Plot
Ethan Hunt, part of an elite part IMF, an elite part of the CIA, watches his entire team get killed going after a top secret list of agents in Europe. In the team are Jim and Claire Phelps, the former the team leader and a father figure to Ethan, the latter is Jim's hot wife. Claire also survived the tragedy, and the IMF director is in proximity to the operation. Ethan is targetted as a mole, and he and Claire need to outwit the IMF, the real mole and an arms dealer named Max to clear his name.
Hunt recruits Luther Stickel and Kreiger, both disavowed from the IMF, and break into the IMF for a real agents list. They then set up a drop with Max to expose the mole. Jim, it turns out isn't dead, and Hunt now knows who the mole is. In the final act, Phelps kills his wife, Hunt gets rid of Phelps, and Kittridge gets Max into custody. Hunt and Luther get reinstated in the end, with Hunt receiving the classic message.
My Thoughts
Although the name of the movie is Mission: Impossible, there is very little that connects it with the TV series. It pays lip service, but the whole tone is different. Despite that, or maybe because of it, this movie has a lot of positives. the action is excellent, the performances are excellent, and the plot moves along at a good pace. Having Jon Voight, Kirsten Scott-Thomas and a wickedly good Henry Czerny made this flick worth watching. Critics lauded it, but it made a decent box office in 96. It still holds up today, but is the weakest of the trilogy.
Mission: Impossible 2
Cast
Sean Ambrose: Dougray Scott
Nyah: Thandie Newton
Hugh: Richard Roxburgh
Billy: Jon Paulson
McCloy: Brendan Gleeson
Nekhrovich: Rade Serbedzija
Swanbeck: Anthony Hopkins
Story by: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Screenplay by: Robert Towne. Directed by: John Woo. Released: 2000. My Rating: ****.
Plot
IMF agent Ehtan Hunt is is interrupted on vacation for a very special mission. An old friend of his, a doctor by the name of Nekhrovich needs transport with a project. IMF used another agent, Sean Ambrose, to do the transport, and the plane crashed. The doctor died, but Ambrose and his cohorts escaped with the package. Hunt is asked to recruit Naya, an ex-girlfriend of Ambrose and a master thief. Hunt and Naya get romantically involved, but Naya is needed to get close to Ambrose.
After some cat and mouse, we learn that the project Nekhrovich was working on was a superflu and super cure. Ambrose has the cure, but needs the virus. Hunt breaks into the lab where its being held, and destroys all but one vial. That vial gets injected into Naya, leading Hunt to get the antidote from Ambrose. In a thrilling finale, Hunt finishes off the baddy, saves Naya, and the world.
My Thoughts
M:I-2 was a step up in action, seeing as John Woo, master of the slow-motion take was directing. The stunts were wilder, the tension was higher, and the emotional impact was more intense. The plot was less confusing, and Cruise as Hunt was more believable here. They added more of a romance, a la James Bond, and it played into the finale of the movie. There was a definate difference between DePalma's style and Woo's style, which changed the whole way the M:I franchise looked. DePalma used odd angles and steadycam shots, while Woo used the slow-motion capture to perfection. All in all, it worked pretty well, providing a solid two plus hours of entertainment.
Mission Impossible III
Cast
Davien: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Musgrave: Billy Crudup
Julia: Michelle Monaghan
Lindsay Ferris: Keri Russell
Gormley: Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Zhen Lei: Maggie Q
Benji: Simon Pegg
Brassell: Laurence Fishburne
Written by: Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci and J.J. Abrams. Directed by: J.J. Abrams. Released: 2006. My Rating: ****.
Plot
Ethan Hunt is settling down and getting married to Julie, a nurse. He's out of the field and training agents, like Lindsey Ferris. Lindsey is watching an arms dealer named Davien, and IMF needs Hunt to rescue her. He and his team, including Luther Stickel for the third time, retrieve Lindsey, but Davien has implanted a charge in her head, which kills her. This opens up Hunt to once again goes against IMF and act on his own. He goes right after Davien, but it seems that there's a high level mole.
Hunt is lead to believe tha Brassell, the director, is the mole, so Musgrave, Hunt's supervisor, helps Hunt escape. Hunt is goaded into going after something called The Rabbit's Foot, a mysterious item that Davien was planning on selling. Hunt and his team get the Rabbit's Foot, and Davien gets a hold of Hunt. And Julie.
It turns out the leak is Musgrave, so Hunt escapes once more, deals with him and goes after Julie. She has to save his life when he disables the charge in his head. He deals with Davien, and saves her, and once again, all is right in the world.
My Thoughts
This is the best of the three. The action is literally non-stop, and it uses very few of the gimmicks that the other two used. No odd angles, no slow motion, just straight ahead action. Plus, they took the romance from the second and amped it up about ten times. What this film did was show Ethan Hunt as a human, showing his vulnerability like the other two hadn't. Overall, it was a more thought-out movie, and worked on several levels. Of course, having the cast around Cruise like this one didn't hurt either. Everyone did an exceptional job, and all in all, it was one hell of a film. Of the three, this was the best, and as a trilogy on the whole, it is one of the best action sets out there. Even though Tom Cruise is a nut.
