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Credibility is seriously challenged throughout Mission:
Impossible III, but it's the sort of film aimed at a mass market audience that
willingly suspends disbelief in exchange for the thrills of multiple action sequences and
the presence of charismatic (if getting a bit long in the tooth) star, Tom Cruise. He
offers his standard clenched-jaw performance as Ethan Hunt, a secret agent, more notable
for athleticism than for the slightest inkling of character development. When a tear runs
down Cruise's cheek, the instant response is to look for an onion.
In any case, character development seems to have been the last thing on
the mind of the committee of screenwriters responsible for the script. Philip Seymour
Hoffman (Capote, Owning Mahowny), an actor of
astounding accomplishment, is the villain here--all sadistic meanness, thoroughly evil,
and as one dimensional as Cruise's hero. Hoffman plays Owen Davian, a black market arms
and technology dealer. He has captured Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), a one-time protege
of Hunt's, so the "agency" has no trouble recruiting Hunt to rescue her,
providing the basis for action sequence #1, placed in Berlin and accompanied by enough
explosions to satisfy the most deprived pyromaniac.
Subsequent action sequences are placed in other foreign locations (The
Vatican, Shanghai) which provide some fine scenery as background for high tech tools and
weapons, extensive car chases and crashes sufficient to put a Geico actuary into cardiac
arrest.
The script attempts to ground all of this action in Hunt's relationship
with his fiancee, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Hunt has not told Julia the nature of his
real work, presumably because the Mission Impossible group operates under top secrecy, but
the result is a relationship based on dishonesty. When Hunt looks in Julia's eyes and
says, "Trust me," she does, and for her trust she ends up in Davian's
psychopathic clutches. (This is no spoiler, since an early sequence shows Julia as
Hoffman's captive and the action then takes the form of flashbacks.)
The single admirable attribute of Mission: Impossible III is
the technical expertise that goes into the making of the action sequences. Hollywood knows
how to charge these scenes with fast moving, tension filled, adrenaline stimulating
action, here enhanced with the use of hand-held cameras, extreme closeups, and lots of
quick cutting. Aside from that, Mission Impossible: III is ordinary and
forgettable..
- Arthur Lazere
