Mission: Impossible III 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Mission: Impossible III is big and fast and silly, but it's never dumb, and it's certainly never boring, either. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: This is the franchise's third film (each with a different director), and it may well be the most successful of the bunch. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Uneven but lively. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: There are no flourishes to savor. Instead, there are big-deal stunts. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: As idiot movies go, this one is as sub-mental as you might expect. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The summer's first action epic does exactly what it's supposed to do, more clearly than M:i:I, and more likeably than M:i:II. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Cruise does a remarkable number of his own stunts, and even if we only register that fact unconsciously, it makes for a different action experience. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: The best of the three. Read more

Bob Longino, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It's like Abrams understands the public perception of Cruise's kooky celebrity. So why not embrace it. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: Yes, it's fundamentally business as usual, but it's the best kind of business as usual, Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Director Abrams seems to have attended the Tony Scott Extreme Closeup Academy. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: If the pulse never quite races, the mind does boggle. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: [Abrams] has come up with a solidly crafted entertainment, a diversion that really diverts once it gets down to business. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: M:I:3 is big, cacophonous entertainment, crackling and explosive, a giant bag of Pop Rocks for the eyes. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It's an expertly engineered popcorn movie -- hold the butter substitute -- but it also tries (and fails) to be a love story for the ages. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: All the popcorn season really wants is a good reason to see super-fit bodies flying around on a big screen, and M:I:III gits 'er done. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A perfect blast-off for the summer movie season and the rare sequel that's notably better than its predecessors. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A gratifyingly clever, booby-trapped thriller that has enough fun and imagination and dash to more than justify its existence... Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Like its predecessors, M:I III might make a lot of money, but it makes no discernible impression. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Mission: Impossible III will make you jump up and down with exuberance, just like its star. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: M:I III actually gets better as it goes along (and spans the globe). Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: The perfect summer movie -- fast-paced, action-packed, emotionally engaging (without demanding too much investment), and pure, unadulterated eye candy. Whattya want for 10 bucks? Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: ...this snappy installment is a marked improvement over John Woo's surprisingly dull sequel, though the set pieces lack the elegance and visual coherence of the Brian de Palma original. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The new Mission: Impossible III reestablishes the franchise as America's answer to the 007 series -- brand-name, big-effects, no-nonsense fun with plenty of hold-on-to-your-popcorn action sequences and a theme song that won't leave your head. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Logic and humanity would probably gum up the (fire)works. The Mission: Impossible template is about being resourceful, using gadgets in interesting ways to infiltrate the Vatican or swing Tarzan-like over the rooftops of Shanghai. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: My final reaction to Mission: Impossible III is one of bemused tolerance and even mild absorption in all the silliness. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: If Mission: Impossible 3 is the first pitch of the popcorn-movie season, just two words come to mind -- butter up. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Mission: Impossible III provides lots of action, but too little excitement. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: There is a theory that action is exciting and dialogue is boring. My theory is that variety is exciting and sameness is boring. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Watching Mission: Impossible III, I kept wishing I was at home watching episodes of Alias instead. Read more

Michael Agger, Slate: For all of the movie's professional craft and lovely vertigo, the experience is like eating popcorn in a guillotine. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A smart, tightly directed thriller that could serve as the template for film schools teaching Summertime Escapism 101. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Cruise is the same guy with the same look on his face all the time: part panic, part adrenaline rush, his eyes lightly squinting and his mouth slightly agape. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: What summer movies aspire to -- a slick demonstration of hot buttered entertainment that will probably slide you right out of the theatre before you even stop to ask a logical question or two. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Abrams knows how to frame a shot and how to propulsively push both action and love stories, but logic continues to elude him as much as it did De Palma and Woo. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: M:i:III accomplishes its mission: to run smart variations on dumb tropes. After all, summer movies are not for students but for thrill consumers. Devour and enjoy. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: There are plentiful perilous countdowns, most of the set-pieces are impressively mounted and, in its own silly way, the pay-off offers a glancing blow at US foreign policy. Relatable? No. But quite fun. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Against sizable odds -- a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed -- Mission: Impossible III delivers. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: The high-octane juice audiences crave in big-budget action films surges propulsively through Mission: Impossible III, in large measure due to Tom CruiseTom Cruise, who seems determined to give a persuasive human impersonation of a Ferrari. Read more

Rob Nelson, Village Voice: "M:i:III" is too oppressive, too enamored of its brutality to deliver anything like real thrills. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Director J.J. Abrams, creator of such TV hits as Alias and Lost, makes a reasonably impressive feature debut with the best installment of the series. Read more