Overall Rating
  Awesome: 23.81%
Worth A Look: 38.1%
Average: 9.52%
Pretty Bad: 19.05%
Total Crap: 9.52%
3 reviews, 66 user ratings
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| Mission: Impossible |
by Erik Childress
"An Explanation of the Impossible"
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WARNING!!! This is not a review of Mission Impossible, but an explanation of its plot. The 1996 version of the popular television series has become synonymous with the word “confusing.” For the life of me, I cannot figure out why, but here is a simple yet detailed account of the events that transpire during, what I consider to be, one of the best TV-to-Movie translations.Jim Phelps (character from the original TV show) is given his mission to obtain half of a stolen NOC (Names Of Cover) list from a wealthy man who plans to sell it to an arms dealer named Max. He gets his team together, including his own wife, Claire, and Ethan Hunt. The mission goes smoothly until members of the team start dying.
We’re not supposed to know at this point, but Jim Phelps is the one sabotaging everyone. He rigs the elevator to kill Emilio Estevez. His partner, Krieger (Jean Reno) stabs another member as well as killing the man who supposedly was stealing the NOC list. Another team member is blown up in a car while Phelps fakes his own death. Ethan survives and then discovers that the whole mission was a “mole hunt.” The IMF agency was after an “inside man” who was planning to steal the NOC list. Since Hunt survived, they suspect him, sending him into hiding.
Hunt, looking to clear his own name and seek revenge against the man who killed his team members, sets out to discover who “JOB” is. Phelps’ wife, Claire, also survived the opening ambush and helps out. Hunt seeks out Max, pretending to be “JOB” and offers to get both halves of the NOC list she seeks. To do this he recruits Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) another “disavowed” agent while Claire recruits Krieger (whom, at this point, we don’t know is involved with Phelps).
The new plan is to break into CIA headquarters at Langley and retrieve the NOC list in incredible, heartstopping fashion. With everyone pitching in, Hunt is able to get the NOC list from the IMF mainframe, as well as noticing a couple things. One is the knife brandished by Krieger twice during the break-in and the second is Luther’s shock in realizing they are stealing the cover names of all IMF agents in the field. Hunt realizes he can trust Luther, but not sure about Krieger.
Later that night, Hunt discovers a bible in the hotel, stamped as taken from the Drake Hotel in Chicago, where Phelps had said he had stayed on a recent mission. Hunt then discovers that IMF boss, Kittridge, has had his aunt and uncle arrested for being drug smugglers. After placing a call to Kittridge from an outside line, essentially accusing him of being “JOB”, Hunt is stunned to see Jim Phelps in the booth next to him, very much alive. Over a sitdown, Phelps recalls the events of that opening mission, telling Hunt that Kittridge is the one who shot him. Overhearing all of this, Hunt begins to piece together that night his own way, figuring out that Phelps was the one involved all along. He thinks that Claire may have been the one that blew up the car (that she was supposed to be in) but he can’t be sure.
So Hunt sets up a little rendezvous on the bullet train. He sends Kittridge tickets to the train as well as a transmitter watch. Now, all parties involved are on the train. Hunt gets the NOC list disc to Max while Luther jams the frequency on her computer preventing her from accessing the entire disc. “JOB”, in the meantime prepares for his meeting with Hunt in the baggage car, as Kittridge roams the train, not sure what he’s looking for. Claire gets to the baggage car and sees whom she believes is her husband, Jim. She suggests that they don’t kill Ethan, leaving him to take the blame, when Ethan pulls off his Jim Phelps mask, discovering what he feared.
Claire is a bad guy and so is her husband, Jim Phelps a.k.a. “JOB”. The plan is laid out, but Ethan marks Jim with his “camera glasses” sending a signal back to Kittridge’s new watch, allowing him to see that Jim Phelps is alive and well and responsible for everything. After killing Claire, insulted that she tries to stop him from killing Ethan, Jim tries to escape from the train with the help of Krieger trailing in a helicopter. But Ethan saves the day, killing both Jim and Krieger. With Luther’s assistance, Kittridge discovers Max, getting back the NOC list.OK, sure that’s a lot of info. But what’s so complicated? It’s all laid out. And what’s wrong with a little complexity? Nothing I say.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=580&reviewer=198
originally posted: 05/24/00 07:23:30
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USA
22-May-1996 (PG-13)
UK
N/A
Australia
27-Jun-1996 (M)
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