Mission: Impossible III (2006) - Review

Mission: Impossible III (2006) - Review

Mission: Impossible III is the franchise's most important creative turning point and the film that restored the series' dramatic credibility after the catastrophic misfire of Mission: Impossible 2. J.J. Abrams's 2006 entry is not the franchise's finest film, but it is a film of real dramatic intelligence and emotional consequence, a work that gives Ethan Hunt a personal life of genuine weight, introduces the franchise's finest villain in Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian, and delivers its action sequences with a physical clarity and consequence the Woo sequel conspicuously lacked. It understands what made the original so compelling and attempts to restore those qualities while adding a human dimension the franchise had not previously attempted, succeeding with enough conviction and craft to make it the franchise's second finest entry at the time of its release.

At a Glance

Director: J.J. Abrams
Runtime: 126 minutes
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan, Maggie Q
Release: 2006
Critics Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, a significant recovery)
Audience Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, compelling)

Review Breakdown

Plot

Hunt, now semi-retired and engaged to a woman named Julia who does not know his true profession, is drawn back into active service to rescue a former protege captured by an arms dealer named Owen Davian. When Davian captures Julia and threatens her life, Hunt must recover a mysterious device called the Rabbit's Foot while keeping his wife alive. The plot is the franchise's most emotionally consequential, a narrative that uses Hunt's relationship with Julia as a dramatic engine of real weight and genuine stakes. The Rabbit's Foot MacGuffin is the film's most deliberately unexplained element, a decision of narrative intelligence that keeps the focus on the character work rather than the mechanics of the mission.

Characters

Hunt is given the franchise's most complex material in this entry, a man whose professional identity and domestic life are placed in direct and consequential conflict. Cruise plays the character's love for Julia and his eventual desperation with a conviction and emotional openness that makes this the franchise's most affecting performance. Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian is the franchise's finest villain, a man of such complete and real menace that every scene he is in generates a tension and urgency the franchise's more physically oriented antagonists have not always matched. Hoffman plays the character with a stillness and contempt that makes Davian feel genuinely dangerous, and his interrogation scene with Cruise is the franchise's most frightening dramatic passage. Michelle Monaghan's Julia is the franchise's finest female character since the original's Claire, a woman of warmth and courage whose relationship with Hunt gives the film its most emotionally engaging thread.

Tone

Abrams pitches the film at a register of dramatic consequence and purposeful action spectacle, and the approach is largely successful. Mission: Impossible III has a tonal intelligence and seriousness the Woo sequel conspicuously lacked. The action sequences are staged with physical clarity and a sense of consequence, and the Vatican sequence is the film's most purely enjoyable action passage.

Meaning / Themes

At its core, the film is about professional identity and domestic life, about Hunt's role as an IMF agent and his attempt to build an existence with Julia outside the world of intelligence. This is handled with enough intelligence and emotional honesty to give the picture a dramatic dimension the more purely action-focused entries in the franchise have not always pursued.

Direction

Abrams's direction is technically accomplished and dramatically assured, with a command of the film's intimate register and a feel for the emotional stakes the franchise's finest entries have always demonstrated. The Vatican sequence is the film's directorial highlight, a set-piece of considerable visual invention and tension. Michael Giacchino's score is the franchise's most emotionally precise, a propulsive and dramatically sensitive work that gives the film a sonic identity as distinctive as its visual one.

Cultural Reception

Mission: Impossible III was a modest commercial success and a significant critical recovery after the disappointment of Mission: Impossible 2, with most reviewers acknowledging Hoffman's extraordinary performance and the film's seriousness of purpose. Its reputation has grown considerably in the years since, and it is now consistently regarded as one of the franchise's finest entries and as the film that made the series' subsequent creative achievements possible.

Who Should Watch

Essential viewing for franchise fans and a rewarding film for general audiences. Mission: Impossible III works as a standalone film and as a franchise entry, and Hoffman's Davian is compelling enough to reward viewers with limited prior knowledge of the series.

Final Verdict: The franchise's most important creative turning point and the film that gave the series back its dramatic purpose. Hoffman's Davian is the franchise's finest villain, Cruise's performance is the franchise's most affecting, and Abrams's direction gives the material a seriousness and emotional precision the franchise had not previously achieved. Mission: Impossible III is not the franchise's finest film. It is the film that made the franchise's finest films possible, and that is a more significant achievement than it might appear.

The Mission: Impossible Series

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