Mission: Impossible III (2006)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2006
	Director: J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8)
	Actors: Tom Cruise (Cocktail, The Firm, Oblivion), Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Due Date), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Laurence Fishburne (Matrix 1-3), Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Big Lebowski)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 06.02.2014, Blu-ray, Home cinema
Synopsis: Ethan Hunt (Cruise) will be facing a new enemy (Hoffman) willing to make business on the World's destruction. His hierarchy and even his private life will get involved.
Review:  I was persuaded that this movie was the worst of the four in the franchise, but I had actually never seen it and I must have confused with another one. It turned out to be pretty good and more clever than its two predecessors. J. J. Abrams shows all of talent on this first movie as director and this led him to the career we now know: storytelling, framing (with a few lens flares already), original choreography of the action scenes and use of special effects (the seamless transition between the character of Tom Cruise putting on the mask of the character of Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliantly executed). It is a nice balance with the second movie in which Tom Cruise and his character were too arrogant. In MI:III they pay this arrogance by causing the wrath of their enemy who will then attack them personally. This cold-blooded villain reminds of classical enemies seen in many James Bond movies. The weapon at the heart of the story (the Rabbit's Foot) seemed to me like the best example of a MacGuffin and made me think of one episode of the cinema series Contrechamp on Lemonde.fr in which this concept is explained. I was thus not surprised when watching this episode again to see MI:III mentioned. Alfred Hitchcock is quoted: "A McGuffin is the thing that the spies are after, the thing that the characters worry about, but the audience don't care.". It can be a useful ingredient to make a good story, it is usually forgotten in the course of the action and and it has been used in many films (Avatar, The Departed, Pulp Fiction...).
Rating: 7 /10