Malnourished, convoluted, with a couple of decent set-pieces

Rating: 4/10 (29 August 2016)

Hitchcockian director Brian De Palma dips his hand into the action genre with this malnourished thriller, which, as is the case with many recent blockbusters, is all style over substance. The plot is little more than an excuse to string together a series of familiar action set pieces, none of which will cause the viewer to raise an eyebrow - unless it is at the outlandish activity which occurs at the film's finale. While some may enjoy the many twists and turns as double-faced characters betray each other, it just served to give me a headache. I was partially distracted while watching the film (through no fault of my own, I hasten to add), and this made it difficult to understand the various character's motivations, and especially who exactly was the main villain at the end of the piece. This is definitely one film which is too clever for it's own good.
A familiar cast of faces fill out various roles, but hardly any of the actors and actresses are given much to do except mutter meaningful dialogue. Tom Cruise is an able action man, but he is just that: a muscular figure with little or no personality whatsoever. And no charisma. I liked Cruise in EYES WIDE SHUT, but his blank performance here left me cold. Jon Voight enjoys himself in a two-faced, villainous role, but again is given little to do apart from smile or sneer when the film requires him to. Probably the actor who comes off best here is Ving Rhames, playing a character who is never too serious and quite likable. Jean Reno is a good face to have in the cast too, but to my despair I found he was playing a villain and thus dies spectacularly at the end. For the female roles, Kristen Scott Thomas appears briefly at the beginning before thankfully dying: I was glad to see her go, as I can't stand this actress. Emmanuelle Beaurt lends some much-needed class to the proceedings, but her role is almost totally thankless and she hardly appears at all.
Amid the fun (if expected) trappings of clever, hi-tech devices and traps (such as explosive chewing gum), there are a handful of action scenes on which the film concentrates. Firstly, the opening scene where Cruise finds his team massacred one by one is well executed, conveying well the despair Cruise feels as time after time he arrives too late to see one of his colleagues die. The set piece of the film occurs when Cruise and his cronies break into a sealed vault to steal information, this is an excellently-crafted moment which sustains the tension right up until the very end. Probably the best bit of the film. The final moments with the helicopter and train chase are fun too, even if they are a bit preposterous and slightly bend the laws of dynamics and movement (you'll know the moment I mean). All in all, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE is something of a hollow exercise, but with enough exciting moments to keep it mildly entertaining.