Celebrity media coverage of many summers since mid nineties has been mostly attributed to only one dude – Tom Cruise. Does he deserve that extensive coverage? Is he really that great an actor?

My answer would be a qualified ‘yes’. Because he is one guy who knows how to deliver a great entertainment. Look at his freakin’ resume for god’s sake. The Mission: Impossible movies, the flicks he did with Spielberg, the softer movies like Jerry Maguire, Magnolia, and so many others. They all earned plenty of dough and kept studio in business.

And for the fact that he is a great actor. Why not? He knows what is good for the audience. Some critical remarks aside (I’m guilty too) but most of his movies have done well and you have both happy audience and happy studios. You don’t want to lose this guy, he is a cash machine.

Despite the lukewarm reception during the opening of the movie, it is now doing well in the US. No problem in the Asia, people are going to lap it up. I enjoyed it tremendously, so much so that I went for second screening.

Look, I have long abandoned the idea of seeing the actual reinterpretation of M:I of the TV series after the second movie. I lost hope after seeing John Woo stamping his signature style all over the movie (flying doves in slow motion? Flying motorbikes?). So, I had zero expectation when I came to this movie. And I was blown away.

Director JJ Abrams certainly knows his stuff. And his star. He knows how well to use Cruise (and, well, ego may be involved, but used well). There are smatterings of references to other M:I movies as well as other spy action flicks like True Lies and the Bond films, but in all of them the director and his star rules.

The action scenes reminded me tremendously the last time I had this much of tension – Clear And Present Danger. You folks out there may have forgotten that movie but let me tell you that is one movie that rocks. During the first half there is a scene where Harrison Ford and his gang are attacked by bazooka wielding terrorist from the building roofs by the little alley they were passing. It was a real edge-of-your-seat moment. Real nail-biting moment. And you get that in bigger volume in this movie.

There is not much story. If there is, it is not convoluted and you don’t have to bang your head to understand it. Its straight forward and it exists mainly just to provide Tom with an excuse to be involved in many stunt sequences. Yes, Scientology’s golden boy does seemed to have been involved in most of the stunts.

Like most of the reviews I have written, I shall not delve into in the stories. Like in case of most of present day flicks, they are not worth telling. It’s all about eye candy nowadays, and M:I 3 delivers it plenty.

Oh, and don't forget to check out Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Once in a while, its nice to see scary, over the top villains like his.