Having not been terribly impressed with M:I or M:i:II, I didn’t expect much more than a lot of action with M:i:III. Perhaps that’s exactly the right pre-screening mind set because I had a great time watching this third impossible mission.

Fair or not, the film opens with a scene stolen from the films pre-climax. It’s a tense scene in which agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his new wife are captured, tortured and at the mercy of the villain. This opening sets the stage for a tension/adrenaline that stays alive the rest of the picture.

The film tries a little harder at plausibility than its predecessors, but still will make the choice for action over believability every time. And while it certainly displays more than one moment of no-way-that-would-never-happen, somehow, M:i:III never loses its audience. Cruise is magnetic, the pace sharp and the build toward climax careful. And of course, all that beautiful action.

That said, the post climax resolution goes cheesy and there’s an odd unexplainable pause in the climax scene that left me with a big question mark over my head. The twists aren’t anything all that new, still, you’ll appreciate how the film aggressively goes for the action without spending endless exposition to keep its audiences abreast.

It’s really a strong B+ film. I had a lot of fun and it gave me that wonderful cinema experience of not wanting it to end.

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