Mission: Impossible III (Blu-ray)

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All six channels are used effectively by the Dolby Digital soundtrack. Imaging across the three front channels is very good. Directional effects easily move from either side to the other, nicely catching the attention of the center channel along the way. Effects can be heard moving from front to back or back to front. The rears are used heavily throughout the picture and there were more than a couple times when sound was coming from every imaginable direction. The .1 LFE channel is heavily used throughout "Mission Impossible III" and bass is deep and powerful during the film's action sequences and also accentuates the musical score by Michael Giacchino. Dialogue is clean and as crystal clear throughout the picture, regardless of the level of sound emanating due to the action sequences. The 5.1 multi-channel mix for "Mission Impossible III" is lively and truly adds to the experience of watching the picture on Blu-Ray.

Extras:
"Mission Impossible III" marks a few firsts for Blu-Ray. This is the first big major release to find itself arriving on store shelves simultaneously in all three formats. The DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD releases of "Mission Impossible III" assaults retail outlets all on the same day. Another first for this release is this is the very first 2-disc set for a Blu-Ray title. Much of the argument during this format war has been on the storage space available. "Mission Impossible III" finds two 25GB Blu-Ray platters in the blue case, and the HD-DVD is also a 2-disc release. This will be a good gauge as to how welcoming the public is to a multiple disc set on formats where the great amount of available space was one of the primary selling points. If 2-disc sets are accepted without any moaning and groaning, then the argument as to how Blu-Ray can contain much more data on a single disc becomes lesser of an argument, as studios will have no problems releasing multi-disc sets on the high definition format, though the Blu-Ray platters are only single layer and technically speaking, this could have been a single disc release on Blu-Ray. The question will be if studios will pay the additional cost or just stay with 2-disc releases.

There is one major difference between the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD releases for "Mission Impossible III." This difference is the Commentary by Tom Cruise and Director J.J. Abrams as they discuss their experience making M:I:III. The HD-DVD release contains an enhanced audio commentary track as well as the standard commentary track that is also included on the Blu-Ray release. The enhanced track features picture-in-picture and additional dialogue. However, the standard commentary track is quite good. Abrams and Cruise impressed me in how well they did creating this commentary track. The standard audio commentary is an edited version of the video commentary that is cleaned up to remove the references to pausing the picture and such. The enhanced version is easily the better of the two offerings and sadly, the Blu-Ray release does not contain the better, HD-DVD only track.

The rest of the supplements are found on the second disc. I will mark which supplements are presented in HD alongside the running time of each in parenthesis. Go Behind the Camera With the Making of the Mission (28:36 / HD) is your typical, run-of-the-mill talking-heads styled EPK feature. Fortunately, Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams both offer up a significant amount of time to taking part in this feature and provide much of their own thoughts on the making of the film. I was surprised to learn that this was J.J. Abrams first effort as a director on a big budget film. "Making of the Mission" provides a few picture-in-picture moments that are reminiscent of the full-length enhanced commentary found on the first disc.

A handful of slightly smaller and more focused vignettes follow the longer, main feature. Inside the IMF (21:14) is one of the few standard definition supplements and looks dull compared to the high definition mastered bonus materials. This feature looks at how the third film in the franchise involves the Impossible Mission Force and actually looks into the IMF headquarters. Time is also spent here looking at the cast and efforts put in by the supporting members of the film. More Ving is always good. Mission Action: Inside the Action Unit (25:39 / HD) looks at the special effects of the film. J.J. Abrams discusses John Woo and the opening sequence of the second film and how that affected his decisions for the third film and using Tom Cruise for stunts. Visualizing the Mission (10:36 / HD) looks at storyboarding and other techniques on laying out action sequences and how the "Pre-Vis" system greatly assists the filmmakers in creating the highly involved action sequences. The final supplement on the first page of the menu is Mission: Metamorphosis (8:08 / HD) looks at the making of the digital masks in the picture and solely looks at the chameleon technology of the masks and how J.J. Abrams wanted to make their inclusion fresh.

The second page of supplements on the second disc finishes off the featurettes and dives into delete scenes and promotional materials. Scoring the Mission (4:56 / HD) looks at those involved in the films score and how they helped bring the familiar theme song back for a third time. Michael Giacchino is involved with this feature. Moviefone Unscripted: Tom Cruise / J.J. Abrams (8:03) has become a common feature on DVDs these days. These sequences find two people involved in a film interviewing each other with questions from the general public. The two laugh and enjoy this segment, but at only eight minutes, it seems a bit short. Launching the Mission (14:02) is broken down into segments for New York, Rome, Paris, London and Japan. A 'Play All' option is included and this looks at the fervor surrounding Tom Cruise and others as they attend the premieres around the world. They pushed the notion that Cruise attended four premieres hard throughout the length of this featurette. Five Deleted Scenes (5:21 / HD) - "Ethan Fight at Top of Stairs," "Zhen Fight in Computer Room," "Musgrave Cemetery Conversation," "Lindsey Graduates," and "Vatican Entry Extended." Though shown in High Definition, they are of very rough quality. One scene adds to Keri Russell's performance and all five scenes were entertaining and would have been decent additions to the final film, but they are far from necessary. Four Theatrical Trailers (5:30 / HD) are included. Two domestic trailers and the teaser trailer and the Japanese trailer. Paramount has been releasing their trailers in HD, no difference here.

The third and final page of the menu lists only three features, but it took some length of time getting through these bits of supplemental material. Six TV Spots (3:12) are included - "Go Live," "It's Over," "Execute," "Madness," "New Escape," and "Conspiracy Regular." These are not mastered in High Definition, but fun, none-the-less. The Interactive Photo Gallery found literally dozens and upon dozens of scenes from the film and the making of the production in glorious high-definition. It took a good amount of time to get through them and I didn't keep track, but there are a lot of them. They look very nice. Finally, the Excellence in Film (9:14) details Tom Cruise winning the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award. Oddly, Kubrick thought Cruise and Kidman ruined his last film. I wonder if he would approve. There are some nice scenes of older Tom Cruise films and it isn't a bad little short, but has little to do with "Mission Impossible III." It does contain a portion of the Monkees classic song "The Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)." I really appreciated that, though I doubt many others will even know who is singing the song.

Counting the enhanced commentary, there are hours upon hours of supplemental materials. It took me a day longer than I had planned to get through all of the materials. I must say that most of the features contain very good information on the making of the film and Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams did a great job of providing material for this Blu-Ray release. The features are exhaustive, but detailed and certainly adds value to this release. For being the first 2-disc Blu-Ray release, this is perhaps the best all-around title when you take into account the value added material contained.

Closing Comments:
I enjoyed "Mission Impossible III," but found it repetitious and fairly unimaginative. Granted, there are certain elements that need to be included in any "Mission Impossible" film, and J.J. Abrams and Tom Cruise tried to expand on the character of Ethan Hunt, but I don't feel they achieved what they had intended to do. There is a lot of good action scenes and explosive stunts in "Mission Impossible III." This is certainly a fun popcorn film to sit down and enjoy. Regardless of what you may think of Tom Cruise and his perceived public image, the man is a great action actor and always worth the price of admission. The Blu-Ray release is stunning in its visuals and its audio. The picture quality ranks among the better Blu-Ray releases and the sound is equally powerful. What is really impressive is the great number of supplements contained on the two platters in the thin clear blue case. "Mission Impossible III" is really the first special edition to fully make use of high definition. After seeing this title, I'm all for multi-disc sets in the new generation, though the additional enhanced commentary does provide an argument that the HD-DVD release is the true next generation version of the film.

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