Review of Mission Impossible (1971) by Renzo V — 22 Jan 2014

"FRAMED SPY STRIKES BACK".

- This 1996 action movie by director Brian DePalma (Scarface, Carrie) meant the start of the whole 'Mission: Impossible'-film franchise, that was inspired by the popular TV-series, starring Tom Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt and with one of the most known theme songs. I loved the first part of the movie, when we get to see the spies at work, but the plot takes a rather strange twist that brings it down a notch because it is a bit hard to follow. Next to the impressive action scenes, this movie is filled with some of the biggest names in Hollywood as well as French cinema: Jon Voight (Anaconda), Ving Rhames (Con Air), Kristen Scott Thomas (Dans la Maison), Emmanuelle Béart (8 Femmes) and Jean Reno (The Da Vinci Code).Your mission if you choose to accept, is to expect the impossible...

Jim Phelps (Voight) is leader of a Impossible Mission Force (IMF), that is specialized in espionage. When he and his team (undercover agents Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and Sarah Davies (Scott Thomas), lookout Hannah Williams, technical genius Jack Hammon and Phelps wife Claire (Béart) who is in charge of the getaway car) try to prevent the theft of a disc containing names of undercover agents at the American Embassy in Prague, things go wrong. After his whole team is killed and the disc gets stolen, Hunt is accused of being a mole (a double agent) by his superiors. Now being one of the most wanted men, Ethan Hunt is determined to clear his name and begins the hunt for the real culprit with the help from two former IMF agents (pilot Franz Krieger (Reno) and computer expert Luther Stickwell (Rhames)) and Claire Phelps, who miraculously seems to have escaped the assassination. Can she be trusted?