ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240041
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
The big question seems to be: Is "Mission: Impossible" the movie like "Mission: Impossible" the television show?
Is a keg of TNT a firecracker?
If "Mission: Impossible" the television show had been anywhere near this good, it would still be in production. There would be conventions of Trekkie-like "Mission" fanatics who spoke to each other through highly sophisticated eyewear. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..." would be so deeply absorbed into our verbal communication that no one would quite be able to remember where it came from.
And the guy to thank is Brian DePalma, who directed this movie with such perfectly controlled energy and visual elegance that I wanted to get up and kiss him, wherever he is, in gratitude when the movie was over.
Second on my kiss list would be screenwriters David Koepp ("Carlito's Way," "Jurassic Park" and one of my personal lesser-known favorites, "Bad Influence") and Robert Towne ("Chinatown" etc.) for their quick-draw characterizations.
Aw, heck, then I'd up and kiss Tom Cruise (it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it) for restraining his cockiness to give Ethan Hunt something like vulnerability beneath that exceptionally competent exterior. And Jon Voight for his tragic Jim Phelps.
People who like their movie plots full of twists will have fun with this one: The story begins in Prague where the team - consisting of Hunt, Claire (Emmanuelle Beart), Sarah (Kristin Scott Thomas), Hannah (Ingeborge Dapkunaite) and Jack (Emilio Estevez) - has been given the assignment of tailing a guy named Zosimov to a buyer. The item that Zosimov has stolen to sell is "the NOC list," which matches agents' code names to their real names. Its dissemination would not only place all the agents around the world in personal peril, it could destabilize the Western Hemisphere.
Normally, more of a plot summary is called for in movie reviews. But to provide one in this case seems unfair.
Suffice it to say that things don't go as planned, and Hunt finds himself suddenly on the other side of things. He's forced to put together his own team, which includes a surly French guy named Krieger (Jean Reno) and a master hacker, Luther (Ving Rhames). Together, they have to pull off a mission so difficult, the theme music has to start all over again.
What makes this particular action thriller stand out from the rest is its intelligence of design. Sure, it follows the conventions of the best of the genre, but it also bears the mark of DePalma's experience. The movie's longest scene - in which the actual mission is pulled off - is about 15 minutes long. And it works so well that when it's over, the audience at the showing I attended could be heard to exhale in unison.
Then, there are DePalma's trademark Hitchcock touches. What would a DePalma movie be without a spiral staircase?
The worst news is for Pierce Brosnan, our new 007. If Tom Cruise wants to be Ethan Hunt again, Bond - James Bond - may just have to pack up his martini shaker and go home.
Forever.
****
Rated PG-13 for violence, a Paramount Pictures release showing at Tanglewood Mall and Valley View Mall 6, 120 minutes.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Tom Cruise and Emmanuelle Beart star in "Missionby CNBImpossible." color.