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Mission:
Impossible 3
After
the massive success of the second installment in the series, Cruise
was on Fire. He continued to dominate the box office in the early
2000’s with hits such as “Minority Report” and “The Last
Samurai”. In 2005, he was set to get even bigger, re-teaming with
Steven Spielberg for a remake of the sci-fi classic “War of the
Worlds”. Also around this time, Cruise felt it was the right period
of his life to shed the mysterious persona he had carried for years
and let it all out on the table. Apparently, he was a member of the
Church of Scientology, a controversial cult populated by many
Hollywood Celebrities. Having done this for years, Cruise had let the
power of his celebrity status get to his head, and he started
to act, well… a bit wierd. His career would be changed forever, and
not for the best, when he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2005.
Recently
appearing in public with new girlfriend Katie Holmes, Cruise shared
his love for her to the world, in the most expressive way he could
think of – by jumping on a couch. It was a wierd episode of the
highly respected talk show, as Cruise displayed an hour of unhinged
and uninhibited behaviour to declare his love for Katie Holmes. From
here on, he ranted and raved about the “Amazing” Church of
Scientology and suddenly, Tom Cruise the actor became Tom Cruise the
preacher, prophet and psychology-basher. This once appealing and
endearing box office star turned into a somewhat spiteful and
contemptuous man, claiming that Scientology was the premier religion
and the solution to basically all of life’s problems. This did not
go down well with just about everyone, and Cruise lost a lot of fans
and respect. It also began to negatively affect his film career, and
put a splinter into his plans for Mission: Impossible 3.
Originally
due for release in 2005 and not 2006, the film was in its development
stages when the director and most of its principal cast walked away.
The story goes that original director Joe Carnahan left for creative
differences. Kenneth Branagh was cast to play the villain Owen Davian
and Scarlet Johanson would be cast as the female lead. Just before
filming was about to begin, Cruise wanted to involve everyone on the
film in his beliefs and recruit them to the Church of Scientology.
This did not go down well with the cast and crew, resulting in the
director walking and delaying the production of the film by a whole
year. Kenneth Branagh and Scarlet Johanson walked, not wanting to
wait a year and pursue other projects, meaning the films future
looked in doubt. With his own availability all of sudden, Cruise
called up his old buddy Steven Spielberg, and they decided to rush
into production on “War of the Worlds” pushing it’s release a
year ahead into 2005. Filmed quickly, the film was still an
effective piece of cinema, but there are scenes that hint they were
short on time, and had to spend too long on certain parts of the
story, i.e. the basement scene. Not to mention, the ending was a bit
of a cop out. Still, the film did respectively well. However, never
being one to let others ruin his plans, Cruise set out on his Mission
to do the Impossible – make Mission: Impossible 3, even after it’s
original director and majority of it’s cast walked off.
J.J.
Abrams was making some waves in the world of TV, having helmed key
episodes of hit shows such as “Felicity” and “Alias” in the
late 90’s and early 00’s. But it was perhaps one of TVs biggest
and most talked about programs ever, “Lost” that got the
attention of the world, and Tom Cruise. Abrams was yet to direct a
film, so with Cruise’s pulling power and persuasion he convinced
the young up and coming director, to take the now available spot of
director on M:I 3 and production got under way. Kenneth Branagh was
replaced with respected character actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, and
the role of Lindsey went to Keri Russell, replacing Scarlet Johanson.
The timing of the third film turned out to be a blessing, as Cruise’s
popularity had decreased alarming quickly since his very open and
public confessions about his religious beliefs, and his romance with
Katie Holmes put on display for all the world to see. With two hit
entries of the franchise already under his belt, Cruise returned to
his only hit-making vehicle and M:I 3 entered cinemas in May of
2006.
Again,
with a new director, several new settings and a different emotional
arc driving the story, M:I 3 was an all together different film from
it’s two predecessors. Some would say M:I 2 was the Matrix styled /
Hong Kong action film wannabe of the series, so part 3 went back to
basics and delivered a suspenseful and believable action film. Cruise
went back to the short hair look of the first film, and instead of
portraying a one man army like he did in part 2, his character of
Ethan Hunt was joined by another team, and it is the formation and
destruction of this team early on in the film that sets proceedings
in motion.
Having
been with the IMF for a while now, Hunt has stepped down from the
action and works on training new agents to the force. He has also
found himself a lovely girl, called Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who
works as a nurse and is under the impression her husband works for
the Office of Traffic Management. But Ethan is still very much a part
of the secret agency, even if not out on the field kicking butt. He
is called back into action when one of his former students Lindsey
(Keri Russell) gets herself captured by evil villain Owen Davian
(Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Hesitant at first to go on a mission,
Ethan feels obliged as this particular student was one he got close
to, and he joins a few other agents, including his old pal Luther
(Ving Rhames) to bring her back. The mission goes wrong in more ways
than one, as one of the team dies, and Hunt is now pulled into his
old job and driven to bring down the elusive villain and murderer of
his team member, Owen Davian.
M:I
3 set out to be more of a crowd pleaser and lighter piece of
entertainment than the heavy handed first installment, and the
over-stylised action of the second installment. Hunt seems like a
different character once more, after graduating from nerdy point man
in M:I to martial arts expert in M:I 2; in this film, he runs a lot,
jumps a lot and stares a lot. However, now becoming a trademark
moment in every film of the series, Cruise doesn’t disappoint and
once again performs his “The Tom Cruise Dangling from Mid Air
Action Scene”. Winding up in Shanghai, on a game of cat and mouse
as ordered by the films villain, Hunt must get into one building,
from another, break in and steal a piece of technology called The
Rabbits Foot. In a daring move, he will run and jump from the top of
Shanghais tallest building, supported by a thin cable, and land
gracefully on the roof of another building. Sounds easy right? Never
one to shy away from a risky stunt to amaze his audience, Cruise
steps up to the plate and performs this stunt all by himself. It’s
impressive, filmed in one extended take, and showing the diminutive
actor holding nothing back as he runs and jumps off the top of a huge
skyscraper, all in the name of entertainment.
Overall,
M:I 3 makes a decent action film. it jumps from one exotic and
beautiful location to another, sending it’s hero around the world
in pursuit of his villain, and his girlfriend once she is taken
hostage. Hunt must also contest with his own agency who believe he
has betrayed them, and fight for his own survival at the same time.
Upon
viewing it, Mission: Impossible 3 looks like it was made to be the
last film in mind of the series. It did come full circle, with Ethan
rescuing his girl, deciding to settle down and confessing to her he
was actually a super secret agent, and not a guy who monitored the
traffic. The ending scene was light and fluffy, showing Ethan and
Julie walking away, arms wrapped around each other and the screen
fading to black. It felt like a good bye scene, but as Cruise
continue to restore his career after his silly antics in 2005, he
went back to the well for a fourth time, to bring us “Mission:
Impossible – Ghost Protocol” in 2011. And the results were
surprisingly good.
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