Movie Review: Mission: Impossible 3

I've been lacking with the movie reviews lately, so let me get caught up with the first movie I saw earlier this summer, "Mission: Impossible 3"

Now, ever since the movie version of the long running TV series came out, it's always been hit or miss with me. Either the action's OK and there's a lame plot, as was the case with the first one. Or the action was good and the plot was really lame, as was the case with the second. Now, I like Tom Cruise's takes in both films, but I knew that somehow, sooner or later, there would be a sequel that would deliver the goods.

They finally did it with the third one.

Now going in, I had hope that it would work because J.J. Abrams, the man behind the hit drama "Lost"(one of my favorite TV shows) and "Alias" (another one of my favorites, which just concluded its run in May) was writing and directing this film. Knowing his track record, especially with "Alias", which was another spy drama, I had a feeling that maybe we have a version of this film with a plot and good action.

My feeling was right.

From the opening sequence, which definitely had me on the edge of my seat right until it kicked into the always cool M: I theme music (which thankfully never gets old after all these years), the film was off and running. Something they never did with the first two films. Now, as was the case with other spy dramas, you have the plot that's kind of out there. But unlike the first two films, where you really didn't care what it was about, at least this time they had a plot device that was more personal ( where a fellow agent met an untimely fate at the beginning) and it also raised the stakes, where the girlfriend of Cruise's character had her life put on the line thanks to the dangerous job that Cruise gets to do.

Another thing that made it different from the first two films was the fact that we had a villian that was a villian that matched Cruise every step of the way. I give great credit to Philip Seymour Hoffman (fresh off his Oscar win a few months earlier) for really taking the role head on and made you want to hate him. The scenes where he and Cruise matched wits were electric, especially in the opening sequence.

Overall, the action scenes were great, including a high flying helicopter chase and a great sequence along the highway bridge highlighted by explosives and car chases. And the supporting cast were good as well. There were also some humorous moments that didn't feel forced or anything.

So, by far, the third film of the series was finally the charm as this was the best of the franchise. If Cruise is smart, since he's also one of the producers of these films as well, he would ask Abrams to do the fourth edition of the series if the need calls for one.