Mission Impoissible III

With all of the recent publicity Tom Cruise has been getting over his choice of fiancees and his aggressive pursuit of the futuristic Scientology religion, I thought it would be hard to separate Tom Cruise from the role he plays as Ethan Hunt. But once the action started...Tom Who?

Gone is the stylized ultra-slick Metallica rendition of the Mission Impossible theme from MI:II, Ethan Hunt's cavalier attitudes about women, and motorcycle kung-fu. I couldn't help but be reminded of Lethal Weapon 4's approach to a maturing franchise, as the story opens with Ethan trying to finally settle down and start a family, taking a back seat at the IMF as a trainer. And of course, this is not to last.

This movie really packs a lot of punch, bombarding you with intense action scenes as well as gut-wrenching drama. You'll hate the bad guys and cheer the good guys - provided you can figure out who is who. As any fan of the series should expect, it's filled with plot twists and false clues to keep you guessing about the end. The tech takes a back seat in this movie - no more scenes with their own special version of "M" (ala James Bond) giving an inventory of all of their little toys. They seem to realize that the audiences today aren't fascinated by futuristic gadgetry the way they were in the last four decades. The tech is there and it works, and that's all anyone ever need know. I can only see this as a good thing, because, although I really like knowing the particulars of a clever piece of technology, I don't need a break in the action to learn about it. That's what websites, comentary tracks and DVD extras are for. The action sequences, while still mindblowing, were not as "impossible" as those in the previous movies. There are no half-inch-short-helicopter-blade-to-the-throat run-ins, no motorcycle kung-fu. The action was all believable, and that made it somewhat more fantastic. In my opinion, this was the best of the three movies in terms of action, drama, character development, suspense and story.

It is not without its cheesy moments; I had to laugh at the not one but several times Ethan found himself dangling horizontally on the end of a string, mimicking one of the most well-known scenes from the first movie. The ability of a script-writer and/or a director to allow the movie to sort of make fun of itself goes a long way toward instilling a sense of matured confidence on the audience.

After his run-in with South Park and the tabloids, it's difficult to know what to think of Tom Cruise these days, but I will say that I'd like him a lot more if he'd stick to his job and act, because he's extremely good at it.