Netflix Review: Mission Impossible III (2006)

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Show Stealer

If you can get past silly, far fetched gadget scenes, you’ll actually find a well made movie.



Let’s get one thing out of the way: I don’t like movies where the people wear masks and rip them off at a convenient moment. The Mission Impossible series – if you’ve seen the first two installments – loves this gimmick. But of course it’s nothing more than a deus ex machina.

That said, the MI series does have its strong points, the biggest of which – and I can’t believe I’m going to type this – is Tom Cruise. Let’s face it: the guy may be a nut job, but he definitely knows how to carry a film. We forget, despite all the strange public commentary, scientology, and fake affection he shows Katie, that Cruise is actually a good actor. Now, if somebody can just write some meds into his contracts…

I digress. Even though Cruise has carried the series so far, it’s Philip Seymour Hoffman (as criminal Owen Davian) that truly steals the show in MI:3. We haven’t had a great movie villain since Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast – and that was seven years ago. Hoffman is downright menacing. He chillingly delivers threats that he obviously considers promises, and you fully believe that he will actually deliver on them.

I can’t stress this enough: a hero is only as heroic as his villain is threatening. This is what has crippled the Batman movies, IMO. Do you really feel threatened by some cackling idiot called the Joker? I don’t believe the Joker is capable of much evil at all. Therefore, how heroic can Batman be? I could deck the Joker while bedridden with a bad case of dysentery.

But Hoffman’s great performance truly lets Cruise’s Ethan Hunt shine as the hero. You actually get the feeling that Hunt could lose. When’s the last time you thought that about a movie hero?

Don’t worry: there are still ridiculous MI gadgets and stunts that simply aren’t close to plausible, such as when the crew manufactures a mask looking like Davian in the basement of a museum. The mask takes about 3 minutes to produce and looks exactly like Davian. Why don’t these guys open a mask-making business and strike it rich?

There is also a ridiculous scene where Hunt is falling down a skyscraper yet is able to accurately shoot several bad guys.

Whatever. You know what you’re getting into with MI, and you just have to set such foolishness aside. Within the context of MI, this is easily the best of the series. The picture is far grittier than either of its two predecessors, which is definitely a change for the better, and provides a solid backdrop for the great tension provided by Cruise and Hoffman.

The dialogue is decent and the supporting actors, well, support. And that’s fine here. So if you can easily get past silly, far fetched gadget scenes, you’ll actually find a well made movie.