MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III

REVIEWED BY JARED KRAFT

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: violence, thematic elements, language

Rated:

Tom Cruise, cool cars, explosions. A Mission Impossible movie must be out! This is without a doubt the finest of the three, with more action than the first, and more brains and integrity than the terrible sequel. In short, this is one of the finest action films I’ve seen.

It opens in Shanghai in a very tense interrogation/torture sequence in which our hero Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is being pumped for information while sitting in a chair across from a woman, who is at gun point and taped to a chair. We watch anxiously as the villain counts to ten. Bang! The gunshot is fired and as the camera cuts away, the main theme begins. It is at this point that the film flashes back to Ethan’s engagement party with his girlfriend, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Ethan receives a phone call that an agent is being held captive in Berlin and they want him to find her and pull her out. After careful consideration, Ethan tells his new fiancé he is going on an overnight business trip for a traffic technicians conference, and leaves.

After a failed mission attempt, Ethan is reprimanded, and sent home. This is when we learn the agent was a close personal friend of Ethan’s, and he trained her personally. Her kidnapping and torture was instigated by criminal mastermind Owen Davian, (Philip Seymoure Hoffman), who is en route to the Vatican to retrieve a device called the "Rabbits Foot." Ethan is assigned to track and abduct him in Rome. Then with a horrific twist, he mission becomes personal and our hero will use any means to catch the bad guys. The story has many twists and turns, and each one is unexpected. The content is pretty standard for an action/thriller.

Language includes 2 G-D’s, 5 "S" words, and a dozen mild profanities. Sexual content is minimal, but involves two or three passionate kisses and a scene of implied sexuality. The main issue for some people will be the violence and intensity, which is very high and involves explosives being implanted (and detonated) in people's heads, point blank gunfights, explosions, and many other forms of action violence. This is the best Mission Impossible film to come out, and one of the finest action films in the last few years. Tom Cruise does an incredible job as the hero, making you feel his pain and adrenaline, and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays a scary, realistic depiction of a villain. If you enjoy this genre, and don’t mind the content, see this, and enjoy.