Loyal once again proves he's a genius. He's right in every single way.

C+

Some of you must've been out smoking a joint between the action scenes or something.

MI3 is a step up from the last one, but comes nowhere near the brilliance of DePalma's. The film basically succeeds on the strength of its action sequences, which are admittedly pretty exciting and well orchestrated. It fails by having the story revolve around Ethan's personal relationship and this leads to a horribly embarrassing final act. So we learn nothing of what the Rabbit's Foot is, nothing about the wasted Philip Seymour Hoffman character (he kicked ass with what he had by the way), we're tossed a shitty villain, a silly brawl in the most uninspiring of locations and Ethan's wife pulling a Lara Croft to save the day. Ridiculous.

The movie had so much promise early on too, a couple of great sequences with the full team working together (Berlin and Rome) that brought me back to the great moments from the first Mission Impossible, though the look of the film did nothing to distinguish itself from other generic action pictures. The killing of Kerri Russell's character was a nice surprise and offerred a way into the story, the remainder of which could not live up to these early moments.

So Abrams shows he has a good eye for the action, but seems pretty uninspired in other areas. The movie is too slick and jumpy and begins to throw too many cheap thrills at the audience (did we really need the scene with the jack-knifing truck and Ethan wildly chasing the cannister?). The script is what really ends up bringing down the movie and we can't blame JJ for that can we? Oh, well yes we can.

B-

What can I say.

So Mole from MI + Chimera from MI2 = MI3?

I enjoyed it more than the other two. The first one bothered me because it was so ridiculously confusing, and the second one seemed like a lot of style with no real substance.

I mean, not a great movie or anything, but the action scenes were loud and chaotic, always a plus for these types of movies. Overall, a good way to start off the season. B

I never watched M:I the show. I don't really remember anything from the first two movies. Needless to say I went to see this purely because it's the movie that kick starts the summer season.

General feeling of the movie: Bleh.

The movie had no soul. The action was numb. The comedy dull. and the cheesy romance sparkless. I didn't care about anything or anyone in the movie.

With that said, it is summer so it was entertaining on that level.

I just don't understand why they can spend soo much money on these movies and just sit down and read through the script and get rid off the stupidity in it. Or at least dont let the movie take itself seriously (a la Mr. and Mrs Smith).

C-

Was I the only one who thought they copied some of the plot ideas from Dan Brown's Angels and Deamons?? Anti-God = antimatter, received in vatican, both are portable, stored in special cannister...

Oh and the movie was a good popcorn flick, the ending killed it and I wanted more Keri Russell.

Also, I could not put aside my image of tom cruise as he was portraying ethan hunt.. he looked goofy to me throughout the entire movie.

A+

Yeah, I'm predictable. But, I friggin' loved it. Sue me. It combined what I loved about the original and what I loved about the sequel. JJ Abrams is brilliant. I wish Hoffman had a bit more screen time, though.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THREE

Where: Harkins theatre OKOKC
When: 05-05-06 2230
Size/Occ: 550/75-80.....to be fair, MI3 was playing on 3 screens with showings @ 11?? and 12?? upcoming

Trailers:
POTC2-excellent reaction and this final trailer looks very nice, one with the kracken
Superman Returns-longer trailer showing lex and the plane...?? final trailer ?? I think it's okay, crowd like
Nacho Libre-when first saw it was so so but this trailer kicks Ass and is a definite hit, crowd LOVED it
Over the Hedge-MI "type" trailer but showing lots having to do with this lady and her house, looks Great

Film: Short and Sweet. Fantastic. I loved it. I thought there was only one slow bit during the film and that was I believe when the team was conducting the kidnapping of PSH. I liked the tone, the characters and plot. I was a bit annoyed with the use of the face as a twist again, but that I can get over. The opening to the film is very jarring which really grabs your attn and leaves you craving the rest of the film as it unfolds. I am pleased how it concluded and am looking forward to MI4. JRM was very hot to give him props. *One other thing to mention PSH was unbelievable in this role. It really shows why he is a Best Actor winner and his level of evil is at it's highest.

Grade of Execution: A

Very disappointing. The plot is tired and otherwise overdone (Must every other film have the hero wrongly accused at some point) and the whole Rabbit's Foot thing was never fully explained, making it even more difficult to care about what happens. Also, what's with them not actually showing Hunt getting the thing in China. He just suddenly has it. All the build-up for nothing. Also not helping matters is the horribly filmed action sequences that lack any sort of kinetic spark, perhaps showing that Abrams isn't a good film director as this is easily the most bland-looking of the three M:I films. At least De Palma and Woo each have a distinct visual style. JJ does not and it comes off looking like an episode of one of his TV shows. Also showing his roots is the casting of Keri Russell. Although she isn't bad her casting is surely because of connections and nothing more.

As for Cruise, he shows that he is a rather limited actor. He never truly embodies the pain and torture of Hunt. You always are aware that you're watching Cruise, not a character. This is similar to any other film he has done with the exception of Magnolia. Hoffman is good but sorely underused. He, unlike Cruise, has shown that he is fully capable of becoming a character, such as he did for his Oscar-winning performance in Capote. Michelle Monaghan is about as good as she can be in the thankless role of Hunt's wife.

In the end, I was just bored far too often for a supposed summer blockbuster. It should have been far better and likely would have been with a different, more distinctive, director at the helm. J.J. Abrams and his co-screenwriters should have been able to come up with a far better and more exciting storyline than what is offered here.

Grade: C

I really wish either Carnahan or especially Fincher had directed. I'm sure even Carnahan's version would have been far better. This is proof-positive as to why TV people should stay in TV.

If your not a big ALIAS fan, i can't see people enjoying this.

I'm glad someone else here thought JJ Abrams did a GREAT job.

A decent return for Agent Hunt and Co as J J Abrams keeps up the level of frenetic action seen in MI2 while avoiding the aformentioned films shallow story.

Crusie really does take center stage in this one with the rest of the movies characters revolving around him, which if you hate cruise isn't going to help you but then you're not likely see this movie then are you.

Of the supporting cast Fishburne and Pegg give the best showing as the IMF head and the Tech guy respectfully indeed I would like to have seen far more of Pegg's character.

The action scenes are suitable loud and spectacular and the good old "Mission Impossible" plays like in the Vatican scene are very enjoyable in a "see how they do it way".
Glad to see Michelle Monagahan in a big movie and she does a good job with her part.

Downsides? I was dissaopinted with Hoffmans character. After the reports that he stole the show from cruise I was expecting something special but his character turns out to be rather bland and lacking in Menace. Then there are quite a few scenes they stretch the realms of believablity which may annoy some viewers with don't suffer absurdity well although I wasn't to bothered.

Overall a good opening for the summer season and we can only hope it keeps up from here

B for me

How anyone can see this film and then call JJ Abrams a genius is beyond me.

It's easy look, HE'S A GENIUS!!! Doesnt mean it's true though, just means I can say it easily.

How can you not love Abrams and his hollow directing. Can anyone honestly tell me they cared about any of the characters and/or what was gonna happen to them? You could've just taken away all the scenes between the action and you would've had the same movie because there was no depth to any of it. Characters and story development was almost non existent. Obviously im not expecting something Oscar worthy nor should I, but an action movie with a huge budget like this shouldnt be just your run of the mill action flick with cliche everything.

Movies like this makes me appreciate the Bourne series that much more, it has totally taken over the spy/thriller genre, makes movies like MI3 look like it was made by a child.

Abrams isn't a genius but he created one hell of a fun ride. This is textbook escapism/popcorn fun.

textbook?

I bet if this movie was breaking 65 million this weekend the same people would be PRAISING Abrams on end.

?

Most of us had our reviews in late Thursday/early Friday. Well before the disappointing BO was clear. In fact, it was still riding on quite a bit of good buzz. I fail to see the correlation.

I even posted before today's numbers that I wanted the film to do well so I could see a MI IV.

Nice try though.

I would bet that the RT score would be weaker if they knew it would disappoint. Why was Narnia fresh?

But here? No.

Did anyone else think Kanye ruined the theme?

Seriously. Limp Bizkit's was better. Talk about stale and uninspired.

I have to say that I'm somewhat disappointed. I liked the movie, but it's nowhere near as good as the first two were. I can't really place it, but something seemed to be off during the entire film. It think it maybe the relationship between Hunt and his fiancee that kind of threw it off. It's cliched and we've seen it before. I don't think this was a smart subplot to go with, and it's especially odd seeing it with the offscreen relationship Cruise has between him and Katie Holmes. I would've liked it better if they had gone the On Her Majesty's Secret Service route and have Owen kill his fiancee instead of the decoy, and then to see Hunt's reaction after that. It could've been like the Bond sequel that never was. Of course though, most audiences probably wouldn't have enjoyed that, but at least it would've been something different.

Another thing that I didn't like was the way that Owen gets dispatched. It reminded me immediately of Speed. That's not a good thing.

Also, I liked the musical score, but where was the MI theme? There needed to be more of it.

On the plus side though the action sequences are fantastic, and that's why I really went to see the film. The film is at it's best at the Vatican with the switcharoo and the bridge sequence. I also enjoyed the scene on the airplane.

B

I'm pretty sure the MI3 screenwriters were up late at night drinking Mountain Dew and talking about Dennis Hopper when they came up with that opus.

Although I did like how Owen's shoe just dropped from the sky.