Product: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Rating: 1.0
Mission: Attention Deficit Disorder
This movie exposes so much of what is wrong with American cinema. It betrays its heritage, confuses action for suspense, substitutes plot twists for intelligence, worships formula, and takes cynical manipulation of its audience to new heights.Its worst crime is its betrayal of its heritage. The original TV series embodied something rare in Hollywood: the recognition that a team is more than just the sum of its components. There were no 'stars' in the original TV production because the ascendancy of any one character would have destroyed the concept of teamwork that defined the very essence of the series. The only other production to understand this concept so clearly--and not coincidentally, to achieve similar success and staying power--is the ensemble drama "Law and Order".This movie not only ignores that central fact, but takes malicious delight in destroying it. Its 'star' is so narcissistic and egocentric that he bought the rights to a series about teamwork and corrupted it into a one-man vanity show.I actually looked forward to seeing this movie when it was initially released. I had remembered the series with fondness and had hoped for a rebirth of its ideas. Stupid me. I don't know if I was more foolish expecting humility from Tom Cruise or scruples from Hollywood.The brutishness of this movie is almost as bad as its betrayal. The TV series was about not just teamwork, but finesse. Characters as often conned their way into restricted areas or out of trouble as made use of stunts and fancy gadgets. This was what the masks were all about. But in this movie, it's all about acrobatics and toys. There are so many stunts and gadgets (and so little else) that the movie becomes nothing more than a spitting contest between itself and the James Bond franchise.This movie is a betrayal of trust. (...)