Mission: Impossible III is a nice change-up from the lame sequel with a better emotional core for Ethan Hunt as a character and Cruise seemed far more at ease in the role compared to M:I-2.
Mission: Impossible III
(2006)
Genre(s): Action, Suspense/Thriller
Paramount | PG13 – 123 min. – $31.99 | June 26, 2018
Date Published: 06/19/2018 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 4.25/5 |
|
Plot Synopsis: Lured back into action by his agency superiors (LAURENCE FISHBURNE and BILLY CRUDUP), Ethan Hunt (TOM CRUISE) faces his deadliest adversary yet – a sadistic weapons dealer named Owen Davian (PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN). With the support of his IMF team (VING RHAMES, JOHNATHAN RHYS MEYERS and MAGGIE Q), Ethan leaps into spectacular adventure from Rome to Shanghai as he races to rescue a captured agent (KERI RUSSELL) and stop Davian from eliminating his next target: Ethan’s wife, Julia (MICHELLE MONAGHAN).
Quick Hit Review: Mission: Impossible III was released six years after the previous installment, a long time especially considering M:I-2 took in gobs of money, though reviews were, at best, lukewarm. So with the passage of time, it would seem Tom Cruise and company regrouped and came up with a much darker, more serious and grittier movie compared with the last. The result was an entertaining movie that tried to rise above just being a summer popcorn fest and gave the series a much needed, and missing, emotional core, not to mention the best villain in the franchise, and perhaps one of the nastiest in cinema to come down the pike in a long time (RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman). The supporting cast is also fairly good, though hardly the best with Ghost Protocol or Rogue Nation, but always a positive when you have Ving Rhames as part of the IMF crew and both Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q were solid additions, shame neither came back, though I can only hope when Cruise decides to part from the series, we see some kind of reunion with previous IMF members (living, of course). Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne join as high-ranking officials and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays an absolutely scary, ruthless and villain without one iota of a conscience.
Mission: Impossible III was one hell of a feature-length debut for J.J. Abrams, plucked from successes on television with Felicity and Alias by Cruise and really did a bang-up job bringing back a wonderful, albeit dark, look and still encapsulating the M:I feel, missing from John Woo’s action-laden but vapid sequel. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 4.5/5 |
|
This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. The third disc filled with features was previously unavailable in the “Extreme Trilogy” collection. Discs 1 & 2 (4K and BD): Disc 3: Inside the IMF (21:15; SD) looks at the members of the team in M:I-3. Mission Action: Inside the Action Unit (25:39; HD) takes us on location and sets on how some of the action sequences were filmed. Probably just as interesting as the making-of featurette… Visualizing the Mission (10:40; HD) covers the pre-viz of the action scenes. Mission: Metamorphosis (8:09; HD) goes into how the mask making machine was created as well as making it more seamless. Scoring the Mission (4:59; HD) looks at composer Michael Giacchino’s process of bringing his own style to a familiar sound. Moviefone Unscripted: Tom Cruise/J.J. Abrams (8:03; SD) is a fun featurette with the pair answering fan questions. Launching the Mission (14:04; SD) shows off the premieres from New York, Rome, Paris, London and Japan. Deleted Scenes (5:21; SD) – We get five scenes that for one reason or another were trimmed or complete cut. Theatrical Trailers (5:23; HD): Teaser Trailer, Japan Trailer, Theatrical Trailer 1, Theatrical Trailer 2 TV Spots (3:14; HD): “Go Live”, “It’s Over”, “Execute”, “Madness”, “New Escape” and “Conspiracy Regular” Photo Gallery with still images. Last is the Excellence in Film (9:15; HD) footage honoring Tom Cruise. Oh, and there are two Easter Eggs, both short behind the scenes footage. |
VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
| Mission: Impossible III dives onto 4K presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and a 2160p high-definition transfer which looks great throughout. This is by all standards a pretty dark movie, not only in terms of the story and stakes, but the change from the brightly lit sequel is rather stark. Even so, detail was still sharp and those black levels were nice. Although it is dark, there are some splashes of color that looked bright, boosted with the assistant of the HDR. |
AUDIO – 5.0/5 |
| The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track meanwhile was equally as impressive. Dialogue levels coming through the center channel sounded crisp and clear, but where the track comes to life is from the various action scenes, enveloping every channel from the rocket-launched explosions on the bridge even to the fight-laden finale. |
OVERALL – 4.5/5 |
|
Overall, Mission: Impossible III is a nice change-up from the lame sequel with a better emotional core for Ethan Hunt as a character and Cruise seemed far more at ease in the role compared to M:I-2. As for this 4K release, the features were great while the audio/video transfers were superb. |
The screen captures came from the Blu-ray copy and are here to add visuals to the review and do not represent the 4K video.