Movie Review: Mission: Impossible Catch-Up Part I

Seeing that the (maybe) final installment of Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series is coming out this summer (2025 as I write), I thought I would rewatch the series. Frankly, after the third film my viewing (and memory) is spotty. I am sure I watched at least one of the subsequent films in its entirety and parts of the other films but it is all a jumble in my head. To unjumble things, I am doing this series. First up, the first three!

Mission: Impossible (1996) directed by Brian De Palma based on the television show

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent of the Impossible Missions Force. He and the team, led by Jim Phelps (Jon Voigt), are deployed to Prague where they will catch a spy stealing and selling a list of secret agents operating in Eastern Europe. As soon as the theft happens, the situation falls apart. The entire team, except for Hunt, is wiped out in a matter of minutes. Hunt reports in to their next level supervisor, Kittridge (Henry Czerny), who reveals that the operation was a mole hunt for someone betraying IMF. Since Hunt is the only survivor, he must be the mole. Hunt knows he isn't, so he makes a daring escape and hunts down the real killer and the client who wants the list (who clearly was in contact with the actual mole).

The movie is a summer action thriller. The plot is a bit convoluted, structured in a way to highlight fantastic action sequences, of which there are many. Cruise is on top form as a charming and sincere hero caught in a messy situation. The rest of the cast is also good. The visual style has lots of dutch angles and pov shots, making it more visually appealing and intriguing. The story was high-tech in 1996, though the use of email and internet looks quaint 30 years later (do today's kids even know what a modem is?). Some of the twists and machinations are very hard to believe, but the action sequences are so exciting and well-executed that viewers have a hard time not being charmed by the whole package.

I remember fans of the TV show complaining about one of the plot twists though that did not bother me then (I had only seen occasional episodes in reruns) and the twists is cliched now. 

Recommended--this is great action fun.

Mission: Impossible II (2000) directed by John Woo

At the beginning of the movie, we see a scientist working in Australia who wants to take some medical thing to Atlanta, Georgia. He injects himself with it and only has twenty hours to make the delivery. His plane is hijacked by the bad guys who discover he only has the cure (called Belerophon) in vials, not the disease. They assumed one of the vials had the disease (called Chimera). A cure with no disease is not particularly lucrative.

Ethan Hunt has a new mission from a new supervisor (Anthony Hopkins). He's to recruit an exceptional thief, Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), to help him find out what was stolen from Australia (they don't know about the disease/cure situation). After a sexy encounter with Hall, Ethan eventually recruits her only to find out that the supervisor wants her to get back in bed (literally) with Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), the rogue agent who stole the vials. Ethan also recruits old friend Luther (Ving Rhames, who was in the last movie in a minor role) and Billy (John Polson) as aids. They start worming their way into Ambrose's set up.

The movie's plot is a bit convoluted and lots of parts don't fit together. These holes are papered over with over-the-top action sequence and the high stylization of director John Woo. The movie looks great but you brain can't be in neutral, it's got to be in reverse. Even the fight sequences use all sorts of martial arts moves that look impressive (flip kicks and twists and such) and that also look very impractical for actual hand-to-hand combat. Cruise is always charming but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters.

Not recommended--they tried too hard for style with no substance underneath to hold it up.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-written and directed by J. J. Abrams

Ethan Hunt has stepped back from field work and is training new recruits. He's also engaged to Julia (Michelle Monaghan), a nurse in the DC area who does not know about his real job (she thinks he works for the Department of Transportation). Ethan gets called back in by his buddy Musgrave (Billy Crudup), who wants Ethan to help extract one of the agents Ethan recommended for field work (Keri Russell). Ethan joins the team to extract her from the clutches of underworld ne'er-do-well Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The plan goes awry. Now Ethan is in a struggle with Davian to stop him (1) from selling a horrible weapon and (2) from getting revenge by killing Julia.

This sequel takes a big twist with the story. Ethan is semi-retired and trying to go back to a normal life. Of course, that's not what fans want to see, so he gets drawn back in for action and intrigue. The plot does a good job balancing the two tensions and Cruise gives a much more vulnerable and identifiable performance as a more weary and love-motivated character. He's still Ethan Hunt, but he is much more human. Hoffman is good as the villain, more menacing in his attitude. The supporting cast is very good, with standout performances by Laurence Fishburn as the IMF director and Simon Pegg as an IMF tech (his role becomes recurring like Ving Rhames's Luther). 

Recommended--this is a fun jaunt with some heart to it.