Mission: Impossible III (2006)

★★★
Mission: Impossible III tries to shake up the formula and try something different. We get the truest MacGuffin of the series, a heist no one sees and a villain whose plan for world conquest is never revealed. What the movie does instead is put together a solid team of I.M.F. agents to carry out the mission and feature an operation in Vatican City that is as elaborate as any similar sequence in the franchise. We also have the added difficulty of Ethan Hunt's relationship with series newcomer Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), which figures into a frantic chase spurred by Ethan's realization that his nemesis intends to do exactly what he said he would do. Director J.J. Abrams is on deck for his take on Ethan's world. At the time (2006), he was known for his television shows Alias and Lost. I never watched the former, though I have been through the latter several times. I suspect there is a bit more of Alias here given that show's premise, but Abrams' most evident contribution is his preference to get straight to the point, which differs from Brian De Palma's slow burn approach and John Woo's stylistic flair.

Indeed, he opens the movie with Ethan (Tom Cruise) held hostage and forced to cough up information to save someone close to him. The villain, Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is losing patience. Ethan tries to negotiate, but his efforts are in vain. Owen pulls the trigger. Cut to Ethan, now back at home some weeks before and hosting a dinner party with girlfriend Julia. Ethan is focused on training new I.M.F. members now and is finished with fieldwork, though work comes calling when a mentee of his, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell), is captured but not disavowed because of the information she carries. A rescue operation is in order, and Ethan finds himself back on a mission, though now he has to take a page from True Lies and tell Julia that he needs to go on travel for the civilian job he uses as cover. Ethan and his team, which includes trusted partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and new additions Zhen Lei (Maggie Q) and Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in tow, travel to Berlin to rescue Lindsey and figure out what she was doing there.

The rescue did not go as planned. Back at H.Q., I.M.F. director Theodore Brassel (Laurence Fishburne) expresses his dissatisfaction with Ethan in a scene reminiscent of a similar tongue lashing in True Lies (the second reference to that movie, but not the last). Computer expert Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) does manage to retrieve information on Owen's whereabouts from some recovered laptops, which leads to an operation in Vatican City. Owen is an arms dealer, and from what we learn of him, he's the most dangerous adversary yet in the series. Ethan's plan is to apprehend him, partially to get him off the streets and partially (mostly) to ensure justice for Lindsey. The whole operation is a thrilling sequence, with gadgets, disguises and trickery being used to execute it. That this happens relatively early in the movie speaks to Abrams' robust imagination. By the franchise's very nature, swerves and twists are commonplace, but Abrams has the confidence to bring what would be the climax or resolution to another movie earlier in the narrative to deliver an even bigger payoff. He and his writing team (Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) guided Lost using the same approach.

Abrams shows his admiration for True Lies yet again with a convoy on a long bridge over open water, though he reverses the players with the good guys driving the vehicles and under attack from above. By this time, Owen has already issued his threat to Ethan—a promise to kill everyone he loves. His escape brings that threat to the fore, and Hoffman's delivery of these lines injects an incredible amount of tension during Ethan's frantic rush to reach Julia first. This movie is very much about how Owen can get a reaction out of his opponents and less about his master plan. Owen seeks the Rabbit's Foot, a device of undisclosed power and secured in a facility in Shanghai. I call it the truest MacGuffin of the series because we never learn its purpose, which gives us the movie's final joke. We understood the NOC list and the Chimera virus, but the Rabbit's Foot remains a mystery. In the role of the villain, Hoffman brings the same menacing mean streak he displayed in Punch-Drunk Love, revealing yet another layer in the multitalented actor's vast range.

There is a tradeoff. The kind of elaborate plot seen in the first two entries is set aside in favor of one rescue operation, a mission of apprehension and a final chase to rescue Ethan's loved one. Even the heist to steal the Rabbit's Foot turns out to be a quick in-and-out, though the method of entry itself is neat. We do get room for another shot of Ethan hanging just above the surface spread out, so he doesn't touch the ground. So far, this image is the series' calling card, like how George Lucas inserted "I've got a bad feeling about this" into his Star Wars movies. Tom Cruise is fantastic yet again as Ethan Hunt, and new editions like Maggie Q and Laurence Fishburne add to the I.M.F. universe of allies. They may only appear once, but this kind of world-building is essential if a series is going to continue and expand. Mission: Impossible III is the weakest entry of the franchise, but it still has plenty going for it, not least of all is Philip Seymour Hoffman's chilling performance. Even when he's calmly patient, he still evokes fear. This is a guy who has every scenario covered. The James Bond films had their lesser efforts, but the good parts help us anticipate the next installment all the same.

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