Mission: Impossible III

Dir: J.J. Abrams

2006

**

Ten years had passed since the original Mission: Impossible reboot and the tone still wasn't quite right. The first film had a lot going for it but overdid the action somewhat. The second film outdid the first and turned itself into a ridiculous action film with Tom Cruise becoming a short and skinny version of Bruce Willis - in a wig. The espionage, the heart of what Mission: Impossible was all about, was absent without leave. The gaps between the films suggests that no one was really sure what tone the films should have or what direction the franchise should go toward. Directors David Fincher and Joe Carnahan were both attached to the third film and both walked after differences over 'tone' and 'direction'. Carnahan gave 15 months of his life to the project and years later Fincher pondered on his time attached to the project and said "I think the problem with third movies is the people who are financing them are experts on how they should be made and what they should be. At that point, when you own a franchise like that, you want to get rid of any extraneous opinions." Actors Kenneth Branagh, Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson were at one point attached but later walked after delays. Thandie Newton was asked to reprise her role from the previous film but declined, she had seen success in 2004's overrated drama Crash but I'm not sure it was the sort of thing she could afford to pass over, she made Norbit instead which kind of says it all. I'm surprised the film even got made, if it weren't for the money they made in the last two films it wouldn't but they really had to pull something out of the bag. In my opinion, they didn't but it was an improvement on the last. J.J. Abrams was approached by Cruise after he had spent a weekend binge-watching the entire series of Alias. It was a risk hiring him considering he hadn't directed a feature before but the film certainly looked better than the previous films. The story however is still not in keeping with the Mission: Impossible style. The action was toned down and there was more espionage but the whole retired-spy-rejoins-the-team-to-rescue-his-new-wife-from-evil-genius was a bit naff by 2006, making it feel like a completely different entity, a rejected Bond script at best. The film boasts an impressive cast of acting talent including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Eddie Marsan and Laurence Fishburne but the lack of decent script or good direction from Abrams leaves the movie with no great performance. However, Simon Pegg returned and character's chemistry with Cruise's Ethan Hunt was a highlight and certainly planted a seed that I believe saved the franchise.