Mission: Impossible III

When agent Lindsey Farris (Russell) goes missing, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is called out of retirement, and literally right in the middle of his engagement party. He quickly assembles his team—Luther (Rhames), Declan (Rhys Meyers), and Zhen (Maggie Q)—and completes his mission, but when his fiance (Monaghan) is kidnapped in the double-cross, he must risk it all to save the only person who can complete him. "Mission: Impossible (III)" is based on the television series created by Bruce Geller. (Jack Kelley)

Special features on the Blu-ray Disc are exactly the same as on the HD DVD except they do not include the enhanced commentary with Tom Cruise and Director J.J. Abrams—Disc One includes commentary by Tom Cruise and Director J.J. Abrams. Disc Two offers the following featurettes: "The Making Of The Mission" (29 minutes), "Inside The IMF" (21 minutes), "Mission Action: Inside The Action Unit" (25 minutes), "Visualizing The Mission" (eight minutes), "Mission: Metamorphosis" (eight minutes), and "Scoring The Mission" (five minutes). There is also an eight-minute Moviefone Unscripted interview with Cruise and Abrams; "Launching The Mission" footage from the theatrical priemeres in New York, Rome, Paris, London, and Japan; five deleted scenes; a teaser trailer; the Japanese trailer; two theatrical trailers; six TV spots; a photo gallery; and "Excellence In Film," which is a nine-minute montage of films Tom Cruise has been in and was also a supplement on the 10th Anniversary Edition DVD release of Mission: Impossible reviewed in Issue #109.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.32:1 DVD picture exhibits pasty, oversaturated colors and fleshtones that appear sunburnt. Details are generally crisp, although there are scenes that seem to have a slight defocus. Moiré artifacts appear throughout the presentation, and pixilation is noticeable at times. This picture is just not nearly as good as it should be. The HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc picture is improved with respect to colors, although they can still look slightly pasty. Shadow delineation is also improved, and details are resolved better as well. Moiré artifacts are still apparent. Differences between the two high-definition formats are so minute, they are likely caused by the Samsung BD-P1000 player. (Danny Richelieu)

With hard-hitting bass, impressive pans, and well-placed phantom images, the Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is quite exciting. The surround channels are not incorporated into the mix as frequently as they should, as there can be a complete lack of atmospheric envelopment in outdoor scenes. Fidelity is pristine, as should be expected, which helps make this an exciting, enjoyable experience. The improvements afforded by the Dolby Digital Plus encoding included with the HD DVD release are minor, although they can definitely be heard, and felt, in the tighter, deeper bass, as well as improved dynamics. The Blu-ray Disc's Dolby Digital soundtrack has a slight improvement in fidelity over the DVD's encoding, although it does not sound as natural as the HD DVD release. (Danny Richelieu)