MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3

''Hollywood re-cooks formula, sticks to the basics, serves old wine in an old bottle, no pretence and underestimating intelligence, defines its audience and delivers thereafter. Sheer popcorn aroma. Bombs and weapons with espionage served on platter with a pinch of lost love and good old live band Lalo Schiffren ten ten ten ten memorable-now-immortal and the most famous action film theme.''

MI 3 is a clear depart from the expected high adrenaline movies that fall into this genre, in both senses of the word. However, it was kind of predicted that this particular installment would not be so high on action had it to register an impact, as the second edition had hardly left any room for any more innovation in action or twisted plots, thanks to John Woo’s “anything is possible” theory. JJ Abrams treats the project free from all these shackles and recreates the magic in his own capabilities, with the ample use of some of his successful formulae from Alias and Lost.

Hollywood serves yet another platter of bombs and emotions with the now historical theme music and we consume it with joy. Amongst the regular ‘planned’ outings and surprises, which fortunately are not many, there is a polished, mature feel to the film. In many ways, lovers of the first edition will like this one more for its anti-save-the-world and anti-climactic overtones. And that in no way undermines one of the slickest action movie climaxes to be seen in recent times. The movie scores in confusing you in a I’m-a-wink-at-you manner. And you feel confused yet entertained. With ample doses of sweaty close-ups, jump cuts, face transformations, faster than light sequences, skewed time line scenes, flashbacks, high on emotion scenes, the film entertains and also presents a consumable capsule of 124 minutes of popcorn fun.

I would not heartily recommend this to everyone but still see it for the love of nostalgia of Hunt and IMF, some witty liners by Fishburne, a hot looking Maggie Q, a fairly well balanced Monagham, a much less speaking Cruise and above all, a delightfully frightening Hoffman in his original husky voice for a change! Another memorable feat of this sequel would be the caricature-ization of the quintessential heroine-held-up-by-the-bad-guy scene. You might appreciate it if you happen to have a largely appreciative flavor/take on cinema. OR else you might not even wink in surprise until the end titles roll.

With a strategically done casting with a mix of American, brit and asian actors, it seems like a ready-to-click flick. I would give it a 6.5 and an extra 0.5 for the VOLUME turned down and the ‘isolation’ feel. Feels much more of an antithesis to John Woo’s metal-rock-Limp-Bizkit-flying-bikes-and-self-destructive-weapons-high-drama-read-bioweapons-ode-to-asian-action-genre MI: 2. While the former was proudly melodramatic, this one is proudly underplayed.

However, one feels the lack of another anthem in the soundtrack like Take A look Around, a couple of more heart-pounding sequences and ahem ahem…a little sex! If one were to pick one representational sequence of the visibly apparent underplay, it would be the ‘secret’ message destructing itself in a ‘phew’ way!

OK, point taken Abrams, this one is different. Waiting for the next edition.