Mission Impossible 3

I found Mission: Impossible to be a lot of fun, and a passable time at the movies. Except for that shitty finale with the horribly rendered CGI helicopter. That destroyed a lot of the impact, seeing as how it was a key moment for the entire movie. The plot was also really confusing. I mean like, who's doing what to who? And why? WHAT?!
Mission: Impossible 2 wasn't quite as good. It's another typical American Jon Woo movie (inferior to his Chinese movies), complete with one action scene too many, tons of slo-mo... and a dove that seemed to come out of fucking NOWHERE! I mean seriously, man, where did that dove COME FROM?! ... but it was an alright movie, more or less.

Now, here we are with a new director - straight from Alias the TV series - bringing a somewhat different take on the Impossible Mission crew. I daresay this is so far the best of the series. It's a very good summer action movie that requires you to leave your brain at the door, and hope for lots of neat explosions and some sexy ladies every now and again.
Let's go over the Mission: Impossible checklist: Hot chicks - CHECK. Cool guy sunglasses - CHECK. Riding around in a speeboat - CHECK. Conspiracy plot - CHECK. Overblown Mission: Impossible theme song while Hunt is wearing cool guy sunglasses, in a waterboat, next to a really hot chick, in the middle of the conspiracy plot - CHECK!

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is... the man. Just see Capote to see how much ass he kicks. He's a great villian, and stands tall along with Tom Cruise, proving to be a formidable force of reckoning. Cruise calls the thunder on his ass, and he gets it! Everyone else is pretty cool as well, and Maggie Q is pretty hot. She's not as hot as say, Hsu Qi or Karen Mok, but she's definetely a delectable feast for my eyes, especially in a red dress.
The first thing that should have been changed was to get rid of the opening scene completely. It's an over-used gimmick these days to have a scene that arrives late in the movie as an opener to try and grab the audience. Especially with this movie, it spoiled the scene when it finally arrived, and I had a "we've been here already" mentality when it arrived, so I was hoping to get it over with. There was no reason for the opening scene, and the movie should have started right AFTER that scene, which would have made the flashbacked scene later in the movie more fun to watch.
A Mission: Impossible movie can't be a GOOD one unless it's got a crazy and wild plot. To add to this plot, you need to have a break-in into a highly secure facility, and last but not least - a mask wearing sequence in which an actor looks and sounds just like ANOTHER actor. In this movie's case, one of the coolest effects in the entire movie might have been taken for granted by most viewers. The scene when Cruise applies the mask is one of the coolest, smoothest morphing transitions for any movie. Starting with the face molding, all the way up until Cruise is seen putting the mask on, and gradually turning into the other actor... was fucking fantastic! Talk about neat-O!
Abrams directs with a steady hand most of the time. There isn't as much quick-cutting and insane angles as a Bay movie, and the slow motion action sequences are also dramatic, but not as heavy-handed as it could have been. In fact, there's a scene in which Cruise does an insane leap from one building to the next, and it's not only the most exciting part of the movie, but the slow motion swan dive shot... WORKED! I've seen it in so many other movies already that I figured something like this would have come across as total bullshit. But it wasn't to me; for a change.
Compared to a James Cameron action movie, this can't hold a candle. I would take True Lies to this any day. However, when it comes to the yearly summer blockbuster action movie list, this one would take precedence over almost any other. This is a good thing. Don't expect to have your life altered after watching this movie... just expect to have a really good time!

GRADE: B-