Mission Impossible

(As a warning- the first part of this post will reference ideas that anyone under the age of 17 will not be able to comprehend. Be warned if you are of that age)

For about 7 years of my life growing up my family did not have cable. Basically we had the normal 3,6,10,17,29,57 and then whatever else I could find on the old UHF stations by manipulating the rabbit ears and adding sheet after sheet of tin foil. On one of the stations on Friday nights they would show the old Mission Impossible television show. One night I found the station just as the theme song was kicking on and I was instantly hooked. The episode was one where a scientist had developed a pill that turned people into willing slaves and as it wound to a close the words popped up, "To Be Continued." There was no way I was missing the conclusion to that story (luckily for me they showed 3 hours of the show every Friday night so I didn't have to wait long) and I was hooked. In fact, I was so hooked to the point that when they announced the movies were coming out I immediately bought the cassette single of the theme to play at home, and when I finally got my license a year later it was the soundtrack of my first drive ever. So yes, I enjoyed the show immensely.

Yet, when they announced a movie based on the series it was met with reservations from me. I thought how are they going to replace the original actors. When I found out it was going to be Tom Cruise in the starring role my worries eased some. I know Crusie gets a ton of praise for his eccentricities but the guy is a pretty damn good actor and is enjoyable to watch in almost everything he does whether it be a starring role like Lt. Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men or a supporting role like Les Goodman in Tropic Thunder. Add in Jon Voight, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jean Reno and you have a pretty solid cast. When you factor in Brian DePalma you have the right pieces in place. I was excited when the movie opened and I remember seeing it opening weekend still.

Watching it 15 years later my enthusiasm has waned some for the film. Perhaps I'm over my nostalgia for the original work, or perhaps it is just that the film is a little too busy. Also, there are a few other issues, the first one I'll mention bothered me at the time as well.

On the original show, the IMF was a true team effort. They had their star agents but everyone got turns in the spotlight. In this film though it is all about Cruise's character from start to finish. That would've worked had this been an origin story of sorts but it really isn't. It is a mission we are thrown into and then it is Ethan Hunt creating a team once his old team is obliterated in a double cross.What really bothered me though was that in the end they had Phelps be a traitor which ruins the entire fabric of the television show that I and so many others invested time in watching religiously. Isn't the movie being made for them? Why insult them?

The big problem though is that this is an action movie but it is really a bunch of set pieces loosely strung together with a convoluted storyline. By the time you get to the end so many people have jumped teams and so many things are happening that you need a flow chart to keep up. Maybe my 15 year old brain wasn't processing everything or I was much smarter then (both are legitimate possibilities).

The first team they have assembled is a completely likable group with Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez but they get killed off in the first 15 minutes which then means we have Cruise for a long time until the next team assembles. We don't have enough time with the old team or the new team to grow attached to any of them which means their fates aren't something that really matter. They are just ancillary pieces to Hunt and his story.

There are parts where DePalma creates some nice tension but too often he keeps falling back on action pieces which are more from James Bond movies than Mission Impossible.

In the end I sort of feel indifferent towards the film. I didn't really like it, but I didn't really hate it either. Plus, the following two films are far more polarizing to me. As it is, this film worked in being an action movie but don't expect a coherent film in any way.