Mission: Impossible III

I'm ahead of my time. Truly. Its a curse. For a script I've written called Mute, I wrote an opening that is almost identical to the opening of Mission: Impossible III. It's disconcerting, but I'm used to it by now.

Years ago I wrote a seven part movie serial called The Demon Files, about a man and woman investigating seemingly unrelated deaths that are tied together by supernatural events. I had finished the script and was having my TV industry friends read it only to see a new show coming on Fox, called The X Files. My effort, The Demon Files, was eerily similar to the pilot of The X Files, which was about a man and woman investigating seemingly unrelated deaths tied together by extraterrestrial events. In high school I co-wrote a time travel story called Lonely Time which has a lot in common with a film called The Terminator. I thought teens needed a Christian TV channel. I thought of calling mine Sonlight TV. Another company recently kicked off JCTV for Christian teens.

Oh well. I apparently have the ideas, just not the resources to implement them.

Other than the dismay I felt at the onset of the film, MI3 is a very good action flick. The villain, Philip Seymour Hoffman, is excellent as the ruthless and heartless Owen Davian. Tom Cruise continues his portrayal of Ethan Hunt, top agent of the IMF, whose wife, played by Michelle Monaghan, is held hostage by Davian. Davian forces Hunt to find a weapon called The Rabbit's Foot or else his wife will die.

Cruise's odd antics as of late have turned off a lot of fans. That's understandable, as you want your actors to be the "everyman" so that you can put yourselves in their shoes. Cruise's behavior puts a barrier between you and his characters, thereby lessening the impact of the film.

This is the first film I have seen at the theater in months. Having spent almost a year designing and building my own little home theater in my house, I am very content waiting for films to come out on DVD, rent them, then project them onto my 106" screen in the privacy of my own home. Some movies, though, are worth the added expense of going to the movies. Action movies, primarily, that fill the large movies screens better than the one located in my house and will get me to the theater.

But, as I sat down with about 100 couples scattered throughout the theater, I was quickly reminded why I do not like going to movies. To our right a couple talked amongst themselves the entire time. I "sshh'd" them, but they just laughed at me. So, I got up and went to the other side of the theater only to find that, about five rows behind me, another couple was talking to themselves the entire time. It was the most frustrating thing and is another reason why I'll just wait until the DVDs come out so I can watch it in the comfort and silence of my small, intimate home theater.

If you want a high quality action flick with a great villain and amazing stunts, Mission: Impossible III fits the bill quite nicely.