It also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan, Billy Crudup, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q and Laurence Fishburne.

Development for a third Mission: Impossible film began in 2002, with David Fincher slated to direct; he and his eventual replacement Joe Carnahan both departed by 2004, both citing creative differences.

Principal photography began in July 2005 and lasted until that October, with filming locations including Shanghai, Berlin, Rome, Los Angeles and the Vatican City.

Mission: Impossible III premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2006, and was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on May 5, 2006.

IMF agent Ethan Hunt is retired from fieldwork and has settled down, with his fiancée, nurse Julia Meade, who is unaware of his job training recruits.

IMF Director of Operations John Musgrave approaches him about a special mission to rescue one of his protégés, Lindsey Farris, who was captured while investigating arms dealer Owen Davian.

IMF technician Benji Dunn recovers enough data from the laptops to determine Davian will be in Vatican City to obtain a mysterious biological hazard codenamed the "Rabbit's Foot" (a MacGuffin).

Ethan obtains the Rabbit's Foot and delivers it to Davian, who tranquilizes him and implants a micro-explosive similar to the one that killed Lindsey in his head.

Musgrave was working with Davian to obtain the Rabbit's Foot so that the IMF would have cause to launch a preemptive strike against the Middle East in order to "stop the terrorists overseas and spread democracy."

In 2002, director David Fincher was slated to direct the next installment of the Mission: Impossible film series for a summer of 2004 release date.

[9] Under his involvement, the film was to feature "Kenneth Branagh playing a guy who's based on Timothy McVeigh," as well as Carrie-Anne Moss and Scarlett Johansson in other roles.

Location filming took place in China (Shanghai and Xitang), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Rome and Caserta), the United States (California, Virginia and Maryland) and Vatican City.

[22] To promote the film, Paramount rigged 4,500 randomly selected Los Angeles Times vending boxes with digital audio players which would play the theme song when the door was opened.

Despite these problems, Paramount and the Los Angeles Times opted to leave the audio players in the boxes until two days after the movie's opening.

[23] A blog entry of Hollywoodinterrupted.com in March 2006 alleged that Viacom (parent of Paramount and Comedy Central) canceled the rebroadcast of the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet" due to threats by Cruise to refuse to participate in the Mission: Impossible III publicity circle.

[29] Political blogger Andrew Sullivan encouraged a boycott of the film, based on claims that Cruise allegedly forced Comedy Central to censor a South Park episode about Scientologists.

"Make sure you don't go see Paramount's Mission: Impossible III, Cruise's upcoming movie," Sullivan wrote.

"[30] When asked in ABC's Primetime about his involvement with stopping the episode rebroadcast on Comedy Central, Cruise stated, "First of all, could you ever imagine sitting down with anyone?

[citation needed] The film's domestic gross was significantly lower than that of Mission: Impossible 2, and remains the lowest of the series as of 2022.

The site's critics consensus reads, "Fast-paced, with eye-popping stunts and special effects, the latest Mission: Impossible installment delivers everything an action fan could ask for.

"[39] In Ebert's print review, he gave the film a score of two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying, "Either you want to see mindless action and computer-generated sequences executed with breakneck speed and technical precision, or you do not.

"[41] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called Mission: Impossible III "a gratifyingly clever, booby-trapped thriller that has enough fun and imagination and dash to more than justify its existence.

"[44] Ian Nathan of Empire said that Mission: Impossible III has "an inspired middle-hour pumped by some solid action" but added that "we now live in a post-Bourne, recalibrated-Bond universe, where Ethan Hunt looks a bit lost.

"[45] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times said that "Hoffman enlivens Mission: Impossible III" but criticized the film's "maudlin romance" and "Abrams's inability to adapt his small-screen talent to a larger canvas.

"[46] Rob Nelson of the Dallas Observer said that "Abrams's movie is too oppressive, too enamored of its brutality to deliver anything like real thrills; its deeply unpleasant tone nearly makes you long even for [Mission: Impossible 2 director John] Woo's cartoon absurdities.

"[47] Claudia Puig of USA Today said that "Mission: Impossible III delivers" despite "a sense that the franchise is played out and its star over-exposed.

"[52] William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer remarked that "the latest [Mission: Impossible film] is just this side of insultingly stupid.

"[53] Shawn Levy of The Oregonian said that Mission: Impossible III "feels like one of the more forgettable James Bond films—saddled, moreover, with a star who's sliding into self-parody.