Director: Brian De Palma
Genre(s): Adventure, Thriller
Runtime: 110 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Mission: Impossible was actually the second time that director Brian De Palma took a popular television series and turned it into a highly successful motion picture. The first time was, of course, The Untouchables (1987). In Mission: Impossible, secret agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) plots to prevent a top-secret list of all friendly spies in Eastern Europe from falling into evil hands. Expect a lot of twists and turns along the way.
The first entry into the Mission: Impossible film franchise is a far cry from what the series would become. To be honest, I don’t even consider this first one to be an action movie. It’s really more of a Hitchcockian adventure-thriller with a train-versus-helicopter chase at the end. However, the suspenseful set-pieces make up for the relative lack of action. You must’ve been able to hear a pin drop in movie theaters during the heist sequence at CIA headquarters during its original run.
Mission: Impossible has a tricky plot that you really have to pay attention to. Even with repeated viewings I don’t think I’ve fully absorbed everything. The flick can be subversive when it wants to be, which may rub some fans of the T.V. show the wrong way, but I think that its gambles pay off. It doesn’t shy away from pulling the rug out from under the audience.
With its intense, borderline-melodramatic camera angles and catchy musical score (composed by Danny Elfman, and based on themes created by Lalo Schifrin), Mission: Impossible is fairly formidable entertainment. The truth is that it would be topped by several installments in the series down the road, but this is a solid start. It may be the least action-packed of the franchise, but some viewers still believe this to be one of the better features in its collection.
My rating is 7 outta 10.
