Product: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Rating: 5.0
Intriguing
I was one of the people (it seems the minority) who understood the plot for this movie, and it was excellent. I was a big fan of the original series, and I expected a lot. Well-done, unlike #2 which suffered from incoherence and a lack of intelligence, not to mention tremendous overstylizing. You will have to watch this brilliant thriller at least three times so as to get all of the plot twists down. The story is about a team of coverts deep inside the bowels of the CIA that can bring down any dictator, recover any object, and even assume the identities of celebrities and schmooze. Jon Voight takes the role of Jim Phelps, the only character returning from the TV series. Tom Cruise is an everyman, but he is most similar to the Martin Laudau character. Emilio Estevez is a techno-geek with creativity to spare, much like Greg Morris' character. Both the women try to take over Barbara Bain's mixture of sensuality and intelligence, and although Hannah appears little, Claire nearly steals the film. What happens is a plot to expose a spy and protect agents fails. All of the agents on Ethan Hunt's team are seemingly dead. Who is behind it, and why? The answer to who the traitor is lies with the enigmatic Max, who Ethan must entrap to clear his name. Throughout the movie there is some fascinating posturing as first Claire, then Jim are found alive, and all three must piece together what happened and expose the traitor. Several memorable scenes: The aquarium exploding, the Terminal Room (of course!), and the bullet train segment are simply eye-popping. Why this movie got so much negative reactions puzzles me. Maybe people wanted guns and gore for their summer film instead of spies and intrigue. Before you become prejudiced, see it for yourself.