Mission: Impossible III

Tom Cruise and Keri Russell have their backs to the wall in MI:3.

Herald rating: * * * *

At a point worryingly early on in this first barrage of the mid-year blockbuster season, a pivotal character is injected straight into the ticker. "It's adrenalin," says man-with-syringe Ethan Hunt (Cruise), helpfully. And while he doesn't actually verbalise it, Cruise gives a look that says "and there's plenty more where that came from".

There sure is. M:I 3 is the best and most satisfying of the triology, Cruise having made it his personal spy vehicle after hotwiring the premise of the old Cold War television series and classic theme tune.

Yes, it's another epic stuntathlon: see Tom run, see Tom leap off tall buildings in a single bound. But it enagages because all that action is grounded in character. It does risk peaking too early and it's got some truly sappy moments in scenes involving Hunt's lovelife. But it has some action-flick rarities. Like a convincing finale and supporting players, like squad returnee Rhames, who actually leave an impression.

It outstrips its confused predecessors on many fronts - better villain, bigger bang, and just enough fun with those original M:I gimmicks (the masks, the self-destruct messages) to make it seem more like the opening blast in a franchise rather than a tired third.

Blame Alias and Lost creator J.J. Abrams, the third and surviving director of this film. His well-developed sense of the fiendish gives this an edge. Fleeing in a chopper through a wind farm while pursued by a gunship might not be clever, but it sure looks darn cool

Cruise-ophiles and -phobes alike are in for much fun too in the life imitating art department, especially as Ethan Hunt's oblivious-to-his-job-bride-to-be Julie (Monaghan) looks like Katie Holmes' older, smarter sister. One of Hunt's disguises looks like a tribute to the hippie Cruise of Born on the Fourth of July.

And in the scene where villain and hero face off, you've got a great Oscar-winning actor wiping the floor with Hollywood's biggest superstar. To explain the plot up to that point would be to induce the sort of headache you get from too much jumping for joy on the couch.

Oh, and where did superspy Ethan meet nice nurse Julie in the first place? At "Lake Wanaka" apparently. Moteliers will be happy that there's an explanation for that flurry of self-destructing small appliances.

CAST: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, Keri Russell
DIRECTOR J.J. Abrams
RATING: M (medium-level violence)
RUNNING TIME: 126 mins
SCREENING: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley