The movie we watched was MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III. Well, it certainly poured on the action sequences, and they were all pretty spectacular. Very James Bondian/ALIAS level stuff, but I think of MI as something that should be more intellectual action (like the break-in of CIA headquarters in the first one) rather than the blow-up/crash and bang stuff that every other action movie has. So, that was a bit disappointing.
But, with ALIAS' J.J. Abrams at the helm, I bought into the world and tried to enjoy it, and I did until we got to the final sequence, and then all the careful set-ups just fell apart with a clock ticking and Ethan explaining to his wife how to fire a gun, and rigging up a defib device while telling his wife he loved her. Nope, lost me there.
The transfer was a HUGE disappointment. The color looked very plugged up to me, too much contrast, and often soft (was Cruise trying to hide his age a bit?). And during the Vatican sequences there was so much moire on the walls and steps that I knew the film had been transferred at a very low bit rate.
So, I'd rank this one ahead of MI: II but in my mind not as good as the first one. The transfer on DVD was by far the worst of the three. (I read some reviews of the HD-DVD version, and they weren't at all positive either.)