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An impossibly cheesy film
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3
Directed by JJ Abrams
Certificate 15
THIS franchise has managed to stagger from a poor start in the first film, and an even worse second to reach an almost acceptable climax here.
It is still nonsense, but when you lavish £100 million-odd on making a film, you will at least get a pretty firework display for the price of a ticket.
One of the main problems stems from the leading man; not that Tom Cruise is pushed too much to go through the rigmarole of acting – tears are not required to be shed.
This stems from the audience’s inability to suspend disbelief – to detach the fact that it is Cruise on the screen, not his character, Ethan Hunt.
The last film that Tom Cruise put in a close to acceptable performance was in his first big hit, Top Gun – and that was almost 20 years ago.
But in a way, it doesn’t matter. Cruise says so little in this film, just forget his inability as an actor and get on with watching him perform some pretty incredible – nay, pretty Impossible – stunts.
We discover at the start that Hunt has retired from his usual somersaulting off buildings, through burning hoops, into crocodile-infested lakes while being shot at by large men with a thorough knowledge of martial arts. Instead, he trains other agents to do his stuff.
But of course this is not a film where Cruise is going to be anything other than the centre of attention. He soon has to step away from the desk job to take on another threat to world peace.
Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is the baddie, an arms-dealing amoral villain who is as vile as they come.
Of course there is little rhyme or reason to the plot, but with Hoffman so pathologically disgusting, it doesn’t really matter.
Hunt has fallen in love: and, as is with these sorts of films, that is his weak spot.
The object of his attentions – Julie – (Michelle Monaghan) is threatened by Davian and says he will kill her unless Hunt hands over a secret weapon dubbed the Rabbit’s Foot.
And that is, I am afraid, about it.
And there are a couple of other recognisable faces. Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Rhys Meyers also pop up, and take away from the unpleasant and continuous camera-on-Cruise of the two previous flicks.
There are special effects galore. Director JJ Abrams seems to have spent most of his time discussing bangs with his pyrotechnics department.
It is unrelenting. The thrills just keep on and on and on, that stunts which should make you gasp do not, as they fail, after a while, to stand out from the one in the scene before.
The release of Mission Impossible III heralds the start of the blockbuster season, and it sets a high standard for others to follow.
Watchable in parts and entertaining in others, original yet cheesy, this instalment is every thing a blockbuster should be: frivolous, loud, and, despite the obvious failings, quite fun. |
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