"Mission Impossible III": Tension, stunts keep things cruising

So, who do you think would win in a fight: Tom Cruise or Philip Seymour Hoffman? Sure, Cruise looks like he's in better shape, but Hoffman seems undeniably sneakier. (Besides, Hoffman's got that Oscar he can whip out.) When Cruise's secret-agent Ethan Hunt and Hoffman's villain Owen Davian do battle against each other in "Mission: Impossible III," it's an intriguing matchup, no matter whom you're rooting for. Cruise is, of course, always Cruise, but you're never quite sure who Hoffman's going to be.

That tension helps to propel J.J. Abrams' "Mission: Impossible III" into the guilty-pleasure category. Just when you're getting a little tired of Cruise's heroic grimacing, out shambles Hoffman in a rumpled tuxedo, with a creepy leer in his eye and a demonic drone to his voice — and things get interesting.

The "Capote" star is nobody's idea of an action-movie guy, and that's why the casting works so well; he brings a whole different rhythm to the movie, slowing it down to his own deliberate, almost playful pace.

This is the franchise's third film (each with a different director), and it may well be the most successful of the bunch. The screenplay — by Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci — has an unnecessarily oddball structure that starts near the end, goes back to the beginning and then works its way up to the now-familiar end again. But even at that, it's less convoluted than the first two movies, and it's got plenty of opportunities for trademark globe-trotting "M:I" stunts.

A breathless early sequence involves a helicopter and a defibrillator (apparently just one of those things wouldn't be enough); a centerpiece scene on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge includes enough explosions and flying cars to justify the film's ticket price; and there's a plummeting fall near the end, off a Shanghai office tower, that's undeniably thrilling. And a party at the Vatican provides an elegant backdrop for a delicious set piece: a nifty art project, involving some sort of high-tech papier-mâché, creates a disguise that causes Davian to beat up ... himself.

There's no real reason to go into the plot; it's enough to know that Hunt is the good guy, Davian is the bad guy and each has a crew of photogenic flunkies backing him up. Hunt also comes equipped with a love interest: fiancée Julia (Michelle Monaghan, doing her best with a thankless role), a girl-next-door nurse who doesn't know her sweetie is a spy — until she gets drawn into Davian's web.

Among the crowded supporting cast, Ving Rhames stands out as the ever-kvetching computer expert Luther Strickell, who's agreeable even when serving only as a device for the screenwriters to explain things to the audience. "Magnetic means encrypted," Hunt tells his colleague earnestly. "Yeah, I know," grunts the ever-patient Strickell. Hong Kong action star Maggie Q nicely performs one of the movie's more difficult stunts: emerging from a tiny sports car in a barely-there red dress. And in a small role, Laurence Fishburne shows a nice slow-burn irritation as Brassel, director of the Impossible Mission Force.

And Cruise? Well, he's gotten quite enough press lately; suffice to say he delivers precisely the performance expected, no more and no less. But as a producer of this film, he gets credit for bringing this cast and director (known for TV's "Alias" and "Lost") together. It's a swift two hours that should pass painlessly, with the help of plenty of popcorn.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com