Mission: Impossible

With Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the fourth movie in the series releasing this year, I thought it was a good occasion to watch the original again. Mission: Impossible is based on an old TV series of the same name, which I have not seen. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is an agent for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF), just a fancy name for a CIA group that uses technology and some clever wizardry to get their (supposedly impossible) job done. Their latest mission goes bust and most of Ethan’s team is killed due to a mole. The CIA suspects Ethan is the mole, so Ethan is forced to go underground to find the real mole and clear his name. This leads him to the impossible task of stealing data from the CIA headquarters and enticing the real mole with it.

The MI movies have always required a suspension of disbelief and that is easy with the first movie. The three set pieces of the IMF mission, Ethan’s high-wire trapeze antics to steal from the CIA and the climax on the TGV are all nicely done. The pace is perfect here, not like the insane speed that is seen in M:I III. The plot evokes genuine interest and is a thrill to follow. I am glad to admit that Mission: Impossible remains an entertaining movie to watch on a rainy day.