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47
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93
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82
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73
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72
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71
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70
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
63
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The
63
Burn After Reading
60
Traitor
58
Express, The
58
City of Ember
58
Body of Lies
57
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
57
Flash of Genius
55
House Bunny, The
54
Get Smart
53
Rocker, The
53
Quarantine
53
Lucky Ones, The
52
Secret Life of Bees, The
52
Longshots, The
51
Mamma Mia!
49
Family That Preys, The
48
Sex Drive
47
Swing Vote
47
X-Files: I Want to Believe, The
46
Lakeview Terrace
45
Blindness
43
Eagle Eye
43
Meet Dave
43
Death Race
41
Beverly Hills Chihuahua
39
Nights in Rodanthe
37
Miracle at St. Anna
36
Space Chimps
36
Righteous Kill
36
Fly Me to the Moon
35
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
35
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
35
Mirrors
34
My Best Friend's Girl
27
Women, The
26
Babylon A.D.
24
Bangkok Dangerous
20
American Carol, An
15
Disaster Movie
15
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xx
Max Payne
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

xx
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52
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66
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89
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86
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85
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84
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83
Ballast
83
U2 3D
83
Trouble the Water
82
Tell No One
82
Happy-Go-Lucky
82
Frozen River
82
Rachel Getting Married
80
Encounters at the End of the World
80
Moving Midway
79
Visitor, The
78
Last Mistress, The
76
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
73
Obscene
73
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
72
Secret, A
72
Transsiberian
72
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68
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68
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68
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66
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66
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65
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64
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64
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
63
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63
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63
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63
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63
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62
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62
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62
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62
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61
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61
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57
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57
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57
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56
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56
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56
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55
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55
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55
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53
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53
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53
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52
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52
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51
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50
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49
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47
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46
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45
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44
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43
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43
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41
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40
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37
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31
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28
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28
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26
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
Lower Learning
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Mission: Impossible III
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for intense sequences of frenetic violence & menace, disturbing images & some sensuality
Starring
Tom Cruise,
Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Ving Rhames,
Billy Crudup,
Michelle Monaghan,
Jonathan Rhys Meyers,
Laurence Fishburne,
and
Bahar Soomekh
Tom Cruise returns as Special Agent Ethan Hunt, who faces the mission of his life and a new villain (Hoffman) in Mission: Impossible III. Director J. J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias") brings his unique blend of action and drama to the billion-dollar franchise. (Paramount Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Alex Kurtzman
Roberto Orci
J.J. Abrams
Bruce Geller (television series)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
J.J. Abrams
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: October 31, 2006
Theatrical: May 5, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
126 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Also known as "Mission Impossible 3" and "M:I-3"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Keith Phipps
Yes, it's fundamentally business as usual, but it's the best kind of business as usual, and it finds everyone working in top form. Abrams imports and enlarges "Alias'" smooth, stylish, yet remarkably visceral approach to action, and the actors pack a satisfying amount of drama into the moments between action scenes.

83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A gratifyingly clever, booby-trapped thriller that has enough fun and imagination and dash to more than justify its existence.

83
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
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.

78
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
It's all poppycock, of course, but it's done with such vim and vigor and both narrative and visual flair that you care not a jot. Summer has arrived.

75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Against sizable odds -- a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed -- Mission: Impossible III delivers.

75
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
The supporting cast, including Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne and gorgeous Maggie Q, is underused, but the movie delivers the goods.

75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Bury the nostalgia. Like the rap twist Kayne West puts into the film's classic theme, this movie is best when it stirs it up.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
In Mission: Impossible III, we find out whether it's still possible to look at Tom Cruise and not see a weirdo. The answer is yes, but a complicated yes, because it takes time.

75
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
The end result is the very definition of a summer movie: breezy, undemanding and a carefully balanced blend of the familiar and the not-quite-what-you-expected.

75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
It's overwrought and overplotted, but it's plenty of fun.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Big and fast and silly, but it's never dumb, and it's certainly never boring, either. The summer movie onslaught has begun on a high note.

75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
Unlike the previous two films in this series, Abrams is more concerned with his hero's heart than with his hardware. The result is a pulse-racing thriller that restores the human factor to the franchise, and to its producer-star.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Though Abrams doesn't possess a fraction of the visual pizzazz of the two previous MI directors, Brian De Palma or John Woo, his incarnation is, from a narrative perspective, better made.

70
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
In the world of bloated movie-star vehicles, it's not unusual to see an ego trip of these dimensions. What’s rare is when one hits its marks so smoothly.

70
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
Abrams keeps the action clicking along in 5/8 time, and Cruise is at his scowling/smiling best as he jumps, shoots and leaves. (See Tom run! Run, Tom, run!) Best is Philip Seymour Hoffman as the baddie; the film's best sequence features him playing Cruise playing him at a swank party in Vatican City.

70
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
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."
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
In his feature debut, "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams, who got the job on the basis of "Alias," takes the driver's seat with both feet on the accelerator.

70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
For all its far-fetched formulations, this new entry maintains more of a dramatic throughline and has the bonus of a villain played with unsparing meanness by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

70
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
Cruise is probably the most graceful physical performer to occupy the screen since Burt Lancaster, and in this sort of action role, he's just about peerless...He may not be a great actor, but to find a greater movie star would be a nigh impossible mission.

70
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Hoffman is so proficient in this role that he just about overmatches Cruise and makes the wait until he speaks again in the second half of the film hard to endure with any patience.

70
Time
Richard Corliss
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.

67
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
A film that climaxes in Shanghai shouldn't go down like a meal in Shanghai. But an hour after you see M:i:III, you may be hungry for a real movie.

63
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Only theoretically, though, is this exciting. Mostly, it all feels like a lateral move that keeps alive a franchise without breaking new ground.

63
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Maybe it's foolish to be disappointed by a pure popcorn movie, but as I walked out of this film, I felt it had failed in its mission of pure entertainment.

63
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The real objective of all the "M:I" movies is to provide a clothesline for sensational action scenes. Nothing else matters, and explanatory dialogue would only slow things down. This formula worked satisfactorily in "M:I," directed by Brian De Palma, and "M:I II," directed by John Woo, and I suppose it works up to a point in M:I III, directed by J.J. Abrams, if what you want is endless, nonstop high-tech action.

63
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
One of Cruise's most deeply cherished ambitions is to be a great actor, and this movie goes to great lengths to let him do that--sort of. You'll understand what I mean during the sequence in which there is more than one Philip Seymour Hoffman on the screen.

63
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Though dated and unsophisticated compared to the much cooler Bourne spy thrillers, M:i:III will probably hit the sweet spot at the box-office - and give Cruise a whole new reason to start jumping on couches.

63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Mission: Impossible III hasn't the kinks or the oddball Continental chic of the first "Mission: Impossible," but it's less pretentious and obsessively pretty than the second movie.

60
Empire
Ian Nathan
An inspired middle-hour pumped by some solid action gives you an idea how good the franchise could be, but we now live in a post-Bourne, recalibrated-Bond universe, where Ethan Hunt looks a bit lost.

60
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
M:i:III, like many blockbusters, would be nothing without its star.

60
Slate
Michael Agger
The movie raises your pulse, it has visual wow. But I suspect that audiences will emerge into the light feeling more battered than entertained.

60
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Producer-star Tom Cruise handed this one to alumni from the TV spy drama "Alias," and the result is nearly as good as the series' best, Woo's Mission: Impossible 2.

58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
While all the "Mission" plots are convoluted and slightly preposterous -- the keyword in the title is "Impossible" -- the latest is just this side of insultingly stupid. The longer you think about it, the less sense it all makes.

58
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Absent the real sense of creepiness and highly honed film craft of De Palma, or the strong visual and emotional sensibility of Woo, M: I III feels like one of the more forgettable James Bond films -- saddled, moreover, with a star who's sliding into self-parody.

50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Clearly designed to be an action thriller with emotional underpinnings. But you can't get blood from a stone, no matter how hard you squeeze. And so Cruise, a huge box-office star, is the single bright, blinking emblem of the failure of Mission: Impossible III.

50
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
Mr. Hoffman enlivens Mission: Impossible III, which otherwise droops, done in both by the maudlin romance and by Mr. Abrams's inability to adapt his small-screen talent -- evident in his capacity as the television auteur behind "Alias" and "Lost" -- to a larger canvas.

50
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
Watching this movie is like sitting on your couch for two hours to catch a little network prime time: you may be mildly entertained, but damned if you’ll remember any of it five minutes later. On the plus side, you probably won’t care.

40
Dallas Observer
Rob Nelson
Aside from a single jazzy image of Hunt taking a nosedive off a Shanghai skyscraper, Abrams' movie is too oppressive, too enamored of its brutality to deliver anything like real thrills; its deeply unpleasant tone nearly makes you long even for Woo's cartoon absurdities.


The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 138 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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