Mission Impossible III Review

HIGHS

• MI:III does a respectable job of keeping intact what makes Mission Impossible fun. A small team uses really cool and undoubtably expensive gadgets to pull off seemingly unworkable tasks. Plus Luther is back.
• J.J. packs in a lot of action without completely forgetting about the characters. There isn't a ton of character development but there's definitely more than you'll find in your typical shoot 'em up.
• There is a sweet action scene that takes place on a bridge that almost feels like a tribute to True Lies, if I may be so bold. "The bridge is OUT!"
• In his typical fashion, Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn't have a lot of scenes but he does make the most of them. Simon Pegg is also a nice addition to the film playing the english Marshall (Alias fans will get the reference.)
• While I still feel the 1996 Mission Impossible was a more expertly crafted blend of action and intrigue, this third installment is leaps and bounds better than John Woo's suckfest that was MI:II.

LOWS

• The third act just doesn't seem as strong as the two leading up to it. While the first half of the film is fresh and clever, the journey becomes more run-of-the-mill as it continues on. That's not to say it ends poorly, it just doesn't keep the pop and sizzle going as much as it could.
• As I mentioned, MI:III has some decent character development but it does seem that J.J. is more conditioned to building relationships over the course of many episodes (i.e.- Alias and Lost.) In a 2-hour span he gets the characters where they need to be but it's in a way we've seen done before many times over.

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

Random related fact: As a producer of the film, Tom Cruise signed on J.J. Abrams to direct based primarily on the episodes of Alias he had seen on DVD.