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And then, the energy explodes during the frenetic and exciting action sequences. Gone are the fancy, poetic mid-air motorcycle duels. Instead, the action pieces use very little CGI and lots of quick cuts, tight framing and real stunts. They feel more real and in your face. When cars hit each other, you feel the collision. When someone is coming around the corner, you want to lean forward to peek. There were times I felt like I needed to duck.

What is ironic is that the film's best attribute, its intensity, also leads to its biggest weakness. It may sound odd, but just too much happens. Too much is demanded of the viewer and it begins to push you to the brink of checking out at times. When it is over, it feels like the movie is much longer than 126 minutes.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman is cold and cruel as the villain Owen Davian

And there are some problems with suspending disbelief, even though you'd expect some of that in a movie like this. Still, I found most of it easy to swallow, thanks to the tone Abrams has created. There's a sense of realism in even the crazily improbably action sets. But then there are little things that make you go, "Oh, really?" For instance, Ethan's IMF team sets up an elaborate stunt—that necessitates finding lots of rope, a winch, a baseball pitching machine, and a fancy new outfit for Ethan—all in under two hours. It took me longer than that to write this review.

But none of this ruins the fun. Abrams and Cruise deserve credit for breathing life and heart into a franchise with lots of potential. Signing solid actors (especially Hoffman as the cold and brutal bad guy), ramping up the idea of "team" among the IMFers, and using human drama to carry the script successfully adds life to the mission.

1. Could you take a job like Ethan Hunt's that required you to lie each day to those you loved and cared for? Why or why not?
   
   
2. Ving Rhames' character at one point says that there's a "point where bold becomes stupid." What does this mean to you? How does one recognize that point? How could that apply to your life as a Christian?
   
   
3. Many action movies features heroes who risk it all—their missions, their fellow heroes, etc.—to save one life. Here, Ethan's team risks their lives to save the young agent in the beginning, and later Julia. How would you choose what risks are worth one life? When is one life not worth it? Is the trade-off cost ever too much to save a life?
   
   

Mission: Impossible III is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of frenetic violence and menace, disturbing images, and brief sensuality. The film is so tense and relentless, with almost horror-like intensity at times, it's likely too much for young children; take the PG-13 seriously. The violence, including gunfights, execution-like shootings, hand-to-hand fighting, and sudden, shocking collisions, is realistic and frantic. There isn't much blood shown, but one disturbing image of a dead girl's face lingers on screen for several seconds. The sensuality is a tame scene of a married couple kissing passionately.

Photos © Copyright Paramount Pictures

© Todd Hertz 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Like the character he plays in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise has worn a variety of different masks over the years—Tom the Teen Heartthrob, Tom the Box-Office King, even Tom the Oscar Nominee. In recent years, though, most people—and by people we mean the paparazzi—have preferred to keep poor ol' Tom confined to just one personality: Tom Cruise the Psycho-Crazy Guy You've Probably Read About in the Tabloids.

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