Exciting But Nothing Like the TV Series

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2015)

The transition that "Mission Impossible" made from the small screen to the big screen ignited considerable controversy. The beloved character that Peter Graves originated on television named Jim Phelps became a treacherous rogue agent that Jon Voight played as a villain in the film that director Brian De Palma helmed. Hardcore "Mission Impossible" fans have never forgiven either Tom Cruise or Brian De Palma for this sacrilege. The first "Mission Impossible" suffers from contrivances galore. Nevertheless, "Mission Impossible" emerges as an exciting, suspenseful nail-biter with three electrifying set-pieces: the opening computer heist debacle at an American embassy, the white-knuckled scene in the vault at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and the chilling train ride sequence as the finale that culminates with a helicopter being dragged by a train through the claustrophobic confines of a tunnel. The CIA vault scene ends up being the best, with the other two are slickly done. The story opens with a brief vignette that features American espionage agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise of "Risky Business") masquerading as an older, mustached man orchestrating a ruse against an enemy agent by convincing his adversary that he has been instrumental in the death of a young woman. As soon as Hunt extracts the information from his disheveled adversary, they incapacitate him, revive the girl, Claire (Emmanuelle Béart of "Don Juan"), who is playing possum and tear down the fake motel. The next thing we know we are introduced to the cinematic incarnation of Jim Phelps, and "Mission Impossible" adheres slavishly to the television formula with IMF chief Phelps receiving the usual briefing from a disc that self-destructs after he is told about his latest mission should he decide to accept it. Phelps relies on his right hand man, Ethan Hunt, to coordinate the operation in Prague. The IMF is supposed to record the pilfering of the CIA's master list of Eastern Europe spies. During the mission, everything goes haywire, and everybody but Hunt dies. Ultimately, we learn that neither Phelps nor his wife Claire died. The Phelps couple staged their own deaths. Naturally, since Hunt is the last man standing, his CIA superior Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny of "Ice Castles") suspects that he may culpable of the crime. The big revelation for Hunt is the discovery that the entire operation was 'a mole hunt' to expose a saboteur. The resourceful Hunt manages to escape from Kittridge when he uses explosive chewing gum to blow up the aquarium restaurant where he met with the CIA chieftain.
Holing up in a Prague safe house, Hunt finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Eventually, he smokes out an arms dealer, Max (Vanessa Redgrave of "Blow-Up") who pays him to steal the spy list. Since he cannot call on his former comrades because they are dead, Hunt enticed disavowed computer specialist Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames of "Pulp Fiction") and pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno of ""Flyboys") who can fly a helicopter through anything. The theft of top-secret computer documents from Langley ranks as the best scene in "Mission Impossible" with our intrepid hero dangling from a rig in the ceiling to make himself inconspicuous to the vault security gauntlet. Watching Krieger as he uses his muscles to keep Hunt from tripping the security alarms is taut stuff. The exit that they make disguised as firefighters is clever. Like its small screen predecessor, the cinematic "Mission" features spectacles that boast built-in TV cameras, hidden microphones, laptop computers, agents in sophisticated covers, exploding cars, exploding chewing gum, stabbings, gunplay, bodies toppling into a river, etc.