“Now More Than Ever...”

Expecting a realistic spy movie from the same actor who did the infamous “Now more than ever” speech at the post-9/11 Oscars is probably unrealistic. After all, Tom Cruise isn't exactly known for his work in the field of social realism.

And yet despite the obviously escapist nature of his work in Mission Impossible III, I found myself enjoying his movie. Not so much for the filmmaker did but for what he did that he didn't have to do. He (1) fleshed out the characters surrounding Tom Cruise's character, and (2) threw in a storyline that was more true to the spirit of the original Mission: Impossible series than anything we've seen in the M.I. films to date.

I doubt this film will go down in history as a classic, but it was better than the first two movies in the Mission: Impossible movie series gave me any reason to suspect.

If only Tom's female lead didn't look so much like Katie Holmes from certain camera angles...

On the other hand, any movie that has the audacity to put America's most famous Scientologist in a priest costume can't be all that bad...