Mission: Impossible III (2006)

These movies get better and better with every movie. Now, I saw all three of these films in succession, Mission: Impossible, then Mission: Impossible II, and lastly, Mission: Impossible III, or stylized, M:i:III. But I’m not a big fan of the stylization, so I’m just gonna call it by its real title, if you don’t mind. Either way, this film is directed by JJ Abrams, who would later go on to directing the Star Trek reboot and Super 8, all of which are fantastic films. This film, his directorial film debut, while not as strong as the other films he’s worked on (also, he produced Cloverfield, which is completely epic), is definitely a great film. I think it’s the best one in the series. Well, Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol comes out later this year with JJ writing and producing, so who knows. But this is the best one yet. The film begins where the previous one left off, again starring Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, and he’s got another evildoer to stop. And now to complicate things, the villain will do anything to get to Ethan, including kidnapping and threatening to kill his fiancée and later wife, played by Michelle Monaghan. Michelle was good in Eagle Eye, and she was great in Source Code, and she’s great here. Cruise is great as always, and there are also a lot of other spectacular supporting characters, including Laurence Fishburn, who continues to scare me, and Simon Pegg, who continues to make me laugh even in an extremely serious action series such as this one. The cast is better here, the writing is better here, and the direction is definitely better here (and yes, JJ does his notable lens flares). I recommend this entire series, but if you’re going to watch any single one of them, you really need to watch this one.
8.5/10