Mission Impossible III (2006)

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Director: J.J. Abrams

Writers: Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci & J.J. Abrams

Stars: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell



Pulling off stunts that could only be accomplished by Batman or a committed Scientologist, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), backed up by his IMF team (Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, & Jonathan Rhys Meyers), leaps into action once again to rescue his wife (Michelle Monaghan) and prevent sinister arms dealer Owen Davies (Philip Seymour Hoffman) from getting his mitts on a mysterious weapon known only as the Rabbit's Foot. 



This is a hugely entertaining film. 



TV auteur J.J. Abrams showed that he had what it took to make it on the big screen, efficiently stringing together an exhausting sequence of major action set pieces with just enough plot to provide context without getting in the way of the thrills. 



Some reviewers have complained that we never learn what the Rabbit's Foot is, but I think that is just Abrams's affectionate joke on the action movie genre that recognizes that it doesn't *matter* what it is, just so long as everyone is desperate to get their hands on it.

 


A major step up from the terrible MI:II and definitely more coherent than the first one.



















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