MI3

A co-worker and I were talking the other day about how an action movie, in order to be a truly great action movie, needs a truly great bad guy. Mission Impossible 3 fits the bill better than the trailers indicate. Philip Seymour Hoffman is, I believe, one of the greatest working actors in Hollywood today and seems to absolutely throw himself wholly into every role he plays. MI3 is no exception to that. If Owen Davien says, "Tell me what I want to know by the time I count to 10 or I will shoot (insert person you care deeply about) in the head" you'd better believe he's going to do it. He's that kind of evil, and a truly great action movie bad guy.

That said, you should realize by now that you can't judge MI3 by the first two. It's a completely different beast. J.J. Abrams makes his film directorial debut, and it's a great one. I think having directed tv shows such as "Alias" and "Lost" made the transition to film rather smooth. And I'm sure it doesn't hurt when you're working with such talent as Lawrence Fishburn, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Billy Crudup, and the list goes on.

Tom Cruise does his own stunts, and I think it makes a difference when you actually see the guy's face who is jumping off the roof of a building, or out a window, or being thrown into the side of a car by an explosion.

I'm having two online conversations and trying to write this review, so I'm not concentrating much. I guess I really can't think of anything else to say except that it's a really good movie and go see it for yourself. If nothing else, go see it for the Superman Returns, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Carribean 2, and Nacho Libre trailers before the movie. If only there were a Snakes on a Plane trailer... ;-)