Alias: The Movie

The Jilb and I saw Mission Impossible III the other day, even though some people are refusing to see it because Tom Cruise is a psycho.

But I decided that wasn't going to stop me from seeing a (potentially) good movie.

I mean, do I have to stop watching The Hunt for Red October just because Alec Baldwin turned out to be a red actor?

How many movies include only well-adjusted, emotionally-stable actors and actresses?

Eight. And I've already seen them all.

So we went. The verdict?

Good. Not as fresh or smart as the first Mission: Impossible, but about a trillion times better than M:I 2.

There were a lot of trademark J.J. Abrams /Alias-inspired moments (two agents "arguing" in public to create a distraction, pop-music blaring an unconventional time, and all sound fading at an emotionally-heightened moment save for a series of heartfelt piano chords) .

There were also a couple of nice homages to the first M:I (some not so subtle) along with a musical cue taken from the original series (the military-style theme, with the driving snare beat).

And there was a very mean - yet understated - Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

It's difficult for me to say (considering how increasingly sucky the show became), but the movie was at its best when Abrams unashamedly did his "Alias" thing. The Vatican heist mixed in a little of "the Embassy" from the first M:I along with a lot of Alias flavor, and the result was the movie's best sequence.

The movie was at its worst when Tom and Phillip had a manly-man wrestling match on the floor of some dumpy Chinese apartment. Yeah, great finale, guys. I was hoping instead, as all the trailers let me to believe, that they would try to shout each other to death.

It was pretty good, though. And if nothing else, it was nice to see that former Viking's head coach Mike Tice was able to find some new work. (see Davian's guard - and curse the internet for not having more screenshots up.)