Mission: Impossible III
2006  PG-13  ACTION  2h 5min
CAST— Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburne
MUSIC— Michael Giacchino  DIRECTOR— J. J. Abrams  BASED ON— Characters appearing on Mission: Impossible (television)

     After the silliness that was M: I-II Tom Cruise returns as IMF agent Ethan Hunt and he’s better than ever. Cruise sets out to find out why a fellow agent was killed in action and picks up the trail of a sinister arms dealer (Philip Seymour Hoffman in a scary, emotionless role) who’s after a mysterious something called the Rabbit’s Foot (a MacGuffin if ever there was one). Cruise must race the clock if he’s to save his new bride from the clutches of this conspiracy. The film has plenty of action and suspense but what really sets this installment above the others is the emotion; the filmmakers manage to humanize Ethan Hunt, as opposed to the stereotypical action film caricature he was last time. The only complaint: not enough screen time for Hoffman’s potent villain. Otherwise the best of the bunch.
OUR RATING— ***
PRECEDED BY— Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II (2000)
FOLLOWED BY— Mission: Impossible— Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible— Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible— Fallout (2018)