Mission: Impossible III ★★★½

Most action movie franchises end up on a downward trajectory but the Mission Impossible films just keep getting better.

Brian De Palma’s original 1996 film was excellent, John Woo’s 2000 follow-up filmed in Australia was an interesting mis-step and parts 4, 5 and 6 have elevated proceedings to a level that rivals James Bond.

While MI-3 from 2006 is probably second from the bottom in terms of quality, that’s mainly because 1, 4, 5 and 6 are so good. In fact MI-3 is a pivotal film in that it’s style and approach fits firmly between 1 and 2 and sets a clearer direction for the type of films we have had since.

Cruise is obviously the controller of the franchise overall, but you can also put a fair bit of the success of this franchise re-set down to J. J. Abrams who made his directorial debut with MI-3 and helped write the script which also builds lead character Ethan Hunt’s personal and emotional as well as professional and intellectual arc..

Hunt has retired from IMF fieldwork and is now a trainer of agents. He is also settling down with his fiancée, nurse Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), who is unaware of his real job.

But he is approached by IMF Assistant Director John Musgrave (Billy Crudup) and agrees to lead a mission to rescue one of his protégés, played by Keri Russell, who has been captured by international arms dealer Owen Davian. The team includes Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q) and the familiar face of Luther Stickell, played by Ving Rhames.

Of course everything doesn’t go as planned. Hunt leads an unofficial mission to kidnap Davian that also goes wrong and, as usual for the franchise, pouts Hunt at odds with his superiors and the motives of his country.

If you’re struggling to recall which instalment this is, it’s the one that features Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s excellent turn as the villain and action set-pieces including a helicopter gun battle while evading wind power towers, a Vatican break-in, the rooptop jump that cost Cruise a broken ankle, a slingshot leap across Shanghai skyscrapers and, best of all, a missile attack and gun battle on a bridge.

It’s also the film that greatly improved the face mask and vouice technology that has become another signature trademark of the franchise.

MI-7 comes out mid this year and I can’t wait.

Watched on Prime