M:i:III

First of all, I've got to say it was FANTASTIC. A movie that's top of its genre. It doesn't matter if you're not a fan of action movies - this is popcorn entertainment at its best! Incredibly fast-paced, a rather solid plot, gadgets galore and of course, gorgeous people, this should no doubt be on the list the hottest movies to be released this year.

This Tom Cruise vehicle, as Mak observed, has about 30 seconds out of the 2 hours with no Tom. Other than that, it's Tom Cruise all the way. The story moves along at a frantic pace, and the action sequences are really awesome. There's the compulsory car-chasing scene(s), helicopters, jumping from buildings, plenty of gunfire... It kind of makes it feel that you've seen it all before, but the movie brings all of it to another level as these elements come into play one after another.


Stills from M:i:III

Basic storyline goes like this: Ethan's wife is kidnapped and he needs to get what the kidnappers want. He's given a tight time constraint and manages to meet it with the help of his fellow IMF people. What seperates M:i:III from the usual tiresome storyline that has repeated itself in plenty of movies before is the locations where the whole thing takes place. There's of course the US of A, and an incredible operation where Ethan kidnaps the bad guy at Rome, Italy, followed by him jumping off a skyscraper in Shanghai. Oh, and there's him leaping off roofs (which reminds me of Memoirs of a Geisha!) in a rather rural part of China too.


M:i:III Premiere in Rome

Other attractions in the movie include the fact that the team is multiracial. You have Maggie Q, the Asian (born to an American father and Vietnamese mother in Hawaii) and only girl, then there's the smouldering Jonathan Rhys-Meyers who's British and starred in Bend It Like Beckham, and last of all Ving Rhames, who's the black and rather fatherly figure of the group. They've certainly got all their bases of appeal (& representation) covered!

To add to that, are the ingenious methods they come up with to get out of sticky situations, to carry out their missions and of course, to scheme against the bad guys. Without all of that, they wouldn't be able to succeed in their mission.

Tom Cruise in GQ Mag
Despite his cranky antics of late, his latest movie certainly cements his place in Hollywood as the all-smiling good guy, who's cool with the looks to boot. I used to dislike him because I thought he was this over-hyped figure in the industry, but now I understand his appeal. He immortalises characters who seem normal but become heroes under crazy circumstances. He's the kind of guy guys want to be - unfazed in the face of danger, sweeps the ladies off their feet and maybe, a lip reader.

I'm tempted to give the movie 4.5/5, but I'll give it a 4. It's just missing a little something, that left me wanting more even after it finished. It's really something that's worth watching in the cinema. To end it off here's two of the younger actors which managed to hold their ground against all the other big names in the movie - Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Maggie Q.


Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in L'uomo Vogue


The incredibly gorgeous Maggie Q.