This review doesn't contain enough of the film to spoil it for you, but it does contain a plot summary. Read on at your own peril.
I'm cautious about cinema viewing. Costs a few bob; could be cack. But with Mission Impossible Three that must be thrown to the wind. Sure the 2nd one had all the hallmarks of a John Woo film which made it chock a bit with the action being stopped for a slow soft routine before being flung back into the nail biting action, thankfully those slower parts gave you time to catch your breathe again. It was a belter and made expectations for any further sequels that little bit tighter.
Enter MI:III released in the UK 04/05/06 featuring 2 of the cast from the original film (Cruise and Rhames), some Bureaucrats (Fishburne and Crudup), a mismatched team of experts (Maggie Q, Meyers and Pegg), a dead sister type figure for Tom (Russell), a wife for him too (Monaghan) oh! And a baddie, can't forget the baddie (Hoffman).
Okay that's the cast, what's the story? Well Tom has given up being a field agent. He wants to turn into a family guy. He's even throwing an engagement party after the opening credits. He finally looks happy. Oh best get that phone call Tom. That girl you trained. The only one that you have ever recommended personally has been captured. You're the only one for it Tom. Meet the team via the operation later, that woman you saved has a bomb in her head - save her now To... oh no, you know that sister type non-sexual friend you had Tom?..She’s dead.
Kidnap the guy that did it to her, the bad guys obvious psychic abilities are overlooked throughout the whole film. How does the bad guy know the best way to rile Tom is to say 'If you have a wife or loved one, I'm going to murder you in front of them.' never before has a bad guy said this to Tom, never before has he just got married - Talk about bad luck, oh wait a min, let's do just that. The mid to end section of the story is held together by the fact that Tom has to steal a hugely scary virus type thing called 'The Rabbits Foot' and exchange it for his wife.
Okay so the story was hack written like 'The Da Vinci Code', I didn't come here for a plausible story man. Let’s get a move on!
The action in the film is outstanding. While the violence isn't on a par with that of MI:II some of the stunts alot crazier. Tom has obviously worked out on his figure some more as there was a whole 45 seconds scene of him running his ass off which is the only real endurance that Tom shows in this film impressive though. His character is not quite up to scratch, but it seems acceptable as he hasn't been a field agent for a while. Fishburne and Cradup play their sparring roles very well. Fishburne really opened up his character and explored it with the small amount of screen time he got. Cradup pulls off his underdog role really well. Hoffman (the bad guy), well he was unfortunately just token bad guy. No background, no passionate storyline, no real reason to be there. He acts very much like a mechanical man and does a great job of it, he could have done with more to his role though to help beef him out.
Monaghan who plays his wife does a nice job of it. I say nice because that is what she is. Nice touching on walkover. She fulfils her role perfectly. Another poor role for a fine actress.
Now onto the team Maggie Q is the looker for the guys, Meyers is the loveable Irish rogue for the girls and Pegg is the outside geek person. Maggie and Meyers have alot of fun in their various roles in the film with characters that should be developed further. It's a well balanced team with Rhames as the obvious head of it now that Tom has gone. Plenty of fun and action and a sense that they do this type of thing often enough for it to be commonplace but still with the excitement of not getting caught.
Which, I suppose, leaves the end for Mr Pegg's part. Well, it's small; 3 scenes in total. The last being the silent montage type scene. I won't spoil it for you. All I will say as a Spaced fan is don't expect too much, you'll enjoy it better that way. The first scene you see him in had my brain running in quite a few directions at once, and the way the camera pans into Rhames and Toms face was heavily reminiscent of a certain early scene from Spaced (1.5). His second scene stole the show for me and made me kick myself about what I had been expecting from the first scene. I think he had plugs in though which was a bit odd looking.
All in all a fun action film. Piss poor storyline, some of the characters could have been filled out more, some excellent stunts, something for the boys and girls. Good ol' nonsense escapism film. If I had to rate it 7/10.
-m0r