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Dir: JJ Abrams Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman
After a media blitz that has been seemingly endless and which included the first marketing campaign to include placenta-eating revelations, Tom Cruise finally hit the big screen this week with Mission Impossible 3.
The plot has a similar format to Fight Club and Citizen Kane, in the way that the opening sequence occurs towards the end of the mission and the next part of the narrative leads to how it happened. This adds an ambiguous gloss to the initially dislinear narrative framework and enables the film to start with a bang by pulling you in to the verisimilitude world of MI:3.
This was the first feature film
for director JJ Abrams, who is one of the frustrating writers of
hit drama Lost. Abrams attempts to emulate the likes of
Truffaut, Godard, Rivette and Chabrol by tipping his hat to past
filmmakers such as Sergei Eisenstein, to the point where he
simulates the famous factory puddle reflection shot from
Strike!. However, Abrams still has a lot to learn before he
joins the elite. For a first effort though, this was more than
passable. With an estimated budget of $150million, this was the most expensive film made by a first time director and the constant explosions were a reminder of this. Maybe there were unnecessary special effects, but every one of them was impressive and very easy on the eye. One particularly inventive sequence, not dissimilar to an episode of Spooks, was an infiltration of a high security meeting in the Vatican City. The cast was very well assembled. Cruise is sometimes criticized for his typecast role as a male protagonist seeking a renewed equilibrium, but there is a reason that he is typecast and it is because he excels in it. Ving Rhames, Maggie Q and Laurence Fishburne are all good in supporting roles whilst Jonathan Rhys Meyers displays more charisma than he did Match Point and Michelle Monaghan’s star continues to rise. The highlight of the film is a very intense and downright exceptional performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He put on a masterclass of villainy and I predict another great year for the Oscar winner. Simon Pegg’s cameo is also a must for fans of UK comedy.
All in all, the film flows extremely well to a raucous pace supported by a simply fantastic thematic score which is only comparable to James Bond. The direction, cinematography and symbolism is good, the special effects are great, the plot (in parts) is fantastic and the acting is faultless. Are we likely to see a fourth in the franchise? Probably not likely but after this, nothing is impossible.
Discuss this movie now at the Pure Movies Forum! |
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In
this trilogy-completing edition of a series that has been
consistently successful at the box office, Ethan Hunt (Cruise)
is summoned out of his ordinary life (in which he has just got
engaged) and back to the world of the Impossible Mission
Foundation. He is set the task of leading a team consisting of
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Maggie Q and the new Kojak, Ving Rhames,
to rescue his former protégé. A fatal mistake in the operation
leaves Ethan hunting the man responsible for her death, the
sadistic arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman),
whilst also discovering how hard it is to have a relationship
whilst working in the world of covert operations.
The
plot twists, like in the previous films, were frequent and the
use of masks was again used to impressive effect. One
disappointing part of the film, without spoiling anything, was
the end. After a plot that flips, twists and leaves the audience
awestruck, the conclusion is dire and is everything that has
become symbolic of the contrived Hollywood ending.
