Cool, classy and fun spy thriller with great direction by De Palma and a killer soundtrack.

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2008)

'Mission Impossible', based on the eighties TV format with the same name, is as classy and fun as spy-thrillers get. It's filled with enough twists and turns to make your head spin and the acting is more than solid overall, a common complaint when dealing with action-movies. Back in 1996 it was a huge hit and it's no surprise shortly after life was given to a sequel, the unfortunate MI2, perhaps the biggest mistake was leaving the project in the incompetent hands of John Woo. Slow motion and unrealistic fight sequences reign, and there's little left of the fun that made the first film so good. The third film wasn't a complete miss, the producers smart enough to hire a competent director and cast (the outstanding Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain and an underused Laurence Fishburn).
The first one in the series however is a glorious success on every level; on top of the clever plot we have a great soundtrack to support it and director De Palma has some very nice cinematographic tricks up his sleeve. I distinctly remember the great camera-work in the first action sequence (the set-up). Pay attention during the scene in the phone booth, how he elegantly uses the camera to evoke a sense of panic and claustrophobia. That's just one of the great surpluses De Palma always provides in any of his film.
MI certainly isn't a typical film for the director, he's never really done this kind of slick action-movie before. I, and most of you, will primarily know him for gangster movies such as Scarface, Carlito's Way and The Untouchables but he's also responsible for Carrie, his best movie so far IMO. For those who do not know it, Carrie is a horror-drama, and a very good one too, so De Palma can pretty much handle every genre and he proves it yet again.
The plot moves along very fast, fast enough so the most obvious plot holes aren't noticed. Clever as it may be, it's far from flawless and some of the action sequences aren't exactly state of the art anymore, action-movies will always age faster than any other genre I'm afraid. I'm thinking in particular of the legendary tunnel scene in the end, it all looked a bit too artificial compared to similar sequences in today's films.
The above really isn't a flaw, films date, it's unavoidable. In the end, even after 12 years, Mission Impossible has not lost any of it's charm and with, I still get excited seeing it again and again, and fans of the genre who haven't yet should check out this film from an era where Tom Cruise wasn't Scientology crazy and at the top of his 'cool'. Because if MI were to be summarized in one word, I'd definitely be 'COOL' !!
8.3/10