Mission: Impossible III

Obviously the fourth Mission: Impossible movie just came out, but I still haven't seen the third yet, so I decided to correct that last week. Each movie in the series has had a different director and subsequently a different tone, and the third installment was the first feature film made by J.J. Abrams. It sort of mixes and matches elements from the first two movies. The first was a paranoid spy thriller, and the second was pretty much a Hong Kong action movie. The third film has some of the same kind of bombastic action and huge scale of the second, but it's ultimately closer to the first film in terms of realism (which itself wasn't exactly totally authentic, just look at the climactic scene for proof). Some elements definitely seemed silly - there were several one-liners and over-the-top moments that probably didn't need there, and got in the way of the story a bit. But the setup was smarter and the payoff better than the mediocre second film, and the darker tone seemed to fit the series well. I don't think it was quite as good as the original, but it was close enough.

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, though he is no longer a regular spy and instead trains recruits for the agency. He's even trying to settle down with a woman played by Michelle Monaghan, something his friends and colleagues are skeptical of. He gets pulled back into action when one of his trainees played by Keri Russell is kidnapped on a mission, a job that kicks off a plot involving someone bad inside the agency trying to stop him while a black market dealer played by Philip Seymour Hoffman tries to sell something that's potentially extremely dangerous. Backs get stabbed, explosions go off, and complicated heists get executed. The movie is completely packed with recognizable actors, and most of them do pretty well in their roles. It's fun to see Ving Rhames and Tom Cruise together again, and their team is rounded out competently by Johnathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q. Laurence Fishburne plays a fairly predictable but solidly slimy higher-up at the agency, and Simon Pegg only gets a couple scenes to do his wisecracking nerd routine but does it well anyway. Hoffman plays a totally creepy and intimidating villain despite his lack of physical prowess, and the mole subplot ended up being more interesting than I expected. Abrams makes a few unexpected decisions and shoots the action very well, and I thought the distinct color palette of the film worked as well. It's not a particularly special action movie in most ways, but it's done well enough to be pretty enjoyable throughout. It got me interested in hopefully seeing Brad Bird's take on the series before it leaves the theaters.

Running Wilde

Running Wilde really never had a chance. It was never on consistently, getting bumped in favor of episodes of Tuesday night companions Raising Hope and Glee. Then its few remaining episodes were briefly scheduled for the dregs of Sunday nights in December, before Fox just pulled it from the schedule completely. No more show. I'll probably watch the last five episodes whenever they pop up on DVD somewhere, but I don't really need to to pass judgment on the show. There's a lot of talent behind this series, created by Arrested Development's Mitchell Hurwitz and star Will Arnett, and also featuring the lovely Keri Russell and Peter Serafinowicz in possibly his most amusing role. But the show itself simply isn't good enough for its cancellation to be a real tragedy. They never really found a proper footing in these eight episodes, which ranged from mildly enjoyable to mostly boring. It's just hard to mourn a series that never made you say, "Wow, that was great." I generally liked watching it, but the plots never seemed to go anywhere, and the inspiration just wasn't there. It's like they were trying too hard to make it more accessible than Development but forgot to actually make it good, and they ended up really pleasing no one.

Arnett plays Steve Wilde, the heir of the Wilde oil company. Russell is Emmy, the one who got away (there's a somewhat amusing metajoke to Steve constantly trying to please a girl called Emmy, and they thankfully never hammer it too hard), all the way to Africa. She's helping a native tribe survive with her daughter Puddle (who does some obvious narration and little else) and her fiance played by David Cross (unfortunately not a very interesting character), but through a series of events ends up living in a tree fort on Steve's estate back in America. There he tries to win her back over, but it's a struggle as they're constantly butting heads over everything imaginable. He's rich! She lives in the wilderness! These stories never get too complex as they basically just try to one-up and manipulate each other, and the fact that the show's central concept is so standard really hurts it. Serafinowicz plays Fa'ad, Steve's eccentric neighbor, and it's always a highlight when he shows up to outdo Steve's events and functions and show off his immensely thick chest hair, although he doesn't save the show by himself, and neither do the servants that make up the rest of the cast. I really wanted it to be good, but the truth is it's a show that Fox was justified in canceling. I wish I didn't have to wait until an undetermined date to see the rest of what they filmed, but like I said, it won't make a big difference.