Mission: Impossible III
Encyclopedia
Mission: Impossible III (also known as M:i:III) is a 2006 spy film
, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible
starring Tom Cruise
who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt
.
The film was directed by J. J. Abrams
, and was his first film as a director. It was first released on April 26, 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival
, and widely released in the United States on May 5, 2006.
(Tom Cruise
) has retired as a team leader at the IMF and instead taken to training new recruits while settling down with his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan
), a nurse at a local hospital who is unaware of Ethan's past. At a party, Ethan is approached by his fellow IMF agent John Musgrave (Billy Crudup
), who secretly relays a mission to him: to rescue one of Ethan's protégés, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell
), who was captured while on a mission to investigate the infamous black market dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman
). Musgrave has already prepared a team for Ethan, consisting of Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q
), and his old partner Luther Stickell
(Ving Rhames
), ready to meet him in Berlin.
The IMF team raids the warehouse where Lindsay is kept, release her and collect two computer laptops during their escape. As they flee on a helicopter, Lindsay warns them of a micro-explosive implanted in her head, and before Ethan can use a defibrillator to disable the device, it goes off, killing Lindsay. Ethan and Musgrave are reprimanded by IMF director Brassel (Laurence Fishburne
) for the loss of an agent, and the poor condition of the stolen laptops. Ethan learns that Lindsay had mailed him a postcard before her capture. Showing it to Luther in private, they discover a magnetic microdot
under the stamp, which Luther takes to his contacts to decode.
IMF technician Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg
) is able to recover enough from the damaged laptops to find that Davian is going to Vatican City to receive a mysterious object
called the "Rabbit's Foot"; though it's never explained what it is, it can be presumed that it's some sort of weapon which he plans to sell for a lot of money. Ethan plans the mission to capture Davian and the device without seeking Brassel's or Musgrave's approval. Before leaving, he expresses his love to Julia, and they have an impromptu marriage at the hospital's chapel. At Vatican City, the team successfully infiltrates the secured facility, and Ethan disguises himself as Davian after his capture. The team uses an explosive-rigged car to cover their escape and make Davian's bodyguards believe he is dead.
On the flight back to the United States, Davian wakes up and refuses to divulge what the Rabbit's Foot is, instead threatening to kill everyone Ethan holds dear; Ethan threatens to drop Davian out of the plane if he does not cooperate. After landing, the team travels with a convoy escorting Davian across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
. En route, Luther receives the decoded message from the microdot, a video of Lindsay to Ethan warning him that Davian has received calls from Director Brassel's office and believes him to be a mole. The escort is suddenly attacked by an attack helicopter, and in the chaos, Davian is freed. Ethan suddenly worries for Julia's safety and races to the hospital, arriving too late to find she has been taken by one of Davian's agents. As Davian calls Ethan, giving him only 48 hours to recover the Rabbit's Foot for Julia's life, Ethan is captured by IMF for his rogue actions.
Ethan is secured to a gurney and interrogated about his unauthorized mission. Musgrave takes part, but allows Ethan to lip-read further instructions to travel to Shanghai,China where the Rabbit's Foot is located, and provides him with the means to escape IMF. Ethan makes his way to the instructed location, finding his team waiting for him, and they plan a raid of the building where the Rabbit's Foot is secured. Through a desperate car chase, Ethan is able to contact Davian just under the deadline that they have the Rabbit's Foot. Ethan goes to deliver the Rabbit's Foot alone, and is knocked unconscious by Davian's men, who implant a micro-explosive device in his head. As previously shown in the movie's cold opening, Ethan recovers to find Davian gloating over him while holding Julia at gunpoint. Despite Ethan asserting that that device is the real Rabbit's Foot, Davian kills Julia and then leaves, Ethan breaking down in tears.
Minutes later, Musgrave arrives, and explains to Ethan this was all a setup, revealing that "Julia" was Davian's incompetent translator (Bahar Soomekh
) in a mask- the 'execution' having been faked to confirm that Ethan was telling the truth-, and Julia is nearby, alive. Musgrave reveals himself as the mole, arranging for Davian to acquire the Rabbit's Foot to sell to terrorist groups, after which IMF would have reasonable cause to launch a preemptive strike. Ethan escapes and steals Musgrave's phone, using it to contact Benji to track down a number Musgrave recently called, the likely location where Julia is being kept. Inside, Ethan finds Davian and his men waiting, and is able to kill them all, including Davian by throwing him in front of a oncoming truck, but not before they trigger the micro-explosive. Freeing Julia, he instructs her to electrocute him, killing him shortly but deactivating the explosive, from which she can revive him, as well as to protect herself with a gun. Julia follows Ethan's instructions, and while he recovers, is forced to shoot and kill Musgrave when he arrives. Julia successfully gives CPR to Ethan, reviving him, and they leave together as he explains his true IMF career to her.
Back home, Brassel congratulates Ethan, and suggests that there is another mission that Ethan has been requested for, but Ethan insists on going on his honeymoon with Julia and is unsure if he will return to the IMF. Brassel promises that he'll tell Ethan what the Rabbit's Foot is if Ethan will promise to return. Ethan smiles and walks off with Julia.
episode "Trapped in the Closet" due to threats by Cruise to refuse to participate in the Mission: Impossible III publicity circle. These assertions were soon also reported by E! News
and American Morning
.
Fox News
attributed threats from Tom Cruise, stating, "to back out of his Mission: Impossible III promotional duties if Viacom didn’t pull a repeat of the episode," as evidence of "bad blood" between Cruise and Viacom.
The Washington Post
reported that South Park fans "struck back", in March 2006, and threatened to boycott Mission: Impossible III until Comedy Central put "Trapped in the Closet" back on its schedule.
Melissa McNamara of CBS News
later questioned whether this boycott hurt the Mission: Impossible III box office debut.
Even political blogger Andrew Sullivan encouraged a boycott of the movie, based on claims that Cruise allegedly forced Comedy Central to censor a South Park episode about Scientologists. "Make sure you don't go see Paramount's Mission: Impossible III, Cruise's upcoming movie," Sullivan wrote. "I know you weren't going to see it anyway. But now any money you spend on this movie is a blow against freedom of speech. Boycott it. Tell your friends to boycott it."
When asked in ABC
's Primetime about his involvement with stopping the episode rebroadcast on Comedy Central, Cruise stated "First of all, could you ever imagine sitting down with anyone? I would never sit down with someone and question them on their beliefs. Here's the thing: I'm really not even going to dignify this. I honestly didn't really even know about it. I'm working, making my movie, I've got my family. I'm busy. I don't spend my days going, 'What are people saying about me?'"
A representative of Cruise had also denied any involvement of Cruise with the issue, specifically responding to allegations of Cruise's reputed corporate power play.
47.7 million in its opening weekend, a solid opening yet well below industry expectations and almost $10 million lower than the franchise's previous installment. On its second weekend, the sequel remained number 1 with $25 million (ahead of Poseidon
s $22.2 million). The movie remained in the Top 10 at the box office for the first 6 weeks of its release. Mission: Impossible III ended its domestic run with $134 million. It was the second movie in 2006 to pass the $100,000,000 mark in the box office. (The first was Ice Age: The Meltdown
). The $134 million domestic run was significantly lower than that of Mission Impossible II and below most analysts' expectations.
Outside of the USA, the sequel grossed $70 million for the first five days (in some Asian countries, Mission: Impossible III opened two days ahead of its North American release date) and was easily the box-office champion in many countries. As of February 11, 2007, M:I-IIIs international box office gross has reached $263.8 million, for a combined worldwide gross of $397.9 million, the lowest so far of the series.
In the Netherlands, the film debuted in the week of May 4–10 at #1, grossing a total of €
532,384 in that week. The following week, the film remained on the top position. In its third week, the film dropped to #2 and the following week, fell to #4. Next it maintained the #4 position to drop to #6 (in the week of June 6 - June 14). In total, the film has grossed over € 2,141,162.
based on 217 reviews, the best rating of the trilogy, although the rating from selected top critics is 62% based on 42 reviews, in between the other two.
It holds a similar rating on Metacritic
, with a score of 66% based on a normalized average of 38 reviews.
On the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper
gave Mission: Impossible III a "thumbs up", while Roger Ebert
gave it a marginal "thumbs down". In Ebert's print review, he gave the film a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying: "Either you want to see mindless action and computer-generated sequences executed with breakneck speed and technical precision, or you do not. I am getting to the point where I don't much care." He felt "surprised that the plot hangs together more than in the other two films."
Keith Phipps of The Onion
's A.V. Club
said the film is "business as usual, but it's the best kind of business as usual, and it finds everyone working in top form."
Owen Gleiberman
of Entertainment Weekly
called Mission: Impossible III "a gratifyingly clever, booby-trapped thriller that has enough fun and imagination and dash to more than justify its existence."
Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle
said that "it's all poppycock, of course, but it's done with such vim and vigor and both narrative and visual flair that you care not a jot."
James Berardinelli
of ReelViews gave the film a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying that it "provides lots of action, but too little excitement."
Ian Nathan of Empire
said that Mission: Impossible III has "an inspired middle-hour pumped by some solid action" but added that "we now live in a post-Bourne
, recalibrated-Bond
universe, where Ethan Hunt looks a bit lost."
Manohla Dargis
of The New York Times
said that "Hoffman enlivens Mission: Impossible III" but criticized the film's "maudlin romance" and "Abrams's inability to adapt his small-screen talent to a larger canvas."
Rob Nelson of the Dallas Observer
said that "Abrams's movie is too oppressive, too enamored of its brutality to deliver anything like real thrills; its deeply unpleasant tone nearly makes you long even for [Mission: Impossible II director John] Woo's cartoon absurdities."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
said that "Mission: Impossible III delivers" despite "a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed." Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide
described the film as "breezy, undemanding, and a carefully balanced blend of the familiar and the not-quite-what-you-expected."
Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer said that Mission: Impossible III is "plenty of fun" despite being "overwrought and overplotted."
Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat
said that "you may be mildly entertained, but damned if you’ll remember any of it five minutes later."
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com
said that "Cruise is the single bright, blinking emblem of the failure of Mission: Impossible III." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
remarked that "the latest [Mission: Impossible film] is just this side of insultingly stupid."
Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian said that Mission: Impossible III "feels like one of the more forgettable James Bond films—saddled, moreover, with a star who's sliding into self-parody."
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
, the third based on the spy-themed television series Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
starring Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
who reprises his role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt
Ethan Hunt is the central protagonist in the Mission: Impossible film series.-Mission: Impossible:In Mission: Impossible, Hunt acts as the IMF point man for an established and experienced field team, led by veteran Jim Phelps, with whom he has a particularly close bond...
.
The film was directed by J. J. Abrams
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
, and was his first film as a director. It was first released on April 26, 2006 at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
, and widely released in the United States on May 5, 2006.
Plot
Ethan HuntEthan Hunt
Ethan Hunt is the central protagonist in the Mission: Impossible film series.-Mission: Impossible:In Mission: Impossible, Hunt acts as the IMF point man for an established and experienced field team, led by veteran Jim Phelps, with whom he has a particularly close bond...
(Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
) has retired as a team leader at the IMF and instead taken to training new recruits while settling down with his fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Monaghan
Michelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
), a nurse at a local hospital who is unaware of Ethan's past. At a party, Ethan is approached by his fellow IMF agent John Musgrave (Billy Crudup
Billy Crudup
William Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...
), who secretly relays a mission to him: to rescue one of Ethan's protégés, Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
), who was captured while on a mission to investigate the infamous black market dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
). Musgrave has already prepared a team for Ethan, consisting of Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), Zhen Lei (Maggie Q
Maggie Q
Margaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
), and his old partner Luther Stickell
Luther Stickell
Luther Stickell is a supporting fictional character from the Mission: Impossible film series. The character first appeared in Mission: Impossible in 1996 and is the only character besides Ethan Hunt to appear in all four films....
(Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
), ready to meet him in Berlin.
The IMF team raids the warehouse where Lindsay is kept, release her and collect two computer laptops during their escape. As they flee on a helicopter, Lindsay warns them of a micro-explosive implanted in her head, and before Ethan can use a defibrillator to disable the device, it goes off, killing Lindsay. Ethan and Musgrave are reprimanded by IMF director Brassel (Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
) for the loss of an agent, and the poor condition of the stolen laptops. Ethan learns that Lindsay had mailed him a postcard before her capture. Showing it to Luther in private, they discover a magnetic microdot
Microdot
A microdot is text or an image substantially reduced in size onto a 1mm disc to prevent detection by unintended recipients. Microdots are normally circular around one millimetre in diameter but can be made into different shapes and sizes and made from various materials such as polyester...
under the stamp, which Luther takes to his contacts to decode.
IMF technician Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
) is able to recover enough from the damaged laptops to find that Davian is going to Vatican City to receive a mysterious object
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
called the "Rabbit's Foot"; though it's never explained what it is, it can be presumed that it's some sort of weapon which he plans to sell for a lot of money. Ethan plans the mission to capture Davian and the device without seeking Brassel's or Musgrave's approval. Before leaving, he expresses his love to Julia, and they have an impromptu marriage at the hospital's chapel. At Vatican City, the team successfully infiltrates the secured facility, and Ethan disguises himself as Davian after his capture. The team uses an explosive-rigged car to cover their escape and make Davian's bodyguards believe he is dead.
On the flight back to the United States, Davian wakes up and refuses to divulge what the Rabbit's Foot is, instead threatening to kill everyone Ethan holds dear; Ethan threatens to drop Davian out of the plane if he does not cooperate. After landing, the team travels with a convoy escorting Davian across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a long fixed link crossing the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and connecting the Delmarva Peninsula's Eastern Shore of Virginia with Virginia Beach and the metropolitan area of Hampton Roads, Virginia...
. En route, Luther receives the decoded message from the microdot, a video of Lindsay to Ethan warning him that Davian has received calls from Director Brassel's office and believes him to be a mole. The escort is suddenly attacked by an attack helicopter, and in the chaos, Davian is freed. Ethan suddenly worries for Julia's safety and races to the hospital, arriving too late to find she has been taken by one of Davian's agents. As Davian calls Ethan, giving him only 48 hours to recover the Rabbit's Foot for Julia's life, Ethan is captured by IMF for his rogue actions.
Ethan is secured to a gurney and interrogated about his unauthorized mission. Musgrave takes part, but allows Ethan to lip-read further instructions to travel to Shanghai,China where the Rabbit's Foot is located, and provides him with the means to escape IMF. Ethan makes his way to the instructed location, finding his team waiting for him, and they plan a raid of the building where the Rabbit's Foot is secured. Through a desperate car chase, Ethan is able to contact Davian just under the deadline that they have the Rabbit's Foot. Ethan goes to deliver the Rabbit's Foot alone, and is knocked unconscious by Davian's men, who implant a micro-explosive device in his head. As previously shown in the movie's cold opening, Ethan recovers to find Davian gloating over him while holding Julia at gunpoint. Despite Ethan asserting that that device is the real Rabbit's Foot, Davian kills Julia and then leaves, Ethan breaking down in tears.
Minutes later, Musgrave arrives, and explains to Ethan this was all a setup, revealing that "Julia" was Davian's incompetent translator (Bahar Soomekh
Bahar Soomekh
Bahar Soomekh is an Iranian-American actress and environmental activist. She began acting in the early 2000s, and is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Crash , Mission: Impossible III , and Saw III .-Early life:...
) in a mask- the 'execution' having been faked to confirm that Ethan was telling the truth-, and Julia is nearby, alive. Musgrave reveals himself as the mole, arranging for Davian to acquire the Rabbit's Foot to sell to terrorist groups, after which IMF would have reasonable cause to launch a preemptive strike. Ethan escapes and steals Musgrave's phone, using it to contact Benji to track down a number Musgrave recently called, the likely location where Julia is being kept. Inside, Ethan finds Davian and his men waiting, and is able to kill them all, including Davian by throwing him in front of a oncoming truck, but not before they trigger the micro-explosive. Freeing Julia, he instructs her to electrocute him, killing him shortly but deactivating the explosive, from which she can revive him, as well as to protect herself with a gun. Julia follows Ethan's instructions, and while he recovers, is forced to shoot and kill Musgrave when he arrives. Julia successfully gives CPR to Ethan, reviving him, and they leave together as he explains his true IMF career to her.
Back home, Brassel congratulates Ethan, and suggests that there is another mission that Ethan has been requested for, but Ethan insists on going on his honeymoon with Julia and is unsure if he will return to the IMF. Brassel promises that he'll tell Ethan what the Rabbit's Foot is if Ethan will promise to return. Ethan smiles and walks off with Julia.
Cast
- Tom CruiseTom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
as Ethan HuntEthan HuntEthan Hunt is the central protagonist in the Mission: Impossible film series.-Mission: Impossible:In Mission: Impossible, Hunt acts as the IMF point man for an established and experienced field team, led by veteran Jim Phelps, with whom he has a particularly close bond... - Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
as Owen Davian, the film's Main Antagonist - Ving RhamesVing RhamesIrving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
as Luther StickellLuther StickellLuther Stickell is a supporting fictional character from the Mission: Impossible film series. The character first appeared in Mission: Impossible in 1996 and is the only character besides Ethan Hunt to appear in all four films....
. Member of Ethan's team - Billy CrudupBilly CrudupWilliam Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...
as John Musgrave. IMF Operations Director - Michelle MonaghanMichelle MonaghanMichelle Lynn Monaghan is an American actress known for her roles in Mission: Impossible III, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, Made of Honor, The Heartbreak Kid, Eagle Eye, and Source Code.-Early life:...
as Julia "Jules" Meade. Ethan's fiancée/wife - Keri RussellKeri RussellKeri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
as Lindsey Farris. IMF agent trained by Ethan - Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Declan Gormley. Member of Ethan's team
- Maggie QMaggie QMargaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
as Zhen Lei. Member of Ethan's team - Simon PeggSimon PeggSimon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
as Benji Dunn. IMF Technician - Eddie MarsanEddie MarsanEdward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
as Brownway. Davian's henchman - Laurence FishburneLaurence FishburneLaurence John Fishburne III is an American film and stage actor, playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as Cowboy Curtis on the 1980's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician Ike Turner...
as Theodore Brassel. Head of the IMF - Jeff ChaseJeff ChaseJeff Chase is an American film and television actor.Chase was born Jeffrey L. Sniffen in Paterson, New Jersey. He married Kimberly Chase on January 5, 1991, and now lives in Clermont, Florida. Chase has one son, Cory Chase, born in 1998...
as Davian's Bodyguard - Bahar SoomekhBahar SoomekhBahar Soomekh is an Iranian-American actress and environmental activist. She began acting in the early 2000s, and is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Crash , Mission: Impossible III , and Saw III .-Early life:...
as Davian's Translator - George CheungGeorge CheungGeorge Kee Cheung is a Chinese actor, stunt man, and singer with an extensive career in American television and film dating back to the mid-1970s, often playing Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian parts...
as Shanghai Game Player (uncredited) - Ty WilliamsTy Williams (actor)Ty Williams is an American film and television actor. Williams was born in Saginaw, Michigan, but grew up in the city of Shields in Michigan. Ty attended the Swan Valley High School, and then attended the Central Michigan University...
as Thug (uncredited)
Production
- Director David FincherDavid FincherDavid Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
(Fight ClubFight Club (film)Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
, Se7enSeven (film)Seven is a 1995 American thriller film, which also contains horror and neo-noir elements, directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. It was distributed by New Line Cinema and stars Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, R...
) was slated to direct M-I: III but dropped out in favor of another film. Fincher was then replaced by NarcNarc (film)Narc is a 2002 crime film about corrupt police involved in the illegal drug trade. It was released to critical acclaim and moderate commercial success. It was written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The plot revolves around the efforts of two police detectives as they search for the murderer of an...
director Joe CarnahanJoe CarnahanJoseph Aaron "Joe" Carnahan is an American independent film director, screenwriter, producer and actor best known for his films Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, Smokin' Aces and The A-Team...
, but he quit in a dispute over the film's tone. - Filming began in RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in July 2005 and ended in October. Location filming took place in ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(ShanghaiShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and XitangXitangXitang is an ancient scenic town in Jiashan County, Zhejiang Province, China. Its history dates back to at least the Spring and Autumn Period when it was located at the border of the State of Yue and Wu....
), GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
), ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(Rome and CasertaCasertaCaserta is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. It is an important agricultural, commercial and industrial comune and city. Caserta is located on the edge of the Campanian plain at the foot of the Campanian Subapennine mountain range...
), the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
), and Vatican CityVatican CityVatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
. - To promote the film, Paramount rigged 4,500 randomly selected Los Angeles Times vending boxes with digital audio players which would play the theme song when the door was opened. The audio players did not always stay concealed, and in many cases came loose and fell on top of the stack of newspapers in plain view, with the result that they were widely mistaken for bombs. Police bomb squads detonated a number of the vending boxes and even temporarily shut down a veterans' hospital in response to the apparent "threat". Despite these problems, Paramount and The LA Times opted to leave the audio players in the boxes until two days after the movie's opening.
- The night scenes involving the skyscrapers were filmed in Shanghai, while some of the Shanghai filming was also done in Los Angeles.
- Tom CruiseTom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
called J. J. AbramsJ. J. AbramsJeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams is an American film and television producer, screenwriter, director, actor, and composer. He wrote and produced feature films before co-creating the television series Felicity...
offering a job as a director for the film after having binge-watched the first two seasons of AliasAlias (TV series)Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
.
"Trapped in the Closet" controversy
A blog entry of Hollywoodinterrupted.com in March 2006 alleged that Viacom (parent of Paramount and Comedy Central) canceled the rebroadcast of the South ParkSouth Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Trapped in the Closet" due to threats by Cruise to refuse to participate in the Mission: Impossible III publicity circle. These assertions were soon also reported by E! News
E! News
E! News, previously known as E! News Daily and E! News Live, is a nightly entertainment newsmagazine program airing on E!: Entertainment Television. The program debuted on September 1, 1991 and talks about Hollywood celebrities and gossip...
and American Morning
American Morning
American Morning is the morning television show on CNN. It premiered in 2001.-About the show:American Morning is hosted by Ashleigh Banfield, Zoraida Sambolin & Soledad O'Brien. Others who appear regularly are Rob Marciano with the weather, Sunny Hostin on legal news, and CNN senior medical...
.
Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
attributed threats from Tom Cruise, stating, "to back out of his Mission: Impossible III promotional duties if Viacom didn’t pull a repeat of the episode," as evidence of "bad blood" between Cruise and Viacom.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
reported that South Park fans "struck back", in March 2006, and threatened to boycott Mission: Impossible III until Comedy Central put "Trapped in the Closet" back on its schedule.
Melissa McNamara of CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
later questioned whether this boycott hurt the Mission: Impossible III box office debut.
Even political blogger Andrew Sullivan encouraged a boycott of the movie, based on claims that Cruise allegedly forced Comedy Central to censor a South Park episode about Scientologists. "Make sure you don't go see Paramount's Mission: Impossible III, Cruise's upcoming movie," Sullivan wrote. "I know you weren't going to see it anyway. But now any money you spend on this movie is a blow against freedom of speech. Boycott it. Tell your friends to boycott it."
When asked in ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Primetime about his involvement with stopping the episode rebroadcast on Comedy Central, Cruise stated "First of all, could you ever imagine sitting down with anyone? I would never sit down with someone and question them on their beliefs. Here's the thing: I'm really not even going to dignify this. I honestly didn't really even know about it. I'm working, making my movie, I've got my family. I'm busy. I don't spend my days going, 'What are people saying about me?'"
A representative of Cruise had also denied any involvement of Cruise with the issue, specifically responding to allegations of Cruise's reputed corporate power play.
Release
Opening in 4,054 theaters all across the United States (the 4th largest opening ever), the film easily topped the box-office in its opening weekend. It made $16.6 million on its opening day. It made $United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
47.7 million in its opening weekend, a solid opening yet well below industry expectations and almost $10 million lower than the franchise's previous installment. On its second weekend, the sequel remained number 1 with $25 million (ahead of Poseidon
Poseidon (film)
Poseidon is a 2006 disaster film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the third film adaptation of the novel The Poseidon Adventure written by Paul Gallico, and a loose remake of the 1972 film of the same name. It stars Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas and Richard Dreyfuss. It was directed by Wolfgang Petersen...
s $22.2 million). The movie remained in the Top 10 at the box office for the first 6 weeks of its release. Mission: Impossible III ended its domestic run with $134 million. It was the second movie in 2006 to pass the $100,000,000 mark in the box office. (The first was Ice Age: The Meltdown
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Ice Age: The Meltdown, also known as Ice Age 2: The Meltdown or simply as Ice Age 2, is the 2006 sequel to the 2002 computer-animated film Ice Age. It was produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox, and premiered in Belgium on March 1, 2006...
). The $134 million domestic run was significantly lower than that of Mission Impossible II and below most analysts' expectations.
Outside of the USA, the sequel grossed $70 million for the first five days (in some Asian countries, Mission: Impossible III opened two days ahead of its North American release date) and was easily the box-office champion in many countries. As of February 11, 2007, M:I-IIIs international box office gross has reached $263.8 million, for a combined worldwide gross of $397.9 million, the lowest so far of the series.
In the Netherlands, the film debuted in the week of May 4–10 at #1, grossing a total of €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
532,384 in that week. The following week, the film remained on the top position. In its third week, the film dropped to #2 and the following week, fell to #4. Next it maintained the #4 position to drop to #6 (in the week of June 6 - June 14). In total, the film has grossed over € 2,141,162.
Critical reception
Mission: Impossible III received mostly positive reviews from critics. The film holds a 70% "Fresh" rating at Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 217 reviews, the best rating of the trilogy, although the rating from selected top critics is 62% based on 42 reviews, in between the other two.
It holds a similar rating on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, with a score of 66% based on a normalized average of 38 reviews.
On the television show Ebert & Roeper, Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
gave Mission: Impossible III a "thumbs up", while Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave it a marginal "thumbs down". In Ebert's print review, he gave the film a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying: "Either you want to see mindless action and computer-generated sequences executed with breakneck speed and technical precision, or you do not. I am getting to the point where I don't much care." He felt "surprised that the plot hangs together more than in the other two films."
Keith Phipps of The Onion
The Onion
The Onion is an American news satire organization. It is an entertainment newspaper and a website featuring satirical articles reporting on international, national, and local news, in addition to a non-satirical entertainment section known as The A.V. Club...
's A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
said the film is "business as usual, but it's the best kind of business as usual, and it finds everyone working in top form."
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman is an American film critic for Entertainment Weekly, a position he has held since the magazine's launch in 1990. From 1981–89, he worked at the Boston Phoenix....
of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called Mission: Impossible III "a gratifyingly clever, booby-trapped thriller that has enough fun and imagination and dash to more than justify its existence."
Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle
The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
said that "it's all poppycock, of course, but it's done with such vim and vigor and both narrative and visual flair that you care not a jot."
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
of ReelViews gave the film a score of two and a half stars (out of four), saying that it "provides lots of action, but too little excitement."
Ian Nathan of Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
said that Mission: Impossible III has "an inspired middle-hour pumped by some solid action" but added that "we now live in a post-Bourne
The Bourne Identity (2002 film)
The Bourne Identity is a 2002 American spy film loosely based on Robert Ludlum's novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, an amnesiac attempting to discover his true identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence Agency . The film also stars Franka...
, recalibrated-Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
universe, where Ethan Hunt looks a bit lost."
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said that "Hoffman enlivens Mission: Impossible III" but criticized the film's "maudlin romance" and "Abrams's inability to adapt his small-screen talent to a larger canvas."
Rob Nelson of the Dallas Observer
Dallas Observer
The Dallas Observer is a free alternative weekly newspaper distributed around the Dallas, Texas . At its inception, it was conceived as a weekly local arts and cinema review publication, with the credo "Advocate for Excellence in the Arts" on the cover. For a time during the early years, the paper...
said that "Abrams's movie is too oppressive, too enamored of its brutality to deliver anything like real thrills; its deeply unpleasant tone nearly makes you long even for [Mission: Impossible II director John] Woo's cartoon absurdities."
Claudia Puig of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
said that "Mission: Impossible III delivers" despite "a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed." Maitland McDonagh of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
described the film as "breezy, undemanding, and a carefully balanced blend of the familiar and the not-quite-what-you-expected."
Lawrence Toppman of the Charlotte Observer said that Mission: Impossible III is "plenty of fun" despite being "overwrought and overplotted."
Pete Vonder Haar of Film Threat
Film Threat
Film Threat is a former print magazine and, now, webzine which focuses primarily on independent film, although it also reviews DVDs of mainstream films and Hollywood movies in theaters. It first appeared as a photocopied zine in 1985, created by Wayne State University students Chris Gore and André...
said that "you may be mildly entertained, but damned if you’ll remember any of it five minutes later."
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
said that "Cruise is the single bright, blinking emblem of the failure of Mission: Impossible III." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
remarked that "the latest [Mission: Impossible film] is just this side of insultingly stupid."
Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian said that Mission: Impossible III "feels like one of the more forgettable James Bond films—saddled, moreover, with a star who's sliding into self-parody."
External links
- SoundtrackNet's Mission: Impossible 3 Scoring Session Exclusive
- Mission Impossible III, About The Locations And Production Design
- Film Review Xdafied.com.au
- Film Review at Hollywood Gothique