Mission: Impossible III (HD DVD)

The first HD DVDs were released mid-April 2006 and now, six months later, I think it is safe to call Paramount's HD release of Mission: Impossible III the best HD DVD to date. Is this saying a lot right now? Probably not since only a select few DVDs have taken advantage of the HD DVD exclusive features, but M:I III not only brings the HD video and audio for the feature film but Paramount has also given us the majority of the special features in high definition as well. On top of all that Mission: Impossible III is not only the best Mission yet, it is one of the best movies of 2006.

Tom Cruise has certainly been criticized more than he deserves this year, but that doesn't stop his films from being some of my personal favorites and M:I III sits firmly in my Cruise Top 5 right up there with Collateral, Top Gun, The Last Samurai and Rain Man. Thanks to director and co-writer J.J. Abrams this mission kicks off with one of the more intense openings I can remember and doesn't stop until the credits role. Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt and this time the baddie of choice, Owen Davian, is played by recent Oscar-winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Hunt must lead his team in a worldwide hunt for the villainous Davian and it is more than the threat of global terrorism that guides his way. Mission: Impossible III takes the love angle a different direction as we get a personal look at Hunt's life and when his new wife (Michelle Monaghan) becomes an unintentional part of the mission the heat is turned up.

Abrams is primarily known as the creator of the hit television show "Alias" and he really brings all that knowledge to this production along with a feature film sized budget and of course better actors. From the look and design of IMF headquarters down to even some of the character actors, primarily Simon Pegg, whose nerdy computer hacker character reminds me a whole lot of Kevin Weisman's Marshall Flinkman from "Alias," J.J.'s fingerprints are all over this production. While the acting, the directing, the story and the action are all superb I already knew all that going into this HD DVD. So this HD DVD had to come with something new to impress me further, and it managed just that... THE SPECIAL EFFECTS! These effects are by far some of the very best I have ever seen and this disc goes into very good detail on virtually all of them.

For anyone that has seen the movie or any of the trailers then you will probably remember the car accident and all the action that takes place on what is supposed to be the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. One thing you will learn is that in that scene there is actually not a single drop of water surrounding that bridge. The entire set was built in the desert in California and ILM digitally created all of the water and more than a fair share of additional effects in that scene and in several other scenes. Yeah, Matrix Reloaded did something like this, but trust me, this is better. It probably doesn't sound as impressive when you read it, but when you see it with that in mind you will be astonished.

The next big reveal was just how many of the stunts Cruise actually does himself. I knew he liked to do his own stunts, but this guy did everything, including being thrown into that car on the bridge, you will see that happen as well as witness him jumping from 80 feet in the air for one of the climactic scenes toward the end of the film. All of this and the special effects are talked about in length in the featurettes on disc two and in the audio commentary on the first disc, but the audio commentary during the feature film is taken a step further with this edition as it is accompanied with an HD exclusive video commentary as J.J. and Tom chat it up while the film plays and even pause the picture at certain times to discuss a certain scene for a little longer than the scene would allow. Along with this they show behind-the-scenes action while the film is playing and there is an IMF logo that will pop-up on occasion giving you the chance to peek at deleted scenes where they would have fit into the film. You can check these deleted scenes out on disc two, but why would you when this option is available. This picture-in-picture commentary is easily the best one to date for any of the DVDs and is a large reason why I consider this the best HD DVD so far, but there is more.

The reason M:I III is our first two-disc HD DVD release has to do with the fact that Paramount is the first studio to give us our special features in HD as well. Now mind you there are a few features that are still in standard definition, but they are the more insignificant features of the bunch. The best has to be the making of featurette which goes into a lot of the effects work and creative processes of the film as I mentioned earlier, but accompanying this are two other features that really show off what all went into making this movie.

The first one is "Inside the Action Unit" a feature obviously centered on the action in the film including the bridge sequence, the building jump, the warehouse siege, the Shanghai car chase and then some. There is so much action and so many hidden effects it is phenomenal. The second great feature shows how the mask making machine was conceived, created and used in the film. ILM is really the focal point of this feature and anything having to do with the effects of the film. It truly is shocking to see how good they are at making the unreal look real.

Additional featurettes take a look at Michael Giacchino's score, a pre-visualization feature that shows the rather detailed animatics that were used and even created while on set, a look inside the IMF, deleted scenes and some promo material including trailers, Moviefone interviews and "Launching the Mission" a featurette showing how Tom Cruise and the cast of M:I III went to four different premieres for the film in one day, by land, by air and by water. There are also a few Easter Eggs to be found. I think I found five of what I am assuming to be 6 of them and they aren't too great, but if you want to just do a lot of left and right clicking on disc two and you should find them.

Overall, I have had this HD DVD in my possession for about four days. In those four days I watched the movie once, then I watched the movie with the special picture-in-picture commentary, then I watched disc two, then I watched the movie two more times. I love this movie and I love this HD DVD. The picture and audio are phenomenal and the special features are fantastic. If you have been looking for a reason to buy an HD DVD player and get into the age of high-definition Mission: Impossible III is a fantastic excuse to get your collection started.