Disgraceful, drivel, terrible (spoilers)

Rating: 2/10 (24 June 2001)

This was a Tom Cruise spy film. Unfortunately it was not a "Mission: Impossible" film, and that was my problem.
The overall most important element of the TV series was the plot - the heist, the robbery, the fraud, the trickery, the whatever... The team (the brain, the girl, the technician, the muscle and the actor) in effect were only there to move the plot forward. But, saying that, we really got to know and trust these anonymous agents; a tribute to such excellent actors as Peter Graves, Martin Landau and Leonard Nimoy. The first thing that this film does is kill off the team. Disgraceful! And then various members of the new team he puts together turn out to be traitors. Drivel! And then at the end of the film they completely trash the reputation of TV's greatest spy master Jim Phelps. Terrible! Sorry, but this is not the film that I wanted to see.
It says a lot that according to rumour the producers did not see fit to offer any of the original cast members of "Mission: Impossible" so much as even a silent cameo in this movie. (Imagine the great Martin Landau as the aged Rollin' Hand. What a missed opportunity). I think another case of buying a title and doing what you like with it. See "The Saint" for further details.