A clever, tense and fun summer thriller

Rating: Null/10 (18 August 2002)

The Mission: Impossible team is headed by Jim Phelps with point man Ethan Hunt. On one mission his whole team is wiped out in front of his eyes leaving him to only survivor. When he reaches his extraction point he finds that his ultimate boss, Kittridge is already in the town and that this mission was a mole hunt to discover who within Phelps's IMF team is a mole. Since Hunt is the only survivor they suspect him and he is forced on the run to discover the real mole. Using other disavowed agents Hunt contacts the mysterious Max and agrees a daring robbery of files from the CIA in order to set a trap for the mole.
Brian De Palma's film version was rushed on us in a wave of hype  the theme song itself sets the pulse racing a little quicker. The film needed to stand up to scrutiny. Happily the plot is good enough to get through the film. It is complex but is full of holes at times  but it is enough to stop this being a dumb action movie. Instead it is well set up and has some nice twists and turns along the way.
De Palma's direction is good. While he usually is strong in the big set pieces here he manages to do well with them and with the smaller tense settings. The sets are always good and the whole film has a good feel to it. The action scenes only resort to flashy OTT effects towards the end and the most of it is much better tense operations which are much more enjoyable.
Although the film isn't great it's clever enough and enjoyable enough to rise above the level of the usual summer movie. Cruise is really good here  all charm, smiles and determination. Rhames is always good value  as is Reno. In fact the whole cast do well and hold some pleasant surprises such as a very flirty Vanessa Redgrave.
The weakness of this film is in the marketing  in the original trailer we are shown the money shot of the film. Why?! It was annoying the first time I saw it to see that I'd already seen `the end' months before it had come out! But this is a minor complaint.
Overall this isn't a classic but it feels very slick and has a pretty good plot. De Palma's direction is strong whether it be the slanting angles of Hunt's confrontation with Kittridge or the tense robbery of the CIA and the action scenes are worth watching. Wisely, when the film hits a weak point it just turns on the theme music and everything's better again!