(Photo by Mark Fellman)
NEXT TIME, KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER: Apparently Owen Davian (not shown) is about to try and carry out his threat to torture and kill Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, left) and his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan).
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.
|
(Photo by Mark Fellman)
NEXT TIME, KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER: Apparently Owen Davian (not shown) is about to try and carry out his threat to torture and kill Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, left) and his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan). |
In the wake of the success of the Mission: Impossible films, people may not realize that the films are based on a television series which enjoyed an eight-year run between 1966 and 1973. Each episode opened with a scene featuring the head of the MI Force leafing through a top secret dossier as he listened to his latest assignment on a self-destructing audiotape which began with the trademark phrase, "Good morning, Mr. Phelps."
Phelps would then handpick a team of agents to assist him in executing a carefully coordinated covert operation to infiltrate the targeted organization and unobtrusively complete the task. The first two movie versions ignored the television original's "team" and "anonymity" concepts, instead presenting a Tom Cruise vehicle in which his character, Ethan Hunt, was a one-man operation that was the opposite of subtle.
Those nostalgic for the television show, however, will be happy to hear that Mission Impossible III is not only the best, but the most faithful to the original, of the three screen adaptations.
J.J. Abrams makes his film directing debut after having made a name for himself in television for episodes of Lost, Alias, and Felicity. The executives at Paramount were sufficiently impressed with his work to trust him with a $150 million budget, the largest ever given to a first-time director.
Mr. Abrams surrounded Tom Cruise with a talented cast, including Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Ethan's friend and technical expert. The rest of the members of the MI team are: jack-of-all-trades Zhen (Maggie Q); getaway driver/pilot/boat captain Declan (Jonathan Rhys Meyers); Michelle Monaghan as Julia, Ethan's fiancée; Lawrence Fishburne as John Brassel, Ethan's boss; and Philip Seymour Hoffman, as the villain Owen Davian.
With an understated elegant demeanor, Hoffman delivers goose-bump inducing threats like this to Ethan: "Do you have a wife or a girlfriend? Because I'm going to find her and I'm going to hurt her. And then I'm going to kill you in front of her."
The movie opens with a teaser, in which Davian catches Ethan off guard, thereby starting a thrill-a-minute adventure across the United States, Europe, and Asia. The storyline involves a plan to sell a chemical, that is capable of causing mass destruction, to the highest bidder.
Mission Impossible III is laced with homages to thrillers such as True Lies, Silence of the Lambs and No Way Out.
The plot includes an assassination, a red herring, a kidnapping, a back-stabbing saboteur and a host of other complications. While you're trying to connect all the dots, just remember that the easiest way to watch the film is to put your brain on idle and enjoy all the stunt work, chase scenes, special effects, pyrotechnics, gunplay, and comic relief.
Excellent (4 stars). Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images, and sensuality. Running time: 126 minutes. Studio: Paramount Pictures.
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.