Mission: Impossible
Quite often in Hollywood, TV shows make the leap to
the big screen. The time in between small and big screen incarnations these
days is shorter (Sex and The City, Glee, Entourage) but with “Mission: Impossible” (the movie) being released
in 1996, the original television series on which it was based ended 23 years
prior.
From 1966-1973, “Mission: Impossible” (the TV show) was one of
the most popular and successful programs of its time. Receiving numerous
nominations and walking away with several wins at the annual Golden Globes and
Emmy’s, the show developed a strong following worldwide, as viewers tuned in
each week to watch the latest escapades of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force). Distinctive for its trademark
scenes, creative writing and memorable music, the show was a huge hit. In a
post-Cold War era, anything to do with spies, secret agents and covert
operations was devoured by the entertainment hungry public. After its original
eight season run, the show was revamped for the 1980’s, and after a few stalled
beginnings and an almost-movie version, the show returned for an additional two
seasons in 1988. Bringing back key characters from the show’s original run, the
programs revival was actually filmed on location in Queensland and Melbourne,
and also included the use of some pretty far-out gadgets of the time.
After its TV run, Mission: Impossible was shelved, to join the thousands of
reel cans of old programs sitting in dusty, Hollywood warehouses, and being
pulled out for re-runs on cable TV.
Two elements made the film version
of the show finally happen in the 1990’s. Firstly, Tom Cruise was a huge star
and rising. He’d scored one hit after another since breaking into the movie
scene a decade earlier with Risky Business. One film after another, audiences
loved him, as he played the Everyman; someone we could all relate to and see
ourselves in, but with movie star charisma and good looks in spades that woman
drooled over and men wished they possessed… except his limited height; keep
that to yourself Cruise. Around this time, fellow Hollywood star Harrison Ford had scored big with
“The Fugitive”, released in 1993. Showing that a movie could take the name of a
show, bringing its faithful viewers along with it and completely stand alone as
its own piece of entertainment worked wonders for The Fugitive, positioning
itself as one of the best action/adventure films of the 90’s. As Tom Cruise was
now in the position to start selecting his projects and getting just about any
movie he wanted made, he was involved in the development of a Mission: Impossible film from the very beginning, even
going as far as to perform all his own stunts (not as common even in the 90’s)
and sourcing a wind machine to create the effect for the films climatic train
scene.
1996 came along, and the slate of
films for the year ahead looked to be populated by Aliens, with “Independence
Day” hogging the stage for the summer and raking in millions. The only
spy-related film for the year was Mission: Impossible. The trailers made it look
promising, and back in his prime Tom Cruise could always pull an audience
in.
If you’re like me, or almost anyone else who has seen Mission: Impossible, you’re probably still
trying to work out what the story was about even twenty years later. Cruise and
director Brian De Palma wanted to craft a clever, sophisticated and stylish spy
story from the get go, and they did this so well, that it just confused the
bloody hell out of everyone. The tone of the film seems to exclude viewers from
what’s going on in some ways. For example, many scenes begin with events having
already started long before we, the audience, have arrived there. Of course
it’s the job of a movie script to structure it’s scenes like a party – arrive
late, leave early – but this film took that to an extreme. Characters appear
who we don’t really know anything about, and proceedings move so swiftly and
ahead of the awareness level of the audience, that you have to concentrate to
keep up.
Saying that though, the overall
story isn’t entirely difficult to grasp. Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, who was
not a character from the original show, but he’s the leading man in his small
team of operatives, led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), a character taken from the
show. On mission in Prague,
the team must locate a secret list, containing the true identities of every IMF
field agent. In the wrong hands, this list could be sold on the black-market to
anyone looking to take down the whole agency. The mission goes horribly wrong, when Hunt’s
entire team are killed in a secret sabotage. Alone and on the run, Hunt
regroups with a few extra agents from around the world, and plots to take back
the list. However, it is now being stored in a highly guarded government
facility, and the mission of breaking in and stealing it seems
completely, well…Impossible.
The first Mission: Impossible film has a distinctive look and style
all of its own. Each film that followed would change its look (and Tom Cruises’
hair) and go in some very different directions. The first film holds the title
of being the most Espionage-ish film of them all, with only a few brief action
scenes, but plenty of suspense, intrigue and plot.
It also created an ongoing moment
that would be emulated in all its sequels, which I call “The Tom Cruise
Dangling from Mid Air Action Scene”. In the first film, it is the standout
action scene of the whole movie. Upon breaking into the government facility,
Hunt must sneak into a special computer room that is guarded by two doors,
which can only be opened by the voice recognition and eye scan of one man.
Knowing they can’t borrow his voice box and eyeball, our spies devise a way to
enter the room from above. Being lowered in from the ventilation shaft high
above the floor, Hunt slowly descends by a thin black rope to a single computer
console below, to hack in and retrieve the list of agent names. When locked,
this room becomes pressurised, and any noise or movement will trigger off the
super-sensitive alarms, locking him in and calling in half the buildings
henchman. The entire scene is expertly filmed, and performed in total silence.
I remember watching this at the movies the first time and the whole theatre was
silent too. It was an effective scene and positioned at a part of the film,
where we had come to know and care about the character of Ethan Hunt and were
invested in him successfully completing his mission.
Although a solid film in its own right, Mission: Impossible feels subdued and like it was holding
itself back. I don’t know if that had to do with the budget, or the story not
being fully fleshed out, but the film left me wanting more. Four years later,
we would get treated to more, and in a completely different way than the first
film.
Read review for "Mission: Impossible 2"
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Read review for "Mission: Impossible 2"
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