Mission: Impossible III (2006) Review

"The Rabbit's Foot, where is it?"
-Owen Davian



Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from field work and has become a recruit trainer for the Impossible Mission Force.  He has also gotten engaged to Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse who knows nothing about his work with IMF.  When Ethan's best student, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), Ethan signs on to lead the rescue team, which leads him into conflict with the brutal and sadistic arms dealer, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), but even worse is the possibility that someone in IMF may be working with Davian to get their hands on a dangerous item called the Rabbit's Foot.


What Works:

By far the best villain in the Mission: Impossible series is Owen Davian.  It isn't close and that includes Henry Cavil in Fallout.  Hoffman doesn't get a ton of scenes, but when they use him, it's brutal.  He's a cruel force to reckoned with, who has fun torturing and killing.  His scenes with Ethan Hunt are some of the best of the movie and the guy leaves an impression.

The action sequences in this movie are all either equal to or better than the best action scenes from the first two movies.  The raid on the abandoned warehouse is a great tone setter for the movie with everyone on Ethan's team playing a part.  It also gives us the brutal death of Lindsey Farris.  The look on her face after the charge in her head goes off has haunted me for over a decade and really sets up what a monster Davian is.

The Vatican City kidnapping sequence is a blast.  It has tons of fun moments including us finally getting to see how the elaborate masks are made, and I gotta say, it's pretty cool.  This also sets up the witty team dynamic we get in this movie.  This is easily the best team of the first three films and I enjoy the dynamic of them working together.  They're a fun group.

The raid on the bridge is also excellent.  We get to see Tom Cruise' dedication to his craft in some of his stunts.  It's really impressive work on his part.

Finally, the acting from Cruise, Monaghan, and Hoffman is all excellent.  We get to see Davian's cruelty, Ethan's anger, and Julia's desperation.  Their scenes together are all fantastic and several steps-up from the love story in the second film.  I actually believed that Ethan and Julia love each other because their relationship is already established.  They are engaged at the start of the film.  They don't meet and fall in love within the first 15 minutes like in 2.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.


Verdict:

Mission: Impossible III is the best of the first three movies and it isn't remotely close.  The 3rd film is superior to the first two in literally every way.  The action is superb, the acting phenomenal, it's fun, but brutal.  Everyone does a great job and we get the best villain of the series hands-down.  I have no complains about Mission: Impossible III and can only give it my highest recommendation.  This movie has absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing 

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