Movie of the Week: Mission: Impossible III

   

    Movie of the Week (2/2/14-2/8/14): There is a scene in this film, part of it is shown in the opening and the rest is shown later, where the villain has Ethan Hunt and his girlfriend handcuffed to two chairs. The villain then proceeds to point a gun at her head and tries to force Ethan to tell him where The Rabbit's Foot is, but Ethan swears he gave it to him. The villain then starts counting to ten and Ethan continues to tell him that he already has it. Then in a fit of rage, that is probably one of the best ever on screen, he shoots her in the leg then yells at Ethan with the camera right on his face with even more rage that is absolutely terrifying to watch, but at the same time great. That actor playing the villain is Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who passed away just yesterday, so this week we honor him with one of my favorite roles of his. This is Mission: Impossible III.
    This is another film in the Ethan Hunt adventure series and one of my favorites in the series. This one focuses more on Hunt's personal life as he tries to keep his job a secret from his girlfriend. But then he ends up trying to take down an arms dealer who has some kind of weapon, which we don't know what kind, called The Rabbit's Foot and things then backfire. He soon has to go out and get The Rabbit's Foot himself and we are then propelled through a series of intense shootouts and interesting intense scenes that involve having small bombs placed in people's heads.
    Tom Cruise is Ethan Hunt and he probably gives us his best performance as the character as his emotions take over several of the scenes because things get very personal. Ving Rhames plays the trusty side-kick as he reprises his role as Luther Stickell. Maggie Q and Jonathan Rhys Meyers join the series as members of Ethan's team to help him take down the arms dealer. Michelle Monaghan also joins as Ethan's girlfriend. Simon Pegg is there for the comedic relief. But, the best role of this film goes to Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Owen Davian, the notorious arms dealer, who gets what he wants. This role might not be the best villain in history but it is one for the ages as Hoffman delivers us a true character that we love to hate, he gives us one powerful performance here!
    This film is also directed by the great J.J. Abrams, the man behind the new Star Trek films, and he gives it his own touch with the fast paced and cut action scenes. But he doesn't stop at the action scenes, even the dialogue scenes are done in such a way that they themselves are intense. There is one scene with Laurence Fishburne that is very intense and the way that J.J. does it, you begin to hate him even though he is on Ethan's side. With that the film also has fantastic editing that adds to the excitement of the film, especially one shootout on a bridge that was done very well and will leave you sweating once it's over.
    The film also has an updated version of the iconic theme that we all know, but we have a new and intense score that is particularly good and gives the film the extra boost it needed. With the score, direction, and editing, it is all mixed together to make one great thrill ride. But, this film wouldn't have been completed without the wonderful performance of the Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The intensity and emotion that he brought to his scenes is unquestionably fantastic and I really can't picture anybody else in the roles but him. His untimely tragic death is awful, even it was caused by his own doings, his loss will be felt in the film industry.
3/4 Stars.