Mission: Impossible 3 (2006) Dir: J.J. Abrams
With the mixed results of the first two films in the franchise, I was initially cautious to continue on. However, with J.J. Abrams directing, I felt a renewed confidence that had been sorely damaged by MI:2.
I will start off negatively, but briefly, by saying that I do not at all like the lense flares and flashes that Abrams loves. It always seems like he wants his audience to have a seizure.
As far as the story is concerned, I have so many more positive thoughts to share. I really enjoyed the darker, grittier feel of it. The villain was scary, the action was varied and more thought-out and the stakes could hardly have been higher.
Tom Cruise is much better this time around. I think the gritty style suits his serious acting style much better. He delivers his best performance of the franchise thus far, and revitalises his character with depth that was distinctly absent from his previous outing.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, as illuded to, makes for a fantastic antagonist. He was brilliant in portraying his character's sociopathic, sinister persona in a way that not many could have done.
Ving Rhames was steady, as always, in his returning role. I am so pleased that he has been a recurring character in this franchise - he's always reliable.
Maggie Q and Jonathon Rhys Meyers have relatively small but important roles, and each deliver pretty decent performances, although I would have loved to see a bit more of them.
Michelle Monoghan also didn't feature massively, but had an important role. For the most part she was good, but there were a couple of scenes where it was way too obvious that she was acting - she didn't feel like a real person.
I will also give deserving mentions to the likes of Simon Pegg, Billy Crudup, Keri Russell, Eddie Marsan, Laurence Fishburne and Aaron Paul.
Overall, this was a big step up from the flashy failure of the prior film, and managed to establish a new, more mature, more modern identity for a franchise which very easily could have fallen to the wayside with other 90s-esque spy thrillers. Instead, this would lead to a whole host of further sequels to the franchise - sequels I am far more eager to watch now.
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