A Review of "Mission Impossible III"

Mission Less Interesting: A DVD Review

Now, I know that Tom Cruise is a nut. We all know that, right? He was jumping up and down on Oprah's couch and decrying the use of medication to treat depression. He called Mat Lauer "glib." Despite all of that, however, I still confess to having enjoyed the "Mission Impossible" movies thusfar. I particularly enjoyed the first one even though I had a very good friend who was passionately against that particular movie. Something about it worked even though large portions of it were a little silly.

I saw the second one when it came to DVD and I had to admit it was difficult to understand. John Woo did that one and the action sequences were amazing and a lot of people moved in slow motion and there were so many birds flying around indoors you had to wonder why anyone would want to do anything in that particular building. Still, it was all rather exciting. Little of it made any sense when you looked at it too hard. It had something to do with a virus and even though it seemed like the bad guys released someone in the middle of a crowd that should have spread the disease all around the planet it didn't happen and Tom managed to save the world in slow motion while batted doves out of the way.

In each movie it become more and more ridiculous as Cruise's Ethan Hunt walked around wearing huge rubber masks of people that he somehow managed to create all on his own. I don't think such rubber masks exist in the real world but it was a cool effect to create with the computer so the filmmakers liked using it. Well, Ethan is back in "Mission Impossible III" and he still has a rubber fetish but this time he is going up against Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the bad guy. The movie is available on DVD and on cable and I am sure, if you are a fan of action films, you may be tempted to watch this movie.

Is it worth watching? My inclination is to say that this is a movie worth watching if you happen to catch it on television. This movie, to me, comes across more like the television show than any of the other movies. The problem is that this means you should really watch it on television and not spend the money to rent it or buy it on DVD.