Product: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Rating: 5.0
DePalma's Psychological Espionage Thriller!
Like "The Untouchables" (another film from a classic tv show that DePalma made for Paramount), producers Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner hired Brian DePalma to direct this espionage/action/summer popcorn fest for Paramount, and once he did, it became a 'Brian DePalma film', filled with lots of psychological profiles, deceptive characters, and a whole host of other mind blowing craftmanship that only he can deliver. Working from a script by Robert Townshend ("Chinatown") and David Koep (who worked with DePalma on "Carlito's Way" and "Snake Eyes"), DePalma delivered a tour-de-force of psychological/action/espionage that is just as mind blowing today as it was when it was released to great acclaim 11 years ago. Yes, still a classic, if not more so, after all these years! His trademark touches are throughout the entire film, swirling camera work, altered camera angles, slpit screen, split dioptor, et al. I haven't seen a film in this genre of such magnitutde since Hitchcock's "Topaz"! And, even though Cruise was a producer of the film, he and DePalma butted heads over budget (Cruise was concerned about going over, and DePalma said "F**k it, who cares!"), and it's obvious Paramount knew who to listen to about that matter (plus, we ALL know what an egotistical/arrogant/ignorant a**hole Cruise is anyways), letting DePalma make the film HIS and not Cruise's.My mission here, dare I accept it, is to explain the very simple plot of this film (way TOO many people have declared and/or criticized the plot being too convuloted) because a LOT of people (for God knows what reason) just didn't understand it. No offense!The film opens with a typical DePalma 'bait and switch' scene (where you see one thing, but it turns out to be something entirely different than what you expected it to be), where we are introduced to the first team of spy agents, led by Ethan Hunt (who we all know by now was played by Tom Cruise). They return to base headquarters, and their boss Mr. Phelps (Jon Voight in a superb performance) returns from vacation and sends them on a new mission on a mole hunt to recover a stolen NOC list, a list of spies' names that matches another disc with their code names, and this list of names CANNOT get out in the open. Emilio Estevez turns in a wonderful uncredited performance as Jack, one of the team members (he did it just for the opportunity to work with DePalma) who is first to meet with a sinister fate when this mission goes horribly/horrorfyingly wrong. The rest of the team is killed, Mr. Phelps is shot, so Ethan is the lone survivor, making him the lead suspect as the mole. He is then disavowed as an agent.Enter Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the head of the whole operation, who is now on the trail of Ethan with (almost) a vengeance, so Ethan goes into hiding. That's when Ethan discovers the trail of 'JOB' and Max, and proceeds by internet to meet with Max (the awesome Vanessa Redgrave in one of her best roles ever). Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), one of the previous team members, and Mr. Phelps' wife (and thought dead) finds Ethan and lets him know that she is alive after all, leading Ethan to be suspicious of her, even as they rebuild a new team of spies (Jean Reno and Ving Rhames, who worked with DePalma in "Casualties Of War") from a list of other disavowed agents.Then, out of the blue Mr. Phelps returns in a pivotal scene that DePalma plays for all it's worth, with Jim (Phelps) telling Ethan his version of the failed mission, him getting shot, and how he survived, all the while Ethan is having flashbacks of how it REALLY happened (very reminiscent of Hitchcock's classics "Stagefright" which opened with a 'false flashback', and "I Confess", which featured pivotal flashbacks that revealed more than what was being told), letting the viewer in on who REALLY set up Ethan's team for the assasination.Ethan and team break into Langley in one of the most memorable exhilerating/breathtaking scenes in cinema history to steal the real NOC list so it can be delivered to Max in return for Job. This leads to one of the most awesome set pieces in espionage/action movie history, setting the most climatic scene of all (the film is full of them!) on a train moving at high speed. Ethan saves the NOC list from getting into the open, exposes Job for who he really is, and he and his team are re-avowed back into the spy business. See, simple plot!DePalma employs a very old technique: Tell a simple story in a very complicated way, something that Hitchcock, Kubrick, Antonioni, Bergman, Fellini, Lynch, and any other great director does to make a great film. And, this is a GREAT film! Forget the sequels (if they could be called such) even exist, for this is the ONLY 'Mission' that exists other than the tv show it is based on. Oh yeah, a final twist:"How about a cinema of Aruba, Mr. Hunt???".Thank you!