Classic Movie Review: Mission: Impossible (1996)

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it..."

I really love the first Mission: Impossible movie, like really love it. All the action movie franchises of the 90s were sequels from the 80s, like Die Harder, Lethal Weapon 3 and Predator 2. But Mission: Impossible came along and made an original and exciting splash.

On a quiet night in Prague, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) is leading his deep cover team of IMF (Impossible Missions Force, a secret team within the CIA) agents to entrap a terrorist who wishes to steal and sell a list of every known deep cover agent of the CIA. After this goes wrong and nearly every team member dies, the lone survivor of the group, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) comes in for a debrief with IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny). Little does he know, that the mission was just to find out who the mole was in the organisation and he is now the prime suspect. Now a disavowed agent, Hunt must clear his name by finding the actual mole and is joined by disavowed agents Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Franz Krieger (Jean Reno), as well as Phelps wife Claire (Emmanuelle Béart).

I don't think I can explain how much I love this movie. I love it even more than that other ultimate 90s action movie Goldeneye. That's an even more blasphemous claim when you learn how much I love James Bond (just you wait for the 48 hour/24 Bond challenge). But the reason I love it is that it is so exciting. The pacing is so fast and it is well written. Brian De Palma (who also directed another of my favourites, Scarface) makes the story semi-believable, which is important for a blockbuster action movie because none of the action movies of today make much sense.

The film also employs tension perfectly. Take for example the famous vault scene, which uses no sound. This is because the vault that they are breaking into has sound sensors (it makes sense if you watch the whole movie, trust me). Other tense scenes are when Ethan figures out the mole and when the mole is finally revealed.

But that's the one problem I have with this movie. If you've seen it before (like I have, many times since it came out), is that if you know who the bad guy is, the opening sequence kind of ruins the revelation at the end. But this is one tiny problem I have because this movie is all about the journey to get to the end and the action climax at the end is still pretty exciting to watch. But then again, if you're not a fan of old school CGI, it might feel a tiny bit cheesy (it still works for me!).

I think the reason I like this movie so much is due to Ethan Hunt being such a likeable character and that is something that Tom Cruise really has going for him. His boyish charm comes through in this movie (even if you think he's weird because of the Scientology). All the actors in this movie give top notch performances though. Vanessa Redgrave has just the right amount of menace as international arms dealer Max, Emmanuelle Béart is good as Hunt's sidekick (although as the movies progress the characters turn into the same idea as a Bond girl). Both Ving Rhames and Jean Reno are fantastic as the disavowed agents. But the real star is Emilio Estevez at the start of the film, who I am so disappointed isn't in any of the others.

Now I've mentioned James Bond a couple of times in this review and thats because Mission: Impossible is sort of a mid-90s Hollywood response to the dominance of Bond in the thirty years prior to this film. And while it doesn't knock James Bond of his throne, it is still a super exciting movie. If I would give this movie five stars if I could.

Only God Forgives

If you were expecting Only God Forgives to be anything like Nicolas Winding Refn's last film Drive, you'd be sorely mistaken. The only connection between the two is Ryan Gosling and he is nothing like the Driver in this film. In the pre-screening interview, Refn said that this film is like being on an acid trip and not the kind where you go to party and dance it off, the kind of trip that you think you're a part of the furniture.

At it's core this film is all about revenge. Julian (Ryan Gosling), is the owner of a Bangkok boxing club. His brother has just been killed for murdering a sixteen-year-old prostitute and his mother, Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) has come to kill the man responsible. That man is Lt. Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm). Crystal and Julian endeavour to take down this powerful police chief.

This movie is ultra-violent. When they spoke about A Clockwork Orange being a detriment to cinema audiences back in 1971, those critics would have no idea about how violent cinema would become in the years that followed. Although, the violence in this film is justified and reasons are given for it.

The cast is incredible in this movie, especially the performances from Thomas and Pansringarm. Kristin Scott Thomas is just unbelievably evil and openly speaks of the distaste she has for her son Julian to every person she encounters. She lets on that her relationship with her first son, Billy (Tom Burke) was a lot closer than a mother and son should have. She is a bit of a combination of Lady MacBeth and Jocasta (from the Greek tragedy Oedipus).

Pansringarm is brutal as Lt. Chang. His character reminded me somewhat of Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, the law officer who wants to do the right thing in the wrong way, except Chang goes about this in incredibly violent ways. Thai culture is really infused into his character, as every time he completes a violent act, he goes to a karaoke bar and sings a Thai folk song.

Gosling plays more of minor character. Yes, he is sort of the main character but he moves the plot along and is a quiet rage machine. Julian has a lot of anger toward everyone in the film as he is in a sort of self-imposed exile. The only other cast member worth mentioning is Ratha Phongam. She is quite a well known Thai actress and I believe that this is her first English language film. Phongam plays Mai, a prostitute who has caught the attention of Julian. She is very beautiful and has amazing talent as an actress.

Verdict: I like this film no matter how much of an acid trip it is, but it's a film that has divided everyone who has seen it. Feel free to tell me on Facebook or Twitter how wrong or right I am, as I know it has already sparked debate with filmmakers and critics alike. It was booed at Cannes but also received a standing ovation in the same screening.