Product Details

• Actors: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan
• Directors: J.J. Abrams
• Format: Full Screen, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Spanish, German, Italian
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: October 30, 2006
• Run Time: 126 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (277 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000HRMAOK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,131 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mission: Impossible III (Full Screen Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

At the time of its release, Mission: Impossible III's box office was plagued by the publicity backlash against couch-jumping star Tom Cruise. It's too bad, because this third installment of the spy thriller franchise deserved a better reception than it got. First-time feature director J.J. Abrams (bigwig TV director/producer of Lost, Alias, & Felicity) proves more than able-bodied in creating a Mission: Impossible that's leaner and less over-stylized than John Woo's sequel and less confusing than Brian De Palma's original. Plot is still a throwaway here (Cruise's Ethan Hunt rescues his kidnapped former trainee and works to steal a device that... well, we don't really know what it does, but it's something about mass destruction that costs $850 million), but the action sequences, particularly one where Ethan faces down a helicopter on a bridge and gets flung hard against the side of a car, are particularly impressive since Cruise, at 44, is still doing most of his own stunts and shows no hint of the weathered look that's struck his action-star peers. (Though no Mission: Impossible stunt will ever be quite as simultaneously nail-biting and funny as the first film's wire-dangling break-in of CIA headquarters.)

Mission: Impossible III boasts a pedigreed cast, particularly Oscar® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) as baddie arms dealer Owen Davian. Hoffman plays Owen all teeth-clenched and cool, especially when threatening to kill Ethan in front of his lovely new wife (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea of his spy life. But in his first action-film lead role, Hoffman's almost too calm and collected to really make a memorable villain, especially when the rest of the cast--Ving Rhames (the only other cast member to return for all three films), Asian film star Maggie Q, and an underused Jonathan Rhys-Meyers--are a highlight as Ethan's IMF team. Mission: Impossible is still fun popcorn spy fare, and if Cruise chooses to end the franchise here, at least he goes out on a high note. --Ellen A. Kim

Product Description

SPECIAL AGENT ETHAN HUNT FACES THE MISSION OF HIS LIFE.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lived Up To Hype, September 17, 2007

By 

Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mission: Impossible III (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I heard nothing but good things about this movie, so I rented it the first day it was available recently.....and I wasn't disappointed. Oh, it does have a bit too much action and a few politically-correct annoyances but neither are much and overall the movie is a lot of fun to watch.

The action scenes are not only interesting; they're spectacular at times. Overall, the photography is slick. It's a good visual movie. Not only the cinematography, but the director did a nice job with many of these shots. The version doesn't have all the gimmicks the first Misssion Impossible film, but it certainly has the best action scenes. The action is improbable as Cruise's "Ethan Hunt" would have to be Superman to perform the stunts and acrobatics he does here. (I would never claim this movie is credible, or even "intelligent" - just escapist fun.)

Just put your brains on hold, and go along for the wild ride.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Utterly unheard of, June 14, 2007

By 

Bill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mission: Impossible III (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Not very often do the studios come up with a 3rd installment of a film that surpasses it's predecessors. I felt that this was one of those rare cases. I was one of the minority who was not blown away by the first MI. I was even more dissappointed by the second MI. The second one was nothing but a "Cruise love-in". God forbid that they shot a single second of footage that didn't include Tom.
With these memories, I avoided this 3rd MI film. Well, today I had the day off and it was on Pay channels. I sat down and was prepared to be underwhelmed. I was pleasantly surprised. The film again relies heavily on Cruise. But, this time the story is greatly improved by the presence of Lawrence Fishburne and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Back again is the tremendous Ving Rhames. All these characters make for a compelling story. There is also the presence of the nifty gadgets and urgency we expect from MI films.
Overall I found the entire film to be much more enjoyable than the previous MI's and would recommend it to anyone.

43 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Summer Action From J.J. Abrams & Great Performance By Hoffman, But Where's The Originality?, May 7, 2006

By 

Kaya R. Savas (North Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

MOVIE: While Summer isn't officially here, it is here in terms of movies. Mission Impossible 3 kicks off the summer movie season with a bang with an interesting and entertaining installment in the money-making franchise. Tom Cruise reprises his Ethan Hunt role and J.J. Abrams takes the director's chair. What makes the Mission Impossible franchise so interesting is the constant change of directors. If you look at other franchises like Lethal Weapon, Pink Panther, Indiana Jones, etc, the directors usually stay on board for the sequels. Even with the James Bond franchise you have directors usually doing several Bond films in a row. Mission Impossible was helmed by Brian De Palma and was all espionage with light action. Action maestro John Woo took the second one and made an explosive and entertaining action sequel even if it was a little over cooked. J.J. Abrams makes his feature film directorial debut with Mission Impossible 3, which is a little bit of espionage and a little bit of action. For those who don't know Abrams, he started out writing films like Armageddon and Regarding Henry. He then broke into the television scene with Alias, a pretty popular show. He became very well known recently for his latest show. Abrams is the creator of LOST, one of my favorite shows. So, I was excited to see his first movie. M:I-3 has Ethan Hunt trying to settle down and start a normal life, but he is thrown back into his old job when an arms dealer played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman wants him to track down the Rabbit's Foot. The Rabbit's Foot is some kind of weapon of mass destruction, and if Hunt doesn't retrieve it in 48 hours his fiance will be killed. What follows are explosive action sequences that sing the right tune to satisfy all of our action appetites. The movie is good, but I couldn't help feeling like something was lacking. I tried to pinpoint it, and the only thing that I could come up with was that it lacked style. Sure it had LOST written all over it. The tight close ups, starting the film by showing the ending and then rewinding back to the beginning, getting Michael Giacchino to compose an almost identical score to LOST, even re-creating a scene from LOST at the end, but still the movie didn't feel like it had an overall style. The reason why I liked M:I-2 was that it had John Woo style. The slow motion build up, the doves, and of course Hans Zimmer's amazing music. I'm just saying that Mission Impossible 3 is good, but it's not a definative action movie that stands out from the rest, let's see how Abrams develops his techniques with future projects now that he's broken into the movie scene.

ACTING: Phillip Seymour Hoffman steals the show as the incredibly self centered and hot tempered Owen Davian. You can tell he had lots of fun with the role. Tom Cruise does what he does perfectly and basically owns the character. The supporting effort by Ving Rhames and the rest of the gang are not anything spectacular. It's really all about Hoffman and Cruise.

BOTTOM LINE: M:I-3 delivers the goods, but it doesn't step above anything we've seen before. The bridge fight and helicopter chase were the only scenes in the movie that really felt original, everything else felt like it has been done many times before. It's entertaining, it's fun, and you'll enjoy it. It was great to see Hoffman and Cruise really work off each other. Abrams does a great job directing, but he really didn't make it his own in my opinion.