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Mission Impossible
Studio executives summary / pitch
Spectacular special effects at the end, and mask pulling off fun throughout. Oh, and Tom has agreed to wear his white vest...
Short plot summary

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the only guy left in his team when a mission seemingly goes wrong... and crinkly Jim Phelps (John Voight) may not be all that he appears to be...

What our panel of critics thought

"Sort of like James Bond but without the yachts."

"It goes from plot point to plot point - damn the expense! - and then excels itself at the end."

"The stunts reminded me of spider-man but thankfully without any of the spotty teen angst."

"A mask pulling-off triumph of dastardly double switching and then working out who is double crossing who. Or should that be whom? Nobody tells me nothing."

"If you do not succeed in this mission the department will deny everything - why bother? Stay in bed fella!"

"I have never traveled on the EuroTunnel (Chunnel), is it always this exciting?"

"Thank goodness that super secure computer had a standard floppy disk drive attached on which to download all the super secret safe data on to."

Please tell me the ending or whole plot if necessary

Jim Phelps (John Voight) fakes his own death early on, but then decides to spook our hero, Ethan, in London's Liverpool Street Station. They have coffee in a cafe together on the station (yes, folks, it's still open at 11:35pm, how likely is that?)

Ethan has genius-ly managed to track down Max (Vanessa Redgrave) who is in the market for the top secret information that can only be stolen from a super secret safe computer (thankfully it's in a room with a pretty dodgy ventilation system with rats in it).

The standard floppy disk is delivered under her seat on the TGV London to Paris Chunnel but it is prevented from being downloaded by Ethan's buddy. A chase then starts with Ethan managing to stop Jim's escape in a helicopter from the top of the Chunnel Train by latching the helicopter to the train, and it's about to go into the tunnel... And then it goes into the tunnel... Ooopy oops...

After a short while where it looks like the helicopter has managed to stay in one piece, it explodes into a ball of flame. Ethan lives happily until the next movie.

Computer screen dumps from this movie

SYSTEM FAILURE NOTICE (flashing)

and

DOWNLOADING TOP SECRET INFORMATION NOW

What snack should I eat/drink while watching this movie?

Train station coffee in cup.

If I were to watch this at home how best should I sit?
In the about to run to a public telephone box at any moment, even though the laptop looks pretty nifty with full motion video, whow weeee...
Is there enough licky love in this film?

Some facial cheek to facial cheek closeness on Prague dock sides, slight mist coming in... all very romantic... until the killing starts...

Honestly now, is this storyline realistic in the slightest?

Everything is completely realistic apart from the bit where he guesses Max's e-mail address by looking in the bible. The e-mail address isn't even a real e-mail address, but it still gets through...

Does this film stand up to rigorous reality testing?

Our hero has a keenness for using public telephones, clearly for dramatic effect. In this cellular phone world this seems a little strange to us (product placement?)

Could you work out while watching this movie?

Tom wears the inevitable white vest at times, but clearly hasn't been pumping the iron for this outing (a general disappointment for fans looking for upper arm muscle definition). However, the pec deck has clearly been visited, as has the rowing machine.

Would your pets enjoy this movie?

Dogs have always romanticized about going for a walk on the top of a moving train and will yelp and salivate throughout this impressive scene - yes, it really does look as if Cruise and Voight are up there...

Cats are a little suspicious of humans who are as acrobatic as (what they see as) their feline masters and may fake vomit throws at times, especially when on the top of tall furniture.

Tropical fish may play peekaboo throughout.

What can I take from this movie to make me a better person?

Never trust anyone.

Other comments

A serial actioner. It's all totally unlikely, however the special effects at the end are stunningly superb and make up for the slower bits early on.

Date of review

July 14 , 2003

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