Big Picture Big Sound

Mission: Semi-Accomplished

"Mission: Impossible III" is the classic example of the irresistible force meeting the unmovable object. I'm not certain who is who in this equation but one player is Tom Cruise while the other is Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Tom Cruise has a unique ability. No matter what role he takes on, when you look up at the screen all you can think is, "Hey it's Tom Cruise." Cruise reprises his role of Ethan Hunt here and he plays it the same way once again. Actually it's the only role you really ever see him in. It's not at all specific to the MI series. Tom smirks and shows gritty looks of determination. Big surprise there. In the other corner we have the evil Owen Davian (Hoffman). Hoffman is an actor of supreme talent with the ability to play any role at all. Here he plays the villain to Cruise's hero of goodness.

What it results in is a pretty fair couple of hours of fun. Director J.J. Abrams is smart enough to keep the action rolling at an almost insane pace unless Hoffman is on screen. Only then can the action be slowed down to a pace where we are not watching Cruise fly through windows or crash into various objects.

The plot is at times unfathomable and "dire" things constantly happen that are really just plain comical. I'd go into greater detail but if you want to see "Mission: Impossible III" you don't care about the plot so I won't waste your time. There is actually one scene where Cruise dons a facemask of Hoffman in order to pull off a scheme. Miraculously, Cruise also acquires Hoffman's body at the same time but it's a summer nonsense movie that came out a little bit early so I really shouldn't nitpick.

I don't think I'm giving anything away when I tell you that in the end the good guys win, against all odds, of course. It's worth seeing because Hoffman is here (I assume for a good paycheck) and the action is top-notch, as is the directing of Abrams. I was disappointed that Cruise didn't do his Oprah couch dance but you can't have everything.