Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Movie reviews from someone who loves movies

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Mission: Impossible III

Plot


Spy tracks down bad guy. Bad guy kidnaps spy’s wife to make spy do something.

The Good


Watchability


This is a very watchable movie (+1). It is exciting and that makes it difficult to stop the movie in the middle. (+1) The movie and its continuity is very well done. There is nothing standing in the way of believability. (+1)

There is some intentional humor. (+1) There are also some throwaway lines that are just priceless
”Don’t interrupt me when I’m asking rhetorical questions.”
(+1/2)

Story Line


The story line is marginally believable. Once the viewer has accepted the premise of an Impossible Missions Force that breaks all the rules for the good of the country, then much of what comes later is believable. (+1) The viewer is sucked in to the story line right from the beginning. The director made a great decision to have the “countdown” scene at the beginning in order to get the viewer engaged in trying to figure out what was happening. In addition, there were really two movies here. The first is getting the bad guy and the second is saving the spy’s wife. This is a very effective method in an action movie. (+1)

There is not much original here. In fact, the viewer will be reminded of the movie True Lies. From the spy’s wife who is kidnapped to the attack on the bridge.

Acting


The acting is fairly decent. Tom Cruise is best at smiling. His grimacing leaves much to be desired. But, there are times where he comes out of his shell a bit and at least looks like he is thinking. The bad guy doesn’t act at all, and everyone else gives it a try. Nobody looks totally talentless, but a few appear to have a go at it. (+1/2)

The stunt work was very good. From the background of the movie, it appears that Cruise did most of his own stunts, including being slammed into a car sideways. The stunt looks so good that it appeared to be CGI’ed instead. It’s good to know that real stunts can look so good. (+1)

The Bad


There was no reason to use the gimmick of “gung-ho middle management type wants to deal with the enemy in order to get WMD into the hands of an Arab country in order to have America attack said country for the furtherance of Democracy.” The political leanings of the writers are too well projected here. (-1)

There is a little violence. More of it is (as the rating shows) “frenetic action.” Most of the gratuitous violence hit the cutting room floor.

There is little overt sex in the movie. After the wedding, there is a scene where his shirt is taken off in a hallway. It is left up to the readers’ imagination what happened next.

The Ugly


+7: Time well spent.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home