If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog :)I am resuming my reviews of the Mission: Impossible franchise, anticipating the release of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which comes out a few days from now. My thoughts on Mission: Impossible and Mission: Impossible II are already written, and you can click on the titles to read my reviews for those movies. After a massive decline in quality from M:I-1 to M:I-2, this third installment picks the saga back up!There are a lot of aspects improved based on the previous films. First of all, the action. This might be THE movie where the stunt work really achieved jaw-dropping levels. From Cruise's epic runs throughout the streets of Shangai (just a single take!) to the astonishingly filmed money shots, J.J. Abrams makes an impressive debut since this was his first feature film. He knows how to incorporate the actors with the visual effects and this time everything looks incredibly realistic and riveting. This movie has the best action of the first three films, by far.Second of all, the characters. J.J. Abrams brings back the original Ethan Hunt, the one that is not a copycat of James Bond (looking at you M:I-2). Everything about this character's arc makes sense, and his relationship with Julia provides some nail-biting suspenseful moments in the third act, where Michelle Monaghan also shines. Tom Cruise obviously continues to be the star of the franchise, but finally, there is a decent villain ...Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers an exceptional performance as the bad guy. That's just what he is: a bad guy. His character does not get any development, but Hoffman picks up his depthless script and surprisingly makes it work. He is the best villain in the franchise so far, and he is connected to the most suspenseful scene in the movie. Ving Rhames returns as Luther, as well as the character's humorous personality. With so much action and tense moments, it is a breath of relief to be able to smile or even laugh with Rhames' lines.Third and final, the pacing. The second film is an ultimate bore. This one, I even understand people who say that it has too much action and it all comes too fast ... Because it does. The frenetic pacing from the first movie is back, and it goes up a gear or two. There is not a single moment to rest between scenes, and that might be an issue for some, but for me, I needed it after the tedious M:I-2. Dull moments are nonexistent, and the excitement is always at high levels. That is what I call entertainment!Nevertheless, it does has some flaws regarding the plot. Besides being very predictable, its structure bothers me a little. J.J. Abrams decides to begin the film with a scene that I don't really understand why he chose to put it there. I don't want to go into spoilers, but there are a couple of questionable decisions regarding the storyline that just don't quite make sense to me.In addition to this, the story itself is pretty generic. The villain is only amazing due to Hoffman's performance since the script gives zero development. The plot twists are evident by the end of the first act, so they lose their impact towards the end. However, the thing that kind of ruined a perfect ending (still a great ending though) is how they handle Michelle's character. I will just say that it becomes too nonsensical and extremely forced, and Julia is the reason behind it.Despite its flaws, Mission: Impossible III brings the saga back to life with the best action of the entire franchise, some fantastic additions to its cast and a super exciting and riveting pacing. Tom Cruise provides some epic stunts, Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best villain so far, and Ving Rhames continues to be awesome. However, the plot is very generic, predictable and its structure makes some supposedly suspenseful scenes lose its emotional impact. It's a hair below M:I-1 but miles and miles above the awful M:I-2, thanks to J.J. Abrams incredible directorial debut, which is filled with phenomenal camera work, jaw-dropping stunts and a remarkable use of visual effects.

Essentially, 'Mission: Impossible III (2006)' takes the series back to its roots and eases off on the action slightly, though not entirely, to make a movie much more akin to a spy thriller than a straight up action one. It still focuses much more on its high-octane set-pieces than its espionage elements, though. For all intents and purposes, it sets a precedent for the franchise. Subsequent films would go on to raise the bar significantly every time and it never reaches the heights of the first feature, but this flick towers above the series' second instalment and provides plenty of entertainment in its own right, including a fantastically unflinching opening, even though it falls victim to constantly unsteady camera-work and a weak, macguffin-reliant plot. 7/10

Movie Review: "Mission: Impossible III" (2006)With release on May 5th 2006, it became clear that the "Mission: Impossible" movie series under the direction of J.J. Abrams, a director coming immediately from high quality television productions as ABC's "Lost" (2004-2010), turned a corner toward major budgetary needs; receiving a production budget of 150 Million Dollars from all-through international investors, mainly coming from the newly engaged market of China.Shooting with three-angle camera system by followed digital clean ups and color corrections by Stefan Sonnenfeld under supervisions through cinematographer Dan Mindel; the director pushes a screenplay prepared by his long-time collaborators Alex Kurztman and Roberto Orci to the limits with a preliminary open scene for an ultimate stress situation in character Ethan Hunt's evolution, performed by new dramatic grounds testing actor Tom Cruise, who decided as producer to give some ingredients of the first movie from 1996 back to his pre-owned character, which results in a major tension loss after an unless extremely well-made action sequence at a Berlin manufacturing facility within the first 45 minutes of the "Mission: Impossible III". The script gives into a standard set-up of Ethan Hunt marrying the newly introduced character of Julia, before his main assignment of exposing a major bio-weapon trading business man starts.Nevertheless under J.J. Abrams direction the movie gains immense acceleration, which is also due to an upscale supporting cast, all up front actor Philip Seymour Hoffmann (1967-2014) sharing his first major Hollywood production performance as the menacing, down to no mercy character of Owen Davian to challenge the character of Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise empowered to let surface honest beats of full range - in getting threat to lose everything - the character just gained from the life-beginning start of the picture, humanizing the character conflicts to an extent of complete desperation in order to build a promised momentum, departing mega bridge jumps, helicopter gun-firestorming action sequences into a chamber up, close and personal fight to death.The poetic approaches of "Mission: Impossible II" directed by John Woo, have been annihilated and exchanged to a straight forward editorial of Maryann Brandon, who could have used additional trimming down to a 105 minute running time marker, not to diminish all through solid performances by Laurence Fishburne as mission commander, Billy Cudrup, Michelle Monaghan as Julia, dangerously close cast to actress Katie Holmes at that time, and of course the all new from there on not to missed character of Benji Dunn, in nerdy analyst, humor on bureaucracy revolting performance by actor Simon Pegg to sum-up "Mission: Impossible III" as high-end motion picture entertainment as event at movie houses and furthermore staying relevant, open for revisits on home screen devices.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

J.J. Abrams is the director for part three in the Mission: Impossible franchise, meaning that there is an excess of lens flares but also a surfeit of top-notch action making this one yet another small step in the right direction for the series.This time around, retired agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) goes back in the field to try and apprehend Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a sadistic arms dealer who is trying to get his hands on a device code-named "The Rabbit's Foot". In doing so, Hunt not only puts his own life at risk but also that of his wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan).Where parts 1 and 2 were sparing with their action scenes, Mission: Impossible III's pace is much faster, Abrams going all out for tension and excitement, including a superb helicopter chase through a wind-farm, Hunt breaking into the Vatican to capture Davian, an explosive attack on a bridge, and a perilous leap for our hero from one skyscraper to another. As slam-bang Summer blockbusters go, it definitely doesn't disappoint, even though the plot does tend to get a bit silly at times (yes, the rubber mask disguise routine makes an appearance and is still as daft as ever).In the supporting roles, Hoffman makes for a very credible villain, Monaghan is likable as Hunt's Achilles heel, Simon Pegg is reasonable enough as comic relief tech geek Benji Dunn, and Maggie Q supplies the glamour as IMF agent Zhen Lei (while also adding appeal for the Asian market). Billy Crudup and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, on the other hand, are forgettable and Ving Rhames is sorely wasted.