So I finally got around to watching Mission Impossible III - a film I desperately wanted to see at the cinema but couldn’t so as soon as it hit the shelves on monday I was there to buy it, and back home to watch it…
A fair few years ago, a little hyped show reached UK shore on Sky One. Alias told the story of Sydney Bristow, who lived a double life as a bank employee and a kick-ass secret agent battling the forces of evil, desperate to keep her friends from discovering this alter-ego.
Week in, week out Sydney would don uber sexy disguises to bamboozle the bad guys and kung-fu their henchmen, all of the time chasing some macguffin that the bad guys were after in an attempt to rule (or destroy) the world.
All pure Mission Impossible - it had many parallels to the original TV show, even down to the fantastic soundtrack by Michael Giaccino (Lost, The Incredibles). Created by upcoming TV producer JJ Abrams, it soon developed a cult following, and the first two series were fantastic.
Then in season 3, Abrams took a sabbatical to create a new show about a bunch of airplane passengers stuck on a strange island. Lost eclipsed Alias within the first half an hour in terms of viewing figures, and season 3 limped along with occasional flashes of brilliance, but us loyal viewers knew that without Abram’s guidance, Alias was off course.
Abrams returned to shape season 4 and for a time it was good, however as ratings declined and writers changed, even the cast seemed to lose faith. By the time season 5 came to a rapid close, they had tidied up all of the plotlines, but few of us really cared by that point.
However Lost went from strength to strength and with success came fame and soon JJ Abrams was invited by Tom Cruise to direct the third installment of the Mission Impossible franchise. Written and directed by the man himself, I looked forward to seeing what the creator of Alias could do with a budget and a spy theme on the big screen.
What he did was produce Alias: The Movie in all but name and sex of the lead character. This is a good thing - the storyline is pure Alias as once again a macguffin may destroy the world and our protagonist must stop the bad guys whilst keeping his fiancee not only happy but blissfully unaware of his secret agent status. In the meantime we are getting diguises, action, gadgets, suspense and awesome chases coming out of every pore of this highly kinetic movie.
And despite that, it still manages to have little moments of dialogue discussing the pros and cons of having a girlfriend when being a spy. There’s a wonderful section where Ethan hunt has to break in to a high rise office tower to steal the macguffin, requiring much planning and acrobatics. A lesser director would have fashioned this in to a set piece to beat all set pieces. Not Abrams - after all this feat was achieved in the first fifteen minutes. Instead we wait for Ethan to come out, instead, focusing on what the other agents chat about whilst the superagent does his thing. The effect of the full stop makes the ensuing action even more thrilling. Genius. This less is more approach is also taken with many of the characters, leaving Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Davian as sinister and nasty throughout without even becoming Sheriff Of Nottingham over the top. It’s also a much more team oriented movie than previous installment, rather than the superspy second outing.
Fans of Alias will also enjoy the character parallels - in particular Simon Pegg’s character who could \ should be Marshall (wouldn’t it have been nice to see Alias favourite Kevin Weisman in that role?)It’s as if JJ had this movie in his head for Alias and never got to make it, and although Sydney didn’t make it to the silver screen, I’m glad that the story did.
All in all this is a great popcorn movie with everything necessary for a good night in front of the TV. I wonder what will happen with the franchise now that Cruise has parted with Paramount? Rumours abound that Brad Pitt may take up the helm, however whomever joins IMF for the next edition, please let JJ be at the helm again.
