Mission: Impossible III (2006) Poster

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7/10
The first of the new age
rodrigocpfranca22 September 2019
Again I'm writing about a movie genre that I like very much. This is the first from the new generation of mission impossible movies. Differently from the second one Ethan appears to be more connected an dependent on his friends and his team. In a good way. The character is more realistic and emotional, he's afraid for his wife and you can see he's emotionally disturbed in the appropriate parts, but even then his skills are more than enough to solve the problems. But it's again more realistic than the second one in this aspect too. Footage is improved and there's a nice combination of fast cars, beautiful women and nice clothes and landscapes. But in a certain way, they seem to give less importance to that than they do in 007's movies. Action is the main goal here.
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7/10
A HUGE improvement over #2
shiftyeyeddog5 July 2007
Not bad at all. After the John Woo craptastic crapfest that was MI2, Lost creator JJ Abrams takes over and makes a flick that is at least as good as the first one, possibly better in some respects. Some real surprises early in the flick start things off fast, and it keeps up the pace pretty well from there on. Sure, it's mostly same-old same-old, but it was fun and action-packed. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was fine as a villain, but was really not even in the movie that much. Tom Cruise was just Tom Cruise as usual, but for two hours I was able to forget about all his offscreen stupidity. You know what this really felt like? 24: The Movie. ...which they are apparently going to make. It should end up being much like MI3, and I think that'd be just fine.
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8/10
Thrilling, Entertaining and Occasionally Smart.
J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost, takes on the third instalment of the action franchise, which sees human yo-yo Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) in rare human mode as he plans on making an early retirement to be with his nurse wife (Michelle Monaghan), only to be go on another impossible mission as he plans catching sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). To aid him are Ving Rhames, Jonathon Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q, and, this being a third, there are gadgets, explosions, sets and plot twists like now other.

You've got to hand it to Abrams – he certainly knows how to keep an audience on their toes. Drawing on a few of his popular plot devices from Lost (flashbacks, a crescendo to the turning point), he sets us up neatly into his little world, where Ethan Hunt is now a man trying to live a normal life. Whilst that scenario may be a hard to buy, this is redeemed by the many action scenes in the film which are each exhilarating. To go into detail would be spoiling it, but let's just say there is an extremely breathtaking sequence involving a fulcrum, an amusing one involving Tom Cruise disguising himself as someone, and lastly, but by no means least a helicopter chase which is utterly awe-inspiring and barely lets the audience pause for breath. All this, and you get a Michael Giacchino score that perfectly blends action, anxiety, fear and anger.

The cast in themselves are a treat. Tom Cruise, though not given the most trying of tasks in playing an action hero, does a good job with his usual intensity. In the action scenes, his facial expressions are concentrated and focused and utterly convincing. However, Cruise fails in having any genuine chemistry with Michelle Monaghan, for and the romance comes across as rather bland. This is not aided with the poor writing in these scenes. Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q merely look cool as his helpers, and Laurence Fisburne and Billy Crudup successfully bring that edge of moral ambiguity to their characters. And Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellently malicious as the elusive and extremely dangerous Davian, shining in his lizard-eyed role and bringing some genuine terror to the villain. His scenes aside Tom Cruise are superb, as they practically tremble in tension and quiet hatred on both characters parts.

You will go to see Mission Impossible III expecting some grand-scale set pieces, and you will not be disappointed here. Each one of the four is masterfully executed, with a breezy slickness that is both cool and exciting. We're talking non-stop action, occasionally interspersed with those corny Hollywood love formulae, cruising as "emotion." Its big, its bombastic, and it could be the Summer blockbuster of the year.
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Mission Impossible
0U13 February 2020
Easily not the best mission, but thanks to JJ Abrams direction and an absolute menacing performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman this movie is more than deserving of repeat viewings.
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7/10
underrated
busstwilliam17 May 2020
Phillip seymour hoffman is the best villain in this series too.
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7/10
Fast-paced action thriller
jb_campo28 July 2014
If you are craving a non-stop action movie with a decent plot and acting, go no further than MI-3. Tom Cruise reprises the role of Ethan Hunt, IMF agent extraordinaire who is attempting to leave the IMF field work to others as he takes over training of new agents. Can he stand it? Of course not! or the movie would've ended in 10 minutes!

He's engaged to marry Michelle Monaghan as his fiancée Julia. I think their chemistry was pretty good. I recently watched her in Source Code and she's a terrific actress. At an engagement party, Ethan gets a call and next thing you know, he's back in the field. He just has that itch and needs to scratch it. Cruise does a decent acting job of a guy torn between two worlds, where he wants to be just another normal guy, but his whole team is telling him that he can't have a normal life.

His team delivers, particularly Ving Rhames, who is so Mr. Cool. Also Maggie Q has a unique ability to blend in as nobody special, but be made to be very sexy when needed. Jonathan Rhyss Myers was standard. I saw him in Bend it Like Beckham, and he's OK as an actor. Laurence Fishburne delivers as a mega boss type guy who takes no crap or bs from anyone. And finally Billy Crudup as Cruise's mission chief who aids and abets Cruise outside the authority of officialdom.

The plot is pretty simple, good guys against bad guys. Phillipe S. Hoffman absolutely delivers as evil, sadistic, feelingless arms dealer Owen Davian, who sells anything to anyone for a price with no concern about anyone. Hoffman, RIP, has some tremendous scenes with Cruise, where they go toe to toe in life or death struggles. Whoa, those scenes are really intense emotionally and physically.

The action spans the globe from the US to Germany to Italy to China and back. At a little over 2 hours, the film is nicely paced. There are no real down moments where you feel the movie drags - it's non-stop. At the end, you don't really care about the Rabbit's Foot as much as you do about how it's going to go down. Just strap yourself in and enjoy this fine installment to the MI series. Enjoy.
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9/10
Lived Up To The Hype: Very Entertaining
ccthemovieman-122 November 2006
I heard nothing but good things about this movie, so I rented it the first day it was available recently.....and I wasn't disappointed. Oh, it does have a bit too much action and a few politically-correct annoyances but neither are much and overall the movie is a lot of fun to watch.

The action scenes are not only interesting; they're spectacular at times. Overall, the photography is slick. It's a good visual movie. Not only the cinematography, but the director did a nice job with many of these shots. The version doesn't have all the gimmicks the first Misssion Impossible film, but it certainly has the best action scenes. The only bad movie of the three MIs was the second one. This one makes up for that.

All the characters are interesting. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as usual, is excellent as the main villain "Owen Damien." Michelle Monaghan makes for an attractive fiancée of Cruise in this movie, but her role is not a major one. Cruise's "team" is fun to watch: a PC group consisting of a white guy, black guy and Asian woman.

The action is improbable as Cruise's "Ethan Hunt" would have to be Superman to perform the stunts and acrobatics he does here. (I would never claim this movie is credible, or even "intelligent" - just escapist fun.)

Just put your brains on hold, and go along for the wild ride. The name of the game is entertainment, and this movie provides it in spades, hence the good rating.
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7/10
Great in so many aspects
aheen-945764 March 2020
A very good addition to the series. A great movie after the first one. MI:II is must not be considered an MI movie, but this one here builds the foundation to take the series further. We get an insight of Hunt's life. The driving force of the MI series is Hunt's dilemmas. The movie begins to get into the MI universe with showing us what Hunt is made of and why he chooses what he chooses in the next films. The actions were a plus point, very few overuse of action is encountered. The action were basic nevertheless. But still the movie gives away many of Hunt's super spy skills like lip reading and webslinging across building. Got to say, Hunt is very lucky to survive so many life and death situation.

The acting was on point, the other characters other than Hunt hadn't have any significant challenges in acting considering the calibre of them. Tom Cruise grew as an actor and it showed if his performance from first two filmshas to be considered. I wish the movie was less predictable and avoided the cliches. It's a good movie to pass your time.
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8/10
So what is the "rabbit's foot" anyway?
Jay_Exiomo3 May 2006
"Mission: Impossible III," the latest installment of the blockbuster movies which in turn were based from a TV series, is for those looking for a way to start off the summer season at the movies. Here is a movie filled with action and nothing more. There are the usual: Tom Cruise running and getting banged up, high degrees of improbability, explosions, gadgets, the whole shebang. Still, "M:I:III" is a fast-paced thriller that manages to get hold of you for the 120-minute span of its running hour and never lets go.

After retiring as Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team leader to lead a "normal" life with his fianceé Julia (Michelle Monaghan), Ethan Hunt (Cruise) returns to the team to help recapture criminal arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has escaped from prison and is now making life difficult for the IMF. As for Hunt, his encounter with Davian has upped the ante for him: he not only has to save the world now, he also has to save the woman he loves. Cruise (either you love him or you hate him) still fits into his role well, and Hoffman, who has just won an Oscar for his portrayal of Truman Capote, also effectively displays a chilling seriousness to his villain role. The rest of the cast - Billy Crudup, Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Michelle Monaghan, etc. - all give nice performances.

It's a given that this film would offer little in terms of intellect or depth in the script. Yet the way director J.J. Abrams and his co-writers injected humor and emotions, plus how its action scenes were superbly handled, save "M:I:III" from becoming just another passable popcorn movie which is why I liked it. It is a film intended solely for the purpose of escapism and it achieves that purpose. Although there is a feeling that it could have been more, it easily surpasses the first two "M:I" in an explosively stylish way.
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8/10
The fun, the adventure, the creativity, never ease up
Nazi_Fighter_David13 August 2007
In this third film of the series, Ethan Hunt has retired from the field, and is training new agents…. His sweetheart Julia (Michelle Monaghan) thinks he works for the Department of Transportation…

When one of his pupils is kidnapped by a sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Hunt decides to assemble his old team to retrieve her, putting in mortal danger his new love…

J.J. Abrams—in his first feature film—shot "Mission: Impossible III" with a sense of timing and suspense… We're dealing with full-flash blanks, glass breaking, explosions… And we see Hunt, in a quite interesting shot, running up a wall to enter the Vatican… Also, in the bridge sequence, he runs away from a rocket hit on one of the vehicles… It's cool because the way he's running, the look on his face, before, during and after that impact could only have been done only by an actor as good as him… In China, in an old fishing village, we see him jumping off tile rooftops, with incredible grace, precision, coordination and footwork… Then, with Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) they jump out of a building on a cable landing on a truck…

The special effects, and visual effects are great… They all work together... The Shanghai street chase with Tom leaning out of the car at some insanely dangerous angle to shoot a gun under a truck; Also Tom, in a high-speed boat, on the Tiber River in Rome, Italy; the blowing of a nice spectacular sports car; and, of course, the helicopter chase sequence where, in pursuit, the bad-guy helicopter emerges out of a fireball…

Also, in a fantastic shot, in Shanghai, China, when the camera comes in and then goes around Tom as he's standing on top of a Shanghai roof… The camera comes over his shoulder and look down at the ground, so we'll see Tom on the top of the Shanghai building, hundreds feet in the air, and just to show and set up the jeopardy of what he's about to accomplish…

Well, I loved the director's work… He's so detail-oriented…The fun, the adventure, the creativity, never eased up…

And, please, don't miss Colleen Atwood, entering the Vatican, with a head-turner red dress
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The Best So Far
Michael_Elliott26 February 2008
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt and this time he's battling a sadistic arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman). This is without question the best in the series and this is coming from someone who enjoyed the previous two films. I thought the first film was way too confusing for its own good while the second one was way too much action and not enough brains. This third film hits on all the right notes and delivers some terrific action scenes mixed with a pretty smart script that doesn't go over the top on brains. The real key to the film is the terrific performance by Hoffman. He's been known for years as a great character actor but when I heard he was playing the villain I honestly didn't think he could pull it off but he comes off quite menacing in the role. He doesn't have any funny lines, which is a great thing because it makes him all the more threatening. Then there's Cruise who delivers another all-star performance. I think, in real life, Cruise is a jackass but he still manages to be the greatest movie star out there. The supporting cast including Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne all do fine work as well. The action scenes are also some of the best I've seen including the wonderful attack on the bridge.
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6/10
I think this movie should have been called 'Ethan Hunt: Superman'
Movieguy_blogs_com10 May 2006
In 'MI-III' Tom Cruise returns as Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF). Ethan is an instructor, he is no longer in the field. But when his Protège student is captured by a ruthless arms dealer, he decides to break out of retirement and go to the rescue.

I think this movie should have been called 'Ethan Hunt: Superman'. I think since Tom is one of the producers, he wants to go out with a bang. It is loaded with all out action; so much action that it is really quite unbelievable in parts. I thought the plot was a little weak, however it is certainly better than 'MI-2'. I was very disappointed that Philip Seymour Hoffman had such a small role. He does have a couple of good scenes, but does not appear to be a main character. This movie is all about Tom.

This film pales by comparison to the original 'Mission: Impossible'.
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7/10
Good movie, hate the shaky cam
falcom19416 May 2006
I really like the mi series and anyone who likes action should as well. It is everything that James Bond meant to me as a kid. My negatives of the movie is that It has the shaky camera effect as did Bourne supremacy - I think this technique is a real cop out, It may just be me but I cant see what is happening and with special effects so good these days it is unnecessary . Hoffman was amazing and should have had a bigger part.

Anyway if you like action movies go and see it. Tom Cruise is a real professional when it comes to these types of movies and it shines through.
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9/10
Adrenaline Rush
baseballrhs27 April 2006
I saw this as a sneak preview with my fraternity. I was hesitant to see it because of how bad Mission Impossible 2 was, but I think it more than makes up for the 2nd flop and I would even argue that it's better than the first. The action really is non-stop, and there aren't any cheesy love scenes slowing anything down. The bad guy doesn't change every five minutes either. The plot moves quickly but it doesn't lose the audience at all. You don't need to have seen either of the first two to understand what is going on (I can't remember the plot from either). Lots of guns, loud explosions, cool gadgets and fun locations. I can remember on more than one occasion where the audience clapped or reacted to the action. It does everything an action movie should do very well. I would highly advise anyone who likes action movies to go see it. Even if you think Tom Cruise is a little insane, MI:III is extremely enjoyable.
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6/10
Enjoyable movie but wheres the intrigue? and wheres the big ending?
kooleshwar12 June 2006
Being the 3rd movie in the series I went into the movie with the required lowered expectations.

This movie met my expectations in some departments while disappointed me in the others.

The movie started out promisingly enough with a sequence involving the rescue of a kidnapped operative. We can see the reason why the retired cruise decides you come out of retirement.

What really doesn't go down with me is that how nowadays all movies EVEN ACTION MOVIES ARE BEING DRIVEN BY LOVE. Are they no other emotions driving mankind, what about the simple action movies what about other sometimes stronger emotions such as greed, survival, patriotism, duty, revenge. Why are we subjected to movie after movie where the whole world revolves around love. It was cool in the first few films but its increasingly irritating that movie makers in order to appeal to a wider audience are force feeding romantic elements down your throat.

To add to that we are forced to cope with Sensitive Action Heros, Strong Women Who rise to the occasion, the over predictable double cross, the faithful team, the oh so simple plot that is as clear as water. Whatever happened to complicated multiple double cross and multiple motivations driven plot where I actually know that people went to see it twice just because they didn't get it the first time. This movie is sanitised for my liking.

The acting especially from Tom Cruise was top class he played the role of a returned special agent all to easily and for the first time and thankfully so looked his age. The rest of the cast which included some great fresh new faces especially Maggie Q were also great making this all to plain movie slightly better.

Hats off to Philip Seymour Hoffman who sent chills down my spine as a menacing arms dealer without the theatrics. He somehow achieved this effect merely by saying things as unemotionally as possible and looking at Tom Cruise with no expression in his face. Just the coldness in his eyes and words were enough to make him a memorable screen villain.

The plot was to simple to be mentioned and the direction was top class but just good as any other A-list Hollywood movie. The locations were again run of the mill and nothing worth mentioning.

Special scenes were the opening sequence with the daring rescue which ends surprisingly. Clearly the best scene was the attack on the bridge on Tom Cruise. The scene had some great action and mind boggling special effects.

The movie lacked the big ending that we have come to associate with the series. The thankfully eliminated the predictable IMPOSSIBLE HEIST but I would have still liked to see a bigger better more exciting ending.

In all a good package that will unfortunately or fortunately appeal to all audiences. Liberally scattered with some great scenes that keep you interested throughout.

Watchable with lowered expectations.

+s a memorable screen villain, great acting and cast, a couple of great scenes, fast pace, complete package, Doesn't Disappoint DESPITE THE HYPE,watched it half price in the morning show hehe

-s tooooooo simple, toooooo predictable, no big ending, complete package, NOTHING NEW TO OFFER.

total 6/10 (however if seen in absolute terms its a 4 but considering lowered expectations reaches a 6)
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9/10
Tremendous Villain
jbedwell-248046 July 2023
One of the best of the franchise, mainly thanks to a truly chilling performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's a rare example of a film where you really feel that the stakes are high and that the bad guy is truly threatening.

Part 3 is still fairly small in scale compared to what came later, not to say that there aren't some spectacular stunts - my favourite sequence was the bridge scene in Florida, as well as the various face-swapping scenes.

6.9 is definitely too low a rating for what is a very decent action film. I like most of what JJ Abrams has done as a director and it is certainly an enormous step up for the franchise from part 2.
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7/10
The undercover unit comes back into action with several fine spectacular action scenes
ma-cortes14 July 2008
The crack undercover agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is again called back into action by IMF operation chief named Musgrave (Billy Crudup) , his assignment results to be a crucial mission : to rescue former protégée named Lindsay (Keri Russell) . She has been kidnapped in Berlin by a real villain Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Davien will be in the Vatican, and the team formed by stalwart specialists (Ving Rhames , Maggie Q , Jonathan Rhys Meyers) execute a dangerous operation to abduct him . But Julia (Michelle Monaghan) , Ethan's recent wife , is also kidnapped and ruthless Owen forces him to rob a powerful arm . Meanwhile, Ethan tries to discover who set them up.

This energetic movie packs unstopped action , drama , hair-raising suspense, exciting thrills , frenetic pursuits and lots of violence . Well made high-tech hijinks and full of breathtaking set-up with impressive images. .The film contains an interesting story in flamboyant treatment , worth two hours'time , written by Alex Kurtzman and J. J. Abrahams and based on the vintage characters created by Bruce Heller . Lalo Schifrin's television classic score is again well reused here , at a much higher decibel level and adding a moving soundtrack by Michael Giacchini . Fascinating and luxurious cinematography by excellent cameraman by Daniel Mindel . As usual , Tom Cruise co-executive produced , along with Paula Wagner. The motion picture was perfectly directed by J. J. Abrahams . He's a successful producer, writer and director as Television (Lost , Alias , Felicity) as cinema and he's today filmmaking a Star Trek movie, in production . Rating : Better than average and well worth seeing. The tale will appeal to Tom Cruise fans and non-stopped action movies enthusiasts.
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7/10
Best MI movie till now
nikhilvarma891 May 2006
I got a chance to see the premier last evening, when it was being shown to the whole cast and selected persons only. The movie began slowly, i'd say the first 15-20 minutes might be boring. But then the main action began. The acting is superb to say the least and i reckon it might be tom cruise'es best acting performance. The plot though i thought lacked sense (u'll see why), but i guess the action sequences cover that up. I don't think the movie has disappointed me at all, and i think most people will like it owing to the amazing action sequences and great acting. But still the writers have to do a better job, and i hope to see MI:4 soon!
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7/10
Worth watching at home.
DeamonBROES28 May 2006
This movie is great if you have some free time to spend at home. After watching parts 1 and 2 I thought the 3rd part would be much worse than it actually is. The action is pretty intense, it's definitely not a boring movie. It's a 100% action movie, contains no message at all, just pure entertainment. The acting is pretty good, the cast was well chosen. What to expect from this movie? Explosions, shooting, more explosions, funny hi-tech gear, and so on Just like in the previous parts. But, it ain't a movie that I'd go watch in a theater. It's not the kinda movie you go to see in a theater. I admit, I had fun watching it, but was kinda disappointed. Basically because the movie doesn't show anything new. They use the same gear as in the previous parts, the plot is predictable and not innovative, although there is a surprising twist of action at one point. Overall, its a good movie to watch at home, but I wouldn't waste money on going to a theater.
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7/10
Big improvement on its predecessors
melwinbauer28 December 2021
The third installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise is miles better than its predecessors. The action is much improved from the last two films with the first largely lacking it and the action in the second one turning out very over-dramatic. The action in this entry of the series is thrilling, fast-paced, and also grounded. The story keeps the viewer interested throughout the whole two hours with it constantly developing and changing with its many twists and turns. Some were great and added a lot to the story, but some were not needed and were not given enough time to be explored which meant that some large twists that should've felt very impactful lacked that very impact and instead felt forced and rushed. However, it didn't impact the viewer's ability to enjoy the film too much, and with good acting from the likes of Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman, it was still an enjoyable watch.

Overall, Mission: Impossible 3 is worth watching. It both starts and ends very well. It boasts great action and a good story that results in an enjoyable two hours of cinema.
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8/10
great action!!
DouglasK91911 May 2006
Overall I thought this movie was great. I went to it expecting it to be a good action flick. One with good fight scenes and explosions and got just that. The story line could have used a little work, but this blew the 2nd installment out of the water. This movie was definitely needed to revamp the Mission Impossible series. I was kind of hoping for a few more lines from Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but he still played an excellent villain.

As far as story line goes...I'd rate the trilogy this way. 1st movie, 3rd movie, and then dead last is the 2nd.

As far as action...I'd rate this 3rd installment as the best! If you are looking for an entertaining movie this will definitely grasp it. Enjoy!
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8/10
Ethan Hunt is back. Getting involved with some girl - but should he marry her in his line of work?
docbilbo2 May 2006
I personally did not have to much expectations to this one. Thought it would be just like number 1 and 2. But I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it at a press viewing in Oslo today. The film is actually really good. The story stronger than before, and they play nicely on feelings this time.

There is also plenty of action :) All in all i would give this 8 out of 10. I personally think there is some really good acting in this one. We have Philip Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy, perfect role for him. Others worth mentioning is Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I recently saw an other movie with him - Match Point - and I must say like this actor.

Tom Cruise is very mainstream as always. But I think this has got be one of his better roles the last years. I did not think he preformed well in for example War of the Worlds. But in this one here he does a much better job :)

So run to the cinemas and see it :)
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6/10
The third times the charm
nived845 November 2006
For about the first hour and a half Mission: Impossible 3 is the most intense and exciting and quite possibly the sharpest executed Mission yet, but once it gets to the last twenty minutes things start to fall a little out of place, but your heart will be pounding until the last frame. The film tries to combine elements of the first two films; the intelligence and surprising plot twist of the first film, and the intense, loud action of the second, but part three does try to do one thing different that has yet to be done; giving our main hero and lead spy, Ethan Hunt a personal life, and you don't have to have seen True Lies or the first few episodes of Alias (which was created by J.J. Abrams) to know that spies can't have a personal life, it just flat out doesn't work. Just ask Jason Bourne. I originally thought, "Well this is going to be interesting, it's going to get really personal, and I bet that'll make it much more intense. Cool." But what this really does is shift the focus of the film from "the mission" to Hunt's wife, whose life is now in jeopardy. Hmmm... that doesn't sound much different from the last thirty minutes of M:I-2 does it?

M:I:III isn't really that much different from the other films in the series, and some people might come out saying that this installment is the best of the series. The film does show us for the first time just how a real IMF team carries out missions, which is kind of strange to think that only by the time we get to the third film in the series that it feels like we're seeing it all for the first time. And do you remember how in the first two movies Hunt used a number of face masks to disguise himself? Well we finally get to see where those masks come from and how they are made, and we also get to see how they get their voice to pull the whole trick off, which was actually pretty neat to watch. What's also pretty cool is the variety of missions and different locations that M:I:III travels to; from Berlin to Washington, D.C. to Vatican City and finally ending up in Shanghai, which all makes for some very interesting scenery.

The plot is somewhat hard to explain, mostly because it's so vague it's really hard to conclude just what in the hell was actually going on. It's not quite complicated in a fun and interesting way like the first film, and it's not as easy to follow as the second. The film is over stuff with big action stunts and loud shootouts. This film is easily packed with more action than the first two films combined, but there's no real flow to it all like M:I-2, but some of these scenes early on are quite exciting and highly energetic and thrilling, like one particular scene where Hunt has to jump off the roof a skyscraper in Shanghai (which looks like an amazing city at night I must say) only to swing over and crash on top of the building next to it, but overall this movie does feel like a really intense two hour episode of Alias, and I'd expect a little more from Cruise, but this is pretty much exactly what I would have expected from director Abrams.

The romance that the film is built upon isn't that convincing, probably just as convincing as the one in the last movie, but here we are just forced to "accept it" and move on. The film also tries to inject a little humor that wasn't really present in the first two films. Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg plays Hunt's techno. guru that did manage to make me laugh, but casting Pegg in a small role wasn't the only good choice in casting, no; the film is pretty well cast throughout; from Keri Russell as Hunt's protégé to Billy Crudup as an IMF team manager, Laurence Fishburne as the IMF operations director and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the icy villain, but they are all underused, which is a damn shame, and even though these are all great choices and it certainly keeps the film entertaining and exciting.

Part of M:I:III is brilliant and some of the best moments in the series. The cinematography is absolutely great, the lighting was brilliant and the action is very intense, but some of it should have been saved for the ending. The first hour is amazing, but the second hour doesn't really surpass what we've seen in the first, and it shouldn't be that way. The first two Mission films peaked with excitement with their finales; with the train sequence in the first and that awesome motorcycle chase and fist fight in the second, and the film tries a little too hard to play it safe in the end, it would have been better if they had just allowed it to take a few more risks, but it chickens out. I would recommend checking out M:I:III if you liked parts one and two, and finishing up at just a little over two hours long, is very well paced and NEVER has a dull moment, and make sure to expect the impossible. This is one of the best action films of the year, and it's sure to push your adrenaline levels to the max. So pop some popcorn, turn off the lights, crank up the surround sound and have some fun!
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6/10
Enjoyable, but some of it is very uneven!
TheLittleSongbird15 May 2009
I am 17, and although Mission Impossible 3 was enjoyable on the most part, there were other parts that were uneven. The film itself is overlong and does drag in a number of long scenes, but it is also explosive and well performed. I don't care for Tom Cruise that much, (he is slightly overrated) but I found his portrayal of Ethan Hunt quite likable. Phillip Seymour Hoffmann is superb as the villain, there are some times when he is very sinister, and he made the most of it. Other than the two leads, both of which added a lot to the movie, the remainder of the characters sadly seemed cardboard, but I don't think the uneven script and sometimes confusing plot helped that much. still, it does have jaw-dropping special effects, and some detailed direction. In conclusion, a slightly disappointing film, though fun to watch. 6/10 Bethany Cox.
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3/10
Impossibly contrived to sell tickets
p-stepien24 September 2012
Ethan Hunt (obviously Tom Cruise) attempting to live a more low-key life opposite his love Julia (an unconvincing and forgettable Michelle Monaghan), now has turned from special op to super-trainer. Inadvertently he returns to active service in order to save one of his trainees. Despite a full-fledged operation the mission is a failure and the agent loses her life. Vengefully Hunt's group decides to bring down the man responsible Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) regardless of being aware of a mole within the agency...

Contrived and forced this plan is obnoxiously bad and features some needless melodrama to 'build' Hunt's character. Obviously the worst of the MI movies, especially given the bounce back to quality in the fourth instalment, "MI:3" serves only as a explanatory filler to certain themes touched upon in the follow-up. Almost self-farcical with little zest, punch or laughs, it collapses quicker then the story. Attempts to flesh out a background life with wife and dog end up counter-productive and are probably the least believable scenes in the movie. Despite several pretty well done scenes (if outlandish) delivery of the whole package is extremely hollow, superficial and not meant for a thinking audience. Something that even skyscraper jumping won't be able to compensate...

Surprisingly poor from J. J. Abrams, this much forced episode of the franchise is obviously his worst work to date (unless you count the overlong fall into the abyss during "Lost"). Rife with shaky cam, quick editing and tiresome repetitive displays Abrams manages to outdo even John Woo's MI:2 in terms of mindless emotionless entertainment.
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