A Fool's Gesture

My MaliciousBitch.com peeps, DB and Chris are in the middle of finals, so I thought I'd just post here before the weekend. And for my friend that said I revealed too much in the past I beg to differ. I was surprised at how many critics spoiled fairly decent plot points in theirs. This will also look much longer than normal b/c my font is larger and my text area is more narrow than the MBc site.

Mission: Impossible III: B-

Fellow fans of the TV show, 24, will probably enjoy Mission: Impossible III more so than any other fan base. The understood trade-off between adrenaline pumping stunts for reality is already a compromise we’ve chosen to make. And it’s one you must also do in order to get into the spirit of this film. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve liked this franchise, but never really loved it.

Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is now with-woman, as the franchise’s latest director/co-writer, J.J. Abrams (who also created TV’s Lost and Alias) attempts to show a “man that just happens to be a spy.” In this case, our man is now a trainer for the IMF, though his fiancée Julia is utterly clueless as to what Ethan really does for a living, thinking he’s a traffic engineer (sound familiar? Yes, we saw that in True Lies). To further prove his dedication to this new approach of normalcy, Abrams cast the relatively unknown Michelle Monaghan as Julia, who is refreshingly pretty in the sense of “I could actually know her,” over the previous exotic love interests.

Since this movie is really just about some cool stunts, the plot is fairly simple: Hunt is lured back into active duty by his personal code of honor to save a former trainee and then apprehend the responsible villain, Owen Davian, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Davian is your typical antagonist, a ruthless black market commodities trader; the item in question for this particular installment is called The Rabbit’s Foot. Who, what, when, where or how? Don’t ask, they won’t tell.

Though Abrams attempted to vary the formula with this chapter, it’s really on-par with the previous two in terms of entertainment value (which is equal to overall enjoyment divided by the extortion rate to get in and eat a snack). Sure, there are more subtle introductions of humor and the story is a lot less complex, but the stunts themselves are not nearly as ground-breaking as the first two, including an on-going feeling of déjà vu, either from Abrams’ Alias or other action flicks (there's even a rather bumbling expert technogeek, like Marshall).

Unfortunately, the film also succumbs to many of Hollywood’s standard clichés, so even the plot isn’t all that surprising or innovative as it chugs along. I’ll still never understand why directors think that it’s normal for women that have never touched a gun to pick one up and shoot accurately for the first time – and without recoil. And furthermore, is it really that possible to truly worry about Ethan Hunt’s future when, let’s face it, Tom Cruise never dies in his films?

Critics have also praised, in an almost high school-like adoration, Hoffman’s performance in this film, which is cool and calculating, but his screen time is fairly minimal with most of his major scenes and “acting bursts” in the preview. Perhaps if M:I3 came out last summer, then Hoffman’s performance would seem more remarkable, but his Davian seems so watered down after watching Capote this year. It’s almost an insult to actually focus on Hoffman’s talent in this role, instead of just acknowledging that he wanted the exposure and big bucks from a summer blockbuster.

Though this probably serves no other purpose than one of self-interest, I must give a shout-out to the Actor Whose Talent is Most Wasted in This Film, Jonathan Rhys Myers. As one of Hunt’s team members, Rhys Myers is Colin Farrell’s heir apparent as Certified Irish Eye Candy, and after watching him in Match Point earlier this year, we know that he can even act.

Much has been discussed on whether Cruise’s personal antics over the past year will impact the success of the movie, but in this case, the filmmakers and analysts need to hold the quality of the film itself accountable. If Cruise is to blame, it’s for his participation in the filmmaking process, not for jumping on a couch. Some people just aren't meant to wear more than one hat, and this is the perfect example. His best films are before he became a producer and that can't be just a coincidence.

At some point filmmakers will learn that mediocre quality now translates into lukewarm sales results (one analyst smartly compared number of tickets sold compared to the previous films, since inflated ticket prices are misleading to gauge a film’s success). The public will no longer sacrifice the costs and hassle to see a movie in the theatre when the films come out on DVD in four months anyway. It’s become increasingly difficult to mesmerize the audience with new technology and stunt choreography, so now an actual story is expected to be the foundation for a quality film.

If you’re a fan of the previous two installments, then you’ll probably like Mission: Impossible III. If you like action movies that have intriguing stunts but no real point, then you’ll probably like this film. If you like staring at Tom Cruise’s newly braces-free smile, then you’ll probably like this film. If you plan to splurge on only a few movies this summer, then I suggest waiting for something else and catch this in four months.

But, I never found myself looking at my watch.