-savvy sidekick. But overall, the supporting characters weren't very 3-dimensional. Although a more human side of Ethan should be explored, the
sweet-natured-wife-held-hostage-scenario doesn't necessarily resonate.

Here's another annoying point. One question that isn't answered is the true purpose of something
called the "Rabbit's Foot"? When the only way to steal it is to jump off one of the highest
buildings in Shanghai, land on and slide down an adjacent sloping rooftop, and escape by jumping
out of a 64th floor window with a parachute that
will barely open, I'd like to know just what he's
got in his hands.

On the whole, though, while the film seemed a bit uneven, I would recommend this third "Mission".
It is a good action film. It tries to add a
different dimension that wasn't present in the
other films. M:I 3 had more of a human element
than the other two earlier films. M:I 2 was more stylish/entertaining while M:I 1 was more white-knuckle-thrilling. Still, this is a
mission that you can accept.

Grade: B

S: 1 out of 3
L: 0 out of 3
V: 2 out of 3

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