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Mission Impossible: Acute Action Filmmaking

By Matthew Pizana · December 11, 2014

Based on a hit television series from the 1960’s, Mission Impossible was revived for the big screen in the summer of 1996. The film brought together an award winning filmmaking trio; helmed by director Brian Depalma (Blowout, The Untouchables) co-written by Robert Towne (Chinatown), and starring Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, a secret agent for the American government. His mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to keep the free world safe from bad guys that want to bring it down. 

Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), the man in charge of a government spy ring, receives a mission request. His team, lead by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is brought in on a government mission to recover a stolen NOC list, a secret list of American spies that operate throughout the world. In order to expose who is after the list, the team must first let the list be stolen then track it back to whoever the buyer is. The plan goes awry, the list is stolen, and several members of Ethan’s team, including Phelps, are murdered at the scene. Ethan meets with the agency only to find out the whole mission is a setup to expose a mole inside the department which now looks a lot like Ethan.  Ethan narrowly escapes capture then makes his way back to the team’s safe house to regroup. As he puts the pieces together, Ethan realizes that the only way to clear his name is to steal the real NOC list and expose the buyer. Ethan gathers together his team. The team gets creative in order to steal the list from CIA headquarters. With the list now in his possession, Ethan contacts Max (Vanessa Redgrave), the original buyer and offers to sell her the real NOC list. Ethan, Max, and several government agents meet up on a train. Ethan’s plan is to expose Max so that she can be apprehended but Ethan also has to deal with Phelps who is not dead after all but is desperate to get the list and stay dead. Phelps escapes and climbs to the top of the train to jump on an awaiting helicopter, but Ethan spoils his plans crashing the helicopter and exposing Phelps as the real mole. 

Ethan Hunt is an indestructible secret agent. Not unlike Jason Bourne a decade later, there is no situation too difficult or death defying that could stop Ethan from completing his mission. He repels from the ceiling of CIA headquarters into a room where even the slightest sound or temperature change will expose his position. Ethan rides on top of a moving train in order to stop the bad guys, sacrificing his body and almost his life to ensure Phelps and the helicopter does not escape. All the while, Ethan the super agent escapes without a scratch. 

  

All the great action sequences that are now synonymous with the Mission Impossible franchise are present here in the beginning.  Ethan explodes a giant fish aquarium in the middle of a restaurant in order to facilitate an escape from capture. He dangles silently from the ceiling of a CIA vault room, the tension mounting as he works against the clock to try and get the information and get out without being exposed. The grand finale has a helicopter flying inside a train tunnel attached to the back of a train. The spectacle is something to behold. 

Subsequent to the box office success of this first installment, Mission Impossible now has three, and soon to be four, sequels. Tom Cruise has returned each time to play the secret agent that gets the call when all other options are off the table. While Mission Impossible isn’t a superhero movie, Ethan Hunt the character often finds himself in superhero-y type situations. Each time, he returns for more and always accepts the impossible mission.

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