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Cast: Tom Cruise, Emmanuelle Beart, Jon Voight, Vanessa Redgrave, Henry Czerny, Ving Rhames, Jean
Reno, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Emilio Estevez
Director: Brian DePalma
Producers: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
Screenplay: David Koepp and Robert Towne
Cinematography: Stephen H. Burum
Music: Danny Elfman; "Mission Impossible" theme by Lalo Schifrin
UK Distributor: Paramount Pictures
The Australian Outback: A parched wind blows across arid plains as the camera zooms up toward a lone figure climbing a mountain without ropes or safety gear. After a couple of seconds, his ascension is halted.
He slips, falls and grabs on by one hand to a precipice.
Close up of Tom Cruise; a twangy, familiar theme booms on the soundtrack and so begins the teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible 2, what looks like being one of the biggest blockbusters of the new millennium.
The budget may be heading for a Titanic-style price tag and rumours of Cruise being unhappy with director John Woo are filtering out from the Aussie set but Paramount are backing the project to the hit regardless.
The bad news is we'll have to wait another year for its release, so what better way to get in the mood than by watching the original? Brian De Palma's 1996 movie, Mission: Impossible proved to be a stunning adventure which was a major triumph for producer and star Cruise. His grin grew ever broader as the thriller went on to gross over $422million worldwide.
Okay, it may have a plot that only Carol Vorderman and Bill Gates could understand but it scarcely matters.
As with The World is Not Enough, this $75million offering is an overly complex affair that relies more on eye-popping set pieces than an easy to follow narrative.
It opens with a stylish homage to The Third Man in which Ethan Hunt's Impossible Missions force is eliminated in Vienna by a mysterious assassin. As Hunt attempts to get to the bottom of things, he has to outrun an exploding fish tank (yes, really) and try and keep his eyes on the job despite the presence of the gorgeous Emmanuelle Beart.
With the help of Leon's Jean Reno and Pulp Fiction's Ving Rhames, the IMF are soon up and running again. But with double agents willing to sell their own grandmother for the sake of vital information, it seems Hunt can trust no-one as the web of lies and intrigue gets ever more tangled.
It's a fine production but Cruise may have made a mistake starring with the likes of Vanessa Redgrave. There's one scene where she blows him off the screen with a couple of words while he sits there grinning like the Cheshire cat, perhaps not quite sure how to respond to genuine acting. If you can get past his limitations as a thespian, then there's a couple of jaw-dropping moments that stay in the mind long after you've stopped trying to understand what is going on.
There's Tom attempting to retireve essential data from a locked room with a pressure sensitive floor and the finale which features a Channel tunnel stunt so audacious, you may have to remind yourself to breathe once it's over.
With more grade-A stars than you can shake a stick at and special effects to die for, this is the perfect pre-Christmas cracker that will leave you breathless barely 20 minutes before Santa abseils down your chimney.
© 1999 Roger Crow
