Mission: Impossible

Every now and again, you will come upon a film that you know really isn't the best movie in the world, or even a particularly good movie on its own. And yet, despite its glaring flaws and imperfectness and lack of completion, you do find yourself strangely attached to it because it has a charm to itself that keeps you interested. Call it a guilty pleasure.

Mission: Impossible is my guilty pleasure. It's based on a 1960s television series created by Bruce Geller and the movie with Tom Cruise is kind of like a mash-up between The Bourne Identity and the James Bond pictures. Basically, the standard spy movie. Tom Cruise plays a spy who is falsely accused of betrayal to his organization and finds himself working with some unlikely partners to track down the real mole in the system and expose him and clear his name. Now, this is a plot as old as the hills and Mission: Impossible works with it just as well as the others. Not enormously well, but on an acceptable level.

Tom Cruise is great as the film's action hero lead, unfortunately his supporting cast is quite uninteresting. Another defect worth noting is the film's convoluted plot, which sometimes is hard to follow. This is caused by a screenplay in need of revisions. That's one of the film's major weaknesses and really the reason why it's just a standard spy movie with lots of cool gadgets instead of something special.

But that's really my only significant complaint about Mission: Impossible. Those rather small, unimportant defects left aside, and leaving the movie to its own devices, it works out well especially in its action sequences. Again, it's all been done before, sometimes better sometimes worse, but that doesn't meant it's boring or overdrawn. In fact, sometimes it's very primal. There is one scene in particular that I found intense and suspenseful on a hair-raising level. The scene goes on for an unremittingly long time, keeping us on the edges of our seats, and the best thing of all is that it's silent. The filmmakers could have chosen to go along with some dark, heavy music or some ominous heartbeat sound effects to put us in the same shoes with the characters, but the fact that it's quiet—too quiet for our liking—makes it so much more compelling. I only wish the rest of the movie was like this scene. Then it really would have been special.

Nevertheless, De Palma's Mission: Impossible works out well for what it is and unless you're not a fan of the standard spy movies or action pictures in particular, of if you have your standards and hopes up too high, I imagine you will enjoy it. Again, it is kind of a guilty pleasure, but hey, it was a lot of fun.

I would like to reiterate what "Anonymous of Derby, England" said about this film (20th November). The fact that so many people have complained that they "didn't get it" is proof that our brains are being atrophied by so many movies that do all our thinking for us. I had no trouble in following the plot and found the fact that I actually had to concentrate and think things through quite refreshing. Okay, so a lot of the stunts were a bit far fetched but what does it matter when they were so entertaining? After all, it is only a movie; nobody expects us to believe that these things could really happen any more than they expect us to believe that King Kong really existed or that there's a Volcano ready to errupt in L.A. Besides, with the inspired casting of David Schneider as the train driver, Brian de Palma must have had his tongue in his cheek for at least some of the time. He's created a masterful boy's own adventure story, an original "ripping yarn" and that brilliant comic touch added to this perfectly.

"Mission Impossible" is a visual and cerebral treat. Tom Cruise is excellent as Ethan, Vanessa Redgrave makes a superb villian and Jean Reno is watchable in ANYTHING he does. The only weak link is Emmanuelle Beart, who did a good job of looking beautiful but very little else. What a shame Kristin Scott Thomas couldn't have taken a more central role; she makes the gorgeous but bland Beart look like a waste of space.

I give this 8 out of ten and it would have been more if it wasn't for Beart's character.

Yes, there was a time when Tom Cruise was charismatic. Take trashy movies such as Cocktail and Far and Away or great movies like The Firm and A Few Good Men and imagine anyone other than Tom Cruise in the lead role. Hard to do, isn't it? His brash, cocky attitude was once appealing. Now that he feels he's an intelligent spokesman with something to say, he just comes across as an arrogant a**hole. Fortunately, the first MI falls into his earlier stage.

This movie would have been just another action flick without Cruise. Sure we have a stellar cast, but did not Mr. Cruise steal every scene? He is perfect in the role of Ethan Hunt, a spy whose whole team is rubbed out in a convoluted cover up at the start. It is up to Ethan to uncover the plot behind the failed mission. The movie is a series of unveiled plot twists that becomes implausible after a while. But that's not the fun behind Mission Impossible. The fun is watching the great action scenes with their suspenseful turns. So much so, we are willing to suspend disbelief to enjoy the ride. And to let ourselves be swept away by Mr. Cruise's undefinable quality to take us there.

Based on the TV show of the same name, Brian De Palma's stylish thriller stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt; a James Bond-esquire secret agent working for a certain section of the government. As the title suggests, many of the scenarios in the film are extremely unlikely; but then again, the film wouldn't be living up to it's title if they weren't. It's one thing to criticise it's stunts for being overblown, but if they weren't, critics would be on it's back and calling it things like 'Mission Possible', so really you've just got to go with it. Brian De Palma makes it easy to just 'go with it' by way of an intriguing plot line, a constant array of high-octane sequences and lots of his trademark style! The plot does get a little too convoluted for it's own good at times, and sometimes it's a little hard to follow; but it gives the film a good basis for all manner of impossibilities, so it serves it's purpose. We follow Ethan Hunt and his team. After a botched mission, Hunt finds himself on the run from his employers after being accused of disloyalty. Hunt must now pull out all the stops to stay one step ahead of his pursuers and get to the bottom of why their mission went wrong.

The film features a number of stunts, the best of which sees Tom Cruise breaking into the CIA via the roof. This sequence is brilliantly executed, with De Palma managing to inject bucketloads of suspense into the scene. This scene fits the tone of the film as it's brooding and cerebral, but the film ditches that idea for it's conclusion, which sees a bullet train, a helicopter and the Channel Tunnel combine to great effect! The problem with all these stunts is that the parts between the action sequences aren't all that interesting, and at times can slow the film down to walking pace. This isn't a big problem, however, because there's always more action around every corner and that keeps the film going. Tom Cruise obviously has charisma and can lead a film, but I often find it hard to buy him in action roles. This one suits him, though, as although his character is still more than capable, he comes off as being quite vulnerable, and lucky at times, and that suits Cruise's persona. On the whole, while this isn't a great film; it makes for good entertainment and if that's what you're in the mood for, Mission: Impossible wont disappoint.

Here's another film I watched when it came out and then later when the DVD was released and enjoyed both viewings, despite the fact I got "lost" several times. It's about time for another look because it's well-worth it and who knows....maybe I'll finally figure it out!

If you get a little confused trying to follow the plot, don't feel stupid. This isn't an easy story to follow but it gets high marks for keeping it interesting despite that problem.

The interesting characters, good cinematography, fun James Bond-like gadgets, just the right amount of action scenes and one very memorable heist scene with Tom Cruise dangling from a wire all make this an enjoyable two hours of entertainment. That scene with Cruise trying to break into this vault-like room remains as the one of the better tension-filled scenes I've ever witnessed on the big screen.

The final action scene with the speeding train and helicopter also is very memorable. John Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny and Jean Reno make it a fun cast to watch, too. Note: stick with this film and forget the sequel. Despite the confusion, this film is still fun to view.