Ìý User Rating 
Tom Cruise puts more miles on the pedometer in Mission: Impossible III, "the third and most entertaining" instalment of the action franchise. However, despite a thumbs-up from critics, it wasn't the box office smash Paramount had banked on. A dispute over DVD profits followed which led to the studio's unceremonious dumping of the star, blaming his off-screen antics for putting off moviegoers.
Cruise Control (Or Lack Thereof)
Going by this Collector's Edition DVD, Cruise hasn't learnt from his mistakes. After losing his noggin over Katie Holmes, he gushes over JJ Abrams with wild abandon. Most of the Unscripted featurette is taken up with the star banging on about how "tremendous" a filmmaker he is, so much so that even Abrams begins squirming in his seat. And there's more of that in their commentary for the film. Somehow Abrams manages to fit in a few notes about balancing the action sequences with the underlying love story while Cruise assures him he did a "phenomenal job - no, really, man."
Lest we forget how gosh darn brilliant Tom Cruise is, a montage of his greatest movie moments are cobbled together in a not-so modest tribute. Five deleted scenes are made up of much less enthralling stuff, eg a couple of superfluous punch-ups and a moment of quiet reflection as Musgrave (Billy Crudup) tells Ethan about his history with Lindsey (Keri Russell).
"He creates a legitimate air of terror," says Crudup of Cruise in Inside IMF. We have to assume he's talking about TC's onscreen persona as this featurette puts the spotlight on the characters who make up IMF. Inside The Action reveals the amount of preparation that goes into scenes of Cruise running up walls, driving fast cars and blowing things up. It's a neat complement to a half-hour 'Making Of' featurette that gives an overview of all of the major stunts. Behind-the-scenes cameras venture from California to Italy to China while Jonathan Rhys Meyers reveals that Cruise actually hums the M:I theme tune during those big set pieces!
The Impossible Dream
Mission Metamorphosis hears from Syd Mead who designed the mask-making machine that makes Tom Cruise look like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Visualising The Mission is a brief look at pre-visualisation. (That's the process of designing scenes in a CGI environment before tackling them on set.) Of course you've got to have some thumping audio to go with those visuals so composer Michael Giacchino gets to work adapting Lalo Schifrin's original TV theme tune in Scoring The Mission. "It has that big movie sound," says TC.
Footage from premieres in London, New York, Paris, Rome and Japan are presented in Launching The Mission i.e. TC in dark sunglasses flashing those pearly whites and waving to the swooning masses. Finally, click on any of the IMF logos on disc two and you'll be treated to TC's impression of Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Monaghan's whistle-stop tour of Xitang, China.
If you can get past all the hype, this Collector's Edition offers a fair few insights into the making of a big budget actioner. Tom Cruise fans may wish to make the investment since the star threatens to totally self-destruct within five years...
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