Ink Blotting - Mission Impossible III

Posted on Saturday, May 13, 2006 at 12:00 AM

Three commercials and six previews later, we finally got to see Mission Impossible III. I am not normally opposed to previews and commercials. Typically I find them exciting and entertaining snippets of what is to come - where the expectation of entertainment far outstrips the actuality of that enjoyment down the road. But there is a point at which you have to remind yourself what movie you are there to see, and last night was about 2 previews and a commercial too many.

My fellow cohort at www.Calgarymovies.com addresses Tom Cruise's current mental state, so in this review I will address his acting. It is my humble opinion, and this is reflected elsewhere by other reviewers that what makes Tom Cruise good in a movie is that Tom Cruise makes you believe that he's the one capable of performing the feats he's doing. I seldom remember his character's names because generally that's not what is important. What is important is to see Tom Cruise defeat the alien menace, fight back the evil Japanese, defeat the devil, and prove Jack Nicholson is actually a bad marine. (Jack Nicholson is also one of those actors playing themselves sort of guys, coincidentally).

When Tom Cruise stars in Mission Impossible movies he's going to make you believe that he really is a super-spy, daring, quick-thinking on his feet and a crack-shot. He was better at it in the first two movies. This movie Tom had a lot to think about with love in the air. And one thing a Mission Impossible movie doesn't need in it - is love. Some may criticize that; indeed some do, and have said that it benefits the movie as a whole, but unlike the lust of Mission Impossible II, the heat of passion is stunted in some strange directorial version of "love".

What doesn't work in this movie is a typical thing for an action adventure movie - the plot. Though both Roger Ebert and I were both "sort of surprised that the plot hangs together more (in M:I III) than in the other two films." The dialogue also comes across stilted, but the cadre of actors brought on in this film generally manages to make up for it. Philip Seymour Hoffman infuses such disdain and conviction into his character that he manages to make the obligatory interrogation scene interesting and quite the turnabout. But then again, PSH is one of those actors that becomes the character.

If you're interested in Mission Impossible III then you will enjoy the flick. It doesn't fail to offer exciting locations, intriguing set ups and fantastic stunts, but it doesn't go beyond the capabilities of the first two. In its own way that is good, because everything remains remotely believable. Not in a, you or I could do this sort of way - but in a Tom Cruise could jump that hole in the bridge sort of way.

2.5 stars out of 4

Kyle Gould is a University of Calgary Graduate in English devoutly trying to make the 25,000 dollar piece of parchment not just a glorified ink blot. Currently it would serve better as a Rorschach test. Feel free to throw some ink his way at wkkgould@hotmail.com.