Director looked to gadgets and romance to balance the action

LOS ANGELES -- With the clever disguises, exotic locales and sneaky betrayals, "Mission: Impossible III" looks a lot like a souped-up, big-screen "Alias" as long as you substitute agent Ethan Hunt for Sydney Bristow.

"There were so many things that we wanted to do on 'Alias' that we could never in a million years afford," explains writer/director JJ Abrams. "One of the things that we did in this movie was this Vatican break-in sequence. It's a very visually, intricately told sequence, and in television, you just never have the time to do the kind of pieces that you need to really tell it properly."

In the film, Impossible Mission Force's loose cannon Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) pulls together a task force to infiltrate the Vatican, where creepy information and weapons trader Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is attending a function.

Coming into contact with Davian, however, sets off a string of bigger and badder action sequences that leaves a bridge in ruins, cars overturned, a helicopter fleeing missiles and Ethan swinging from a building in Shanghai. To balance these larger than life scenes, Abrams focuses on details, such as demystifying the high tech gadgets like the realistic rip-away masks.

"It would be so easy not to do that stuff, but I thought part of the fun of 'Mission: Impossible' the series for me was always not just the 'what' and the 'why,' but also the 'how,'" says Abrams. "And I just loved watching this team using the kind of equipment with such a precision that I wished I had that kind of equipment and knew how the hell to do that stuff. Part of getting to know and love the team is seeing them do their job and appreciating why they have been chosen to be out in the field."

Abrams also takes a page from "Alias" by giving Ethan a domestic, everyman identity outside of the adrenaline-filled IMF. This gentle alter ego studies traffic patterns for a living and has plans to settle down with the beautiful civilian Julia (Michelle Monaghan).

"My dream version of 'Mission: Impossible' still hadn't gotten made, which was a version that allowed us to see who these characters were as people, not just as spies," says the director. "I loved the idea of exploring 'What does it look like when Ethan Hunt goes home? If there's a woman in his life, does she know what he does?' My guess is no. And if not, how does he live with himself betraying this woman? And he must know these two worlds are going to collide. So that became one of the themes of the movie."

Despite coordinating massive actions scenes, shooting in Italy, China and Germany, Abrams found these touchy-feely scenes the hardest to direct.

"It was always the stuff that was the most relatable stuff, the most mundane that ultimately I think people will just know rings true or not," remarks Abrams. "So the stunt work was always a cool and exciting challenge but the hardest stuff was always the most unexpected kind of small character work."

"Mission: Impossible III" opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, May 5.