Alias the Movie

[Spoilers below.]










Actually it was Mission Impossible III. The absence of Jennifer Garner was a dead giveaway. I'll take Jenn over Tom anyday. Jenn's absence compensated by Maggie Q.:D
It looked, read and felt like an extended episode of Alias, which is not necessarily a bad thing I guess. Same plot points of: some device needing to be stolen, gadgets, disguises, random gun fights and chases, the threatend love one, the traitor within the ranks, the whole 'things are not what they seem' thing, the geeky looking evil bad guy. All essential ingredients in the average alias episode.
JJ Abrams does pretty well for his first big feature film. There are lots of on the edge of your seat moments, which don't always deliver though. The first half of the movie is very fast paced, almost chaotic with lots of camera movement and fast cuts.
Things actually slow down towards the climax of the movie. They gloss over the whole 'steal the rabbits foot' thing. A victim of budget overruns and threats from the studio boss to cancel the movie? Perhaps.
The explosions, chases, etc are front loaded into the movie with the final showdown taking place in a dentist's office. Some fistfight and some shots fired (and by the hero's wife, at that) I mean, the evil bad guy gets run over by a truck. That's it.
At the end, the Super secret organisation that's so secret that they will disavow you if you're caught, lets the hero's wife run around the super secret office. What's next? She joins the team? Hmm, sounds like...... Alias?
A watchable movie at the end of the day.
Now for XMen III, sans director Bryan Singer. Hmmmm.