Techtite's DVD Reviews!

"If you refuse to see M:I 3 because you don't like Cruise, sorry, but it must really suck to be you right now, because you're missing out on something great, here."

--from the review

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Omitted Gripe Out Of Respect For Ebert: This review originally had this to say about Ebert...which is totally honest, really, though seeing as how now that the DVD is out the poor guy has bigger health concerns to worry about, we felt the least we could do is put the gripe in the "sidebar" column:

In a nutshell: Roger Ebert ended his M:I3 review insisting that variety is exciting and sameness is boring. Was this fair? Maybe he was just too concerned with health matters, because: no, it is not. Yes, this is the third movie in a series. Yes, it has the same characters. Yes, they have the same job of "impossible missions," the same way Captain Kirk always flew in the "same" spaceship. Sequels by their vary nature are for people who want more of the same thing. To insult a sequel for "sameness" is silly. We all hope you get better soon, Mr. Ebert, though if you get back to reviewing movies, maybe you should begin by retooling your M:I3 review. We're just sayin'.

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Mission: Impossible 3

Click picture to order this DVD (Two Disc Special Edition Reviewed)

A Review by Techtite

As always, a review of The Film and the DVD extras.

Film Review: It's weird which movies define a "good" critic. The trick isn't to spot an Oscar contender; that's easy. That is like calling someone a "master food critic" because they can identify caviar. No; a true critic is one that can critique a film based on its own merits, and not the tabloid malarkey surrounding its lead star. So; you don't like Tom Cruise (this is presuming you don't; I know many web sites I frequent that can't stop picking on the guy). Yet Mission: Impossible 3 is not just a good movie; it's one of the best action films in years. If you refuse to see M:I 3 because you don't like Cruise, sorry, but it must really suck to be you right now, because you missed out on something great, here.

You may notice the reviews that "hated" this film refuse to mention much of the actual story. This would be a mistake, indeed, because as simple as all action film stories are, this one is effective. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is sent to retrieve rookie agent Lindsay (Keri Russell), one of his star pupils. Only now she has been captured, and what's worse; her captors are the sort of jerks who ram pill sized bombs through your nose. As you might expect, Ethan doesn't like jerks who want to blow up the cute little nose of "Felicity."  The chase is on to take them down.

Their leader is Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman), but getting him will not be a piece of cake. The guy is like a ghost. Getting him would be an impossible mission...or in this case, "Mission: Impossible 3." Adding to the difficulty curve is the project Owen is trying so hard to protect, known only as The Rabbit's Foot. This "Foot" is very important to Owen, which makes it very important to Ethan, to take it right out from under him. Ask not what "The Rabbit's Foot" is, because in a good action film, this is immaterial. The Rabbit's Foot might as well have been what John Travolta and Samuel Jackson had in their briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Any action film is as good as the chase, not the "prize."

Not that the plot to this movie was even necessary. To be honest; all an action movie needs to be is exciting. I found this film to be just that. If haters wish to bash this film, they had better remind me which part of this movie was boring, because I seem to have missed it. I was too busy enjoying the moment where Ethan must reach a skyscraper's slanted roof, by swinging to it from the top of an adjacent skyscraper. Then there's the scene where some of the villain's more ruthless allies blow up a whole highway bridge just to help "free" their ally, Owen. Did I mention the kidnapped agent with a miniature explosive stuck in her head? Anti-Cruise critics claim they wanted something "more." Whatever.

It helps that this was a film directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams. He's the man behind such gritty TV dramas as "Alias" and "Lost," so he's no stranger to gritty action stories. He's also no stranger to three dimensional characters, which he offers here as much as any two-hour film can allow. For one thing: Ethan is no longer a rubber stamp agent going through the paces. He's now trying a "normal" life at home with fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan); a gutsy nurse who might have worked right alongside Ethan in another life, but for her own safety Ethan makes her think he is just an average Joe in an average job.

(By the way: the whole film begins with a flash-forward of a man holding a gun to Julia's head. Ask not why the haters of this film did not mention this in any of their reviews. That would imply this is a gritty action film, which they would rather not admit.)

Am I a Cruse fanboy? Not hardly. Yet love or hate Cruise, he's still the guy in Born on the Fourth of July, so we know what he's capable of. Yet the fact is: this was a well cast movie, period, Cruise or no Cruise. I particularly liked Jonathan Rhys Meyers as one of Ethan's teammates, (and who is probably best remembered as "Elvis" in the recent TV mini-series).  It's a little role, but he performs it well. Yet who would've thought that cute lovable "Felicity," Keri Russell, could so believably get thrown a pistol, aim it at her kidnappers with an "Arrrgh!!!" and make the whole moment so kick-ass believable? Add award winning actors like Hoffman, Ving Rhames (as a returning character) and Lawrence Fishbourne (as Ethan's boss), and you have a film very well cast. Sorry, haters. It just is.

Will this sway the Cruise bashers? No. Yet if any action film buff avoided M;I 3 just because of petty tabloid politics, we advise against it. We all know pill-popping postpartum patients were perturbed at Cruise's persecution of Prozac popping. We all know Tom got Katie Holmes pregnant, which is a "big deal" to...well, to the men who would've rather gotten her pregnant. We all know Cruise put shoeprints on Oprah's couch, which is a big deal because, hey, aren't people taking Prozac to avoid doing that? Yet none of this is important when looking at the film, not the man. A good critic must look at films as standalone entities, beyond tabloid hype. Nobody ever said an action film was an interview for guests to attend your next family picnic. This was only meant to be another Mission: Impossible movie, and frankly, it was the best so far.

---Techtite

The DVD Extras!: What you really want to know, one must presume, are what extras were added to the two-disc special edition. Let's cover what is given in both standard and "special" editions, first.

Not to sound like a Cruise fanboy, though I do admire a star that stands behind his workm, even if it didn't do as well as anticipated. To wit: Cruise is on hand for audio commentary, along with director JJ Abrams. Too many times have I wanted to know why a star did this or that scene in this or that way, only to have them leave skid marks from the DVD. Whatever you think of cruise; every actor should stand behind their work for the film's DVD commentary, and Cruise did.

There are also deleted scenes, and yes, they are included on the single disc edition, or so we have been informed. Disc one also includes "The Making of the Mission" and a tribute montage of the "excellence in film," you should see for yourself. It's not something easily summarized.

On the second disc ---only available in the "special edition"--- are mostly the sort of things that are only pertinent to a diehard fan of Mission: Impossible movies. Featurettes include: "Inside the Action Unit," "Visualizing the Mission," "Inside the IMF," "Mission: Metamorphosis," "Scoring the Mission," "Launching the Mission," and a tribute montage called "Generation: Cruise." Topping off the second disc of extras is "Moviefone Unscripted: Tom Cruise/JJ Abrams," a photo gallery, and a collection of trailers. All told: this is an impressive list of extras, to be sure, though agnostic viewers should have all they want on disc one.

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