Rebooting done right

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2016)

This fast-paced thrill ride is a master-class in how to revive, extend and enhance a fondly remembered (if slightly cheesy) property that, in lesser hands, might have seemed time worn. Director Brian De Palma evokes espionage classics like "The Third Man" to lend some -- but not too much -- flair to a twisty narrative full of double- crosses that the story and screenplay writers manage to render coherently. It has aged unusually well for a story that relies so heavily on what was supposed to be cutting-edge technology in the mid-1990s, with only the rendering of Internet communications looking silly (that email address!). The concluding action set- piece, which was one of the first to depict the newly opened "Chunnel," strains credulity still, as it did at the time, but packs a punch nevertheless. The cast is at least serviceable -- Tom Cruise and Vanessa Redgrave really sparkle in their scenes together, Emmanuelle Béart is flat, and everyone else does what they need to do to maintain the story's tension. Danny Elfman's score, thank goodness, makes extensive use of one of the greatest themes in TV history.