Mission Impossible [M]

Ethan Hunt and a team of highly skilled espionage agents are sent to Prague to recover a package that contains the aliases and the true identities of all local and international agents. But the mission ends in disaster as his team members are all killed and he himself is framed for their deaths. Now disavowed, Ethan is determined to locate the package and find out the truth behind the failed mission whilst at the same time staying one step ahead of his pursuers. 

Until tonight, I had never in my life seen a Mission Impossible movie. We all know the awesome theme tune, which is all cool and action-y and epic in the extreme: all those staccato notes, AH it’s awesome. But yeah, I had never really been all that interested in seeing the movie. I was sorting through the action section at work and saw it and thought “what the hell?”. I can see why these movies are action classics, all the gadgets and suspense and explosions and chases and cool spy stuff and shit, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. For an action classic, I sort of expected there to be more banter, macho one-liners, and just more. Although hugely thrilling and adrenaline-pinching and a great film in itself, I don’t think it will make it into the collection. That’s not to say that I didn’t like it though. 

Ethan Hunt and a team of highly skilled espionage agents are sent to Prague to recover a package that contains the aliases and the true identities of all local and international agents. But the mission ends in disaster as his team members are all killed and he himself is framed for their deaths. Now disavowed, Ethan is determined to locate the package and find out the truth behind the failed mission whilst at the same time staying one step ahead of his pursuers. 

One of the film’s advantages is that it’s an action/thriller. The story is one of the man falsely accused and waging a war against those who are the real perpetrators as well as eluding his captors and pursuers. There are heaps and heaps of twists and turns in the plot and it’s all wonderfully deceptive and confusing. It’s a movie that I would have to watch again simply to understand who all the characters are and what their purpose is, because one of the things that annoyed me about this movie was the fact that there were a lot of characters and I found it really hard to keep up with them all. That and the fact that the script doesn’t leave much room for the characters to verbalise to the audience what the hell is going on. You’re pretty much on your own when it comes to understanding the plot of this film. 

Tom Cruise delivers a fine performance as Ethan Hunt, but I don’t think he’s really made to be an action star. If you’re reading, Tom (which you’re most likely not), I don’t mean that in a derogatory way by any means. All I mean is that there are action stars and there are action leads. Bruce Willis is an action star, but Tom Cruise is an action lead. Tom can do these action roles fine, but they’re not where is talent sparkles, really. In Mission Impossible he was focused, determined, sometimes charmingly arrogant, and nicely dramatic when the situation called for it. I liked him. 

Starring Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vanessa Redgrave, Mission Impossible was a good movie packed with action, great music, gadgets, cool spy lingo, and juicy deception. I think I’ll have to watch it again to properly understand it, but I was glued to the screen for the duration tonight. I really liked it.