Don't worry about the plot, just go with the flow

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2006)

Enter the mind of Ethan Hunt, a slick and clever spy working for the IMF. He's the James Bond of the new century, getting cool gadgets and working with a crack staff of team members. Mission Impossible, based upon the hit TV series, gives us a new look at spy's. Unlike Bong who gets all the girls and kills the bad guy in a matter of minutes, Hunt gets no women and can't even pin the villain in a matter of three days. Brian De Palma gives the spies in Mission Impossible a more human shell, which whom they really are and not some Super-Man hit-man. Mission Impossible, though unfaithful to the series it's derived from, sets itself up as a intelligent spy franchise. The only problem a person can have with this movie is it's confusing plot. But the only way we can get past the plot is just go with the films flow, and we do.
Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, the point man spy in a group of agents under the control of their leader Jim Phelps, played by John Voight. They are assigned to crash a party and photograph a man who is said to have a computer disk containing every name of every IMF agent in the embassy and their aliases. Hunt and his team go to the party undercover and retrieve the photographs only to have each member of the team picked off one by one. Even Phelps gets knocked off and Ethan is the only one left alive. Ethan is then told the mission was a fake to flush out a mole who's been paying an arms dealer and they suspect Ethan of being that mole. It's now up to Ethan to find the real mole and save his name with the help of a few suspended operatives, including Ving Rhames. Now this plot may sound simple, but that's because your reading it. I had to watch the movie twice to fully understand the plot.
Mission Impossible may have this overly thought out plot but you forget all about it. Tom looks cool, the gadgets are cool, and the action is neatly done to give us a nice ride through a spy mission without even remembering what the plot was about. Tom's acting is perfectly done to give Ethan the on the run spy. Ving is awesome as Ethan's partner and Mrs. Beart as Claire Phelps is a nice touch. The special effects are nice. A little hokey looking though, especially the final chase scene on a train being fallowed by a helicopter. And the bad guy, even though there feels like there's three of them, is a clever plot twist that leaves us satisfied. Plus the gadgets are awesome. Exploding chewing gum, fluid spewing pens, exploding video cassettes, it's all here and not over used like any Bond weapon.
The only real beef with this movie is that there wasn't enough action. De Palma acts out by directing this movie with more brain then brawn. We have too much plot but little action. The real movie's blunder doesn't even pick up till half way in when we have the memorable shot of Ethan dangling about an inch over a pressure padded floor trying to retrieve the disk of aliases. With the name Mission Impossible, we expect plenty of action sequences but instead we have a warmed over plot going three different ways. Even the ending battle isn't that memorable and it leaves us with a feeling of, not awe, but shallowness. But that doesn't mean De Palma didn't do a good job. He does a great job giving his Hitchcock touch to the movie, giving us smart characters and a real atmosphere. Mission Impossible gets a 7 out 10 from me. It was cool, but does't get our attention right away. And if you had to choose one M:I movie to see, go see part 3. Part 3 was best, easily beating out this brain scratching film and John Woo's weepy sequel. Mission impossible= B.