History Film / MissionImpossibleIII

* CoolGuns: Ethan uses (and refers to by name) a Heckler and Koch [=G36=].

* ContinuityNod: When discussing stealing the Rabbit's Foot, Luther mentions the security makes [[Film/MissionImpossible Langley]] look like a cakewalk.

* HowWeGotHere: The film begins with Ethan and Julia held hostage by Davian, who threatens Ethan to know where the rabbit’s foot is or he will kill Julia. The rest of the movie shows how Ethan and Julia end up in this predicament. [[spoiler: Davian did kill "Julia", but she is actually his head of security, the real Julia however is held hostage in a similar building one mile away.]]

* HowWeGotHere: The films begins with Ethan and Julia held hostage by Davian as he threatens Ethan to know where the rabbit’s foot is or he will kill Julia the rest of the movie shows how Ethan and Julia end up in this predicament. [[spoiler: Davian did kill "Julia", but she is actually his head of security, the real Julia however is held hostage in a similar building one mile away.]]

* FakeOutOpening: Double subverted. [[spoiler:Julia does die as depicted in the opening when the scene is repeated before the climax; however, as it turns out, that was Davian's security chief wearing a latex mask resembling Julia's head, and the real Julia is still alive somewhere]].

* DarkerAndEdgier: As a whole ''III'' has a grittier action style than the previous two films. The violence is more raw and brutal with significantly less of the stylish flair that ''II'' went for ([[spoiler:Farris' death]] being a key tone-setter). For Ethan's part his breaking point is tested in ways that had not been shown previously when people he cares about are harmed and threatened, with the personal stakes adding a human depth to his character that normally lives beneath the veil of a detached IMF operative.

* DarkerAndEdgier: As a whole ''III'' has a grittier action style than the previous two films. The violence is more raw and brutal with significantly less of the stylish flair that ''II'' went for. For Ethan's part his breaking point is tested in ways that had not been shown previously when people he cares about are harmed and threatened, with the personal stakes adding a human depth to his character that had previously lived beneath the veil of an IMF operative.

* ArmsDealer: Owen Davian. His day job is hooking up terrorists with weapons of mass destruction, and his night job is exuding sociopathic menace. Even when captured, bound, and faced with death, he remains [[DissonantSerenity preternaturally calm]] and merely rattles off all the ways he will torture the hero's loved ones [[strike:if]] '''when''' he gets free. The only time he shows a hint of fondness is when he aloofly recalls cruelly murdering one of the hero's partners ("That was nothing, that was... ''fun''. That was fun."). His chilling detachment is enhanced by the fact that he has [[https://web.archive.org/web/20071021101950/http://www.reverseshot.com/article/mi3 no backstory or any humanizing moments whatsoever]].

Ethan is in semi-retirement, only training new agents, and is engaged to Julia Meade (Creator/MichelleMonaghan), a nurse who thinks he works for the Virginia Department of Transportation. He is convinced to come out of retirement when he learns that one of his students Lindsey Farris (Creator/KeriRussell) has been captured. After the simultaneous success and failure of that mission, he takes over the student's case: tracking down the whereabouts of an elusive arms dealer named Owen Davian (Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman), who is looking for an unspecified item known as [[MacGuffin the "Rabbits Foot."]]

** The film further demonstrated the voice-mimicking devices: Ethan forces his target at gunpoint to read a short poem that contains every phoneme in English; this is apparently used to build the "voice mask" of the target. The film [[https://literalminded.wordpress.com/2006/05/05/a-panphonic-poem-for-mission-impossible-3/ actually got a professor of linguistics to write the poem]], and he notes the impossibility of the technology, but admits it [[MST3KMantra works in the film as a whole]].

* MagicalDefibrillator: They need to use a defibrillator to shock someone in an attempt to overload the electronics inside an explosive pill (which has apparently been implanted in the person's head -- but the shock from the defibrillator, applied correctly, should not pass through the head at all!), but fail because the defibrillator (which, it should be reminded, is a tool that might be needed at a moment's notice) has a warmup time (with large-font countdown), which just so happens to be a few seconds longer than it takes for the pill to go off. To add to the defibrillator magic, a character acknowledges that shocking someone like that ''will'' stop her heart. TheHero responds that he'll just use it again to restart it.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[BigBad Davian]] spends most of the final battle delivering one to Ethan [[spoiler: due to the charge being activated in his head.]] Moments later, Ethan delivers one right back to Davian.

* GeniusBruiser: Davian, while not exactly trained, is very strong and capable of throwing Ethan around.

* BlofeldPloy: [[spoiler:The film opens with Davian appearing to kill Ethan Hunt's wife. It is revealed that, again courtesy of LatexPerfection, the woman he shot was his translator who failed him earlier in the film. It turned out she was also his security chief, so the fact that he was kidnapped when she was right there with him obviously made him rather... upset with her]].

* BottomlessMagazines: {{Averted}}. Ethan manages to shoot the wing of an airplane with the aforementioned G36 and takes it down. He then runs after Davian who is escaping in a helicopter. Not only does he miss the first few shots but he runs out of ammo soon after.
* BriefAccentImitation: The movie reprises the little throat patches that are able to alter their voice into the voice of whoever they are imitating through LatexPerfection, and shows how both are made.
** [[https://literalminded.wordpress.com/2006/05/05/a-panphonic-poem-for-mission-impossible-3/ The filmmakers contacted a linguistics professor and had him write a poem that included every English phoneme.]] The target recites the poem into a recording device, which then builds a "voice mask" for the imitating agent. [[MST3KMantra The professor noted how unrealistic this is, but admits it didn't detract much from the film.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: A long-term example -- Ethan's ability to lip read and his wife's training as a nurse comes in handy near the end of the film, then it shows up again in ''Ghost Protocol'' when Ethan finds out how badly injured he is at the Russian hospital.

** Alternatively, that's what '''every''' agent says, so they keep a stash of VDOT stuff to give out.

* CreditsGag: Which is the last company who got thanked in the Credits? [[{{Series/Lost}} The Hanso Foundation]].

* DeadStarWalking: [[spoiler: Creator/KeriRussell is introduced as a protege of Ethan, and is then killed off immediately after one scene when a micro-explosive in her head detonates.]]

* TheAntiGod: Although in the end it's just a joke Benji makes, as part of the ongoing mystery that is never really resolved about the "Rabbit's Foot", he mentions that one of his college professors liked to talk about a theoretical WeaponOfMassDestruction (of the variety that could end the world in one fell swoop) that he called by this exact term.

''Mission: Impossible III'' is a 2006 {{action|Genre}} {{spy|Fiction}} {{thriller}} film and the third film in the ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series starring Creator/TomCruise as Ethan Hunt.

** Davian calls Ethan and tells him to find the Rabbit's Foot in exchange for Julia's life. Shortly afterwards, Ethan is arrested by the IMF, who think he's gone rogue. [[spoiler:Brassel, ostensibly the mole, orders Ethan put into a holding cell, exactly what Davian wouldn't want. Musgrave, however, aids in Ethan's escape.]]

-->--'''Owen Davian''' ''(while captive)''

''Mission: Impossible III'' is a 2006 {{action|Genre}} {{spy|Fiction}} {{thriller}} film and the ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series starring Creator/TomCruise as Ethan Hunt.

* {{BFG}}: The G36 used by Ethan is treated like one despite a fairly ordinary assault rifle in real-life by shooting down the drone on its attack run like an anti-air gun. Oddly averted moments later when Ethan fires on Davian's helicopter and causes zero damage despite a slower and bigger target.