Released in 1996, Mission Impossible is an action film starring and produced by Tom Cruise. The work quickly created a fever at the box office with revenue of more than 450 million USD, making it the third most popular film of the year.
That success made the Top Gun actor decide to spend money on making sequels, creating a global hit brand. In particular, each subsequent part is invested more heavily and is more highly appreciated than the previous part.
After 27 years, the series is still popular with audiences and critics with part 7, Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Tua Viet: Karma part 1) just released. Most opinions agree that this is one of the best action franchises of all time.
New generation James Bond image
The Mission Impossible script was originally based on the TV series of the same name released in 1966. However, the movie version cut the time of the characters to focus on the male lead Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). He is a high-ranking agent working for the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) established by the US government.
In each movie, Ethan Hunt and his teammates must perform tasks that seem impossible to complete. Sometimes they have to stop the threat of a deadly virus, other times they have to confront a multinational criminal organization. But with talent and intelligence, Ethan Hunt overcame all obstacles, affirming his position as the organization’s best agent.
Tom Cruise’s youthful image at the age of 34 when the first Mission Impossible part was released in 1996.
Basically, the series still follows the familiar motifs of the action and spy genre. However, the attractive, firmly constructed script helps the film conquer the audience, retaining its appeal even when they know in advance that the ending is still good and evil.
The image of Ethan Hunt in the series somewhat reminds of the character James Bond – famous agent 007 by writer Ian Fleming. Both are sharpshooters, intelligent and courageous. Like Bond, Ethan Hunt also flirts with women, constantly captivating many beautiful women while on duty.
The crew also cleverly made changes to make it new, adding more details to make the story more timely. Most recently, part 7 tells about Ethan Hunt’s journey to find the source code key to disable the AI (artificial intelligence) system.
The work exploits the dark side of technology, focusing deeply on the consequences that AI can cause to humans in the future. Therefore, the story is close to the young audience, breathing new life into the famous brand.
Breathtaking missions
The important factor that makes Mission Impossible successful is the thrilling action scenes. Through each part of the film, the screenwriter creates thrilling situations, sometimes absurd but powerful enough to make viewers hold their breath to watch.
Right in the first part, the main character receives a mission to break into a data warehouse guarded by the CIA. He hung himself upside down on the cable, skillfully bypassing the security layers without leaving any traces.
As time goes on, the screenwriter’s level of challenge for Ethan Hunt increases. For example, in part 4 Ghost Protocol (2011), the character must climb the world’s tallest tower in Dubai. From outside, he used technology gloves to cling to the glass door. At one point, he was careless and almost lost his life.
Breathtaking action scenes have become the “specialty” of the brand.
The first 4 Mission Impossible parts were directed by different filmmakers. But since part 5 Rogue Nation (2015), the director’s chair belongs to Christopher McQuarrie, who is a familiar collaborator of Tom Cruise.
The director put almost all his essence into part 7 – the most expensive film in the franchise with a budget of up to 290 million USD. The action segments are continuously installed with increased drama, helping the film maintain its appeal through each episode despite its quite long duration (163 minutes).
From the shooting scene in the desert, the chase scene on the streets of Venice (Italy) to the fight scene on the express train, all were meticulously cared for, leaving a strong impression on the audience.
Attraction from Tom Cruise
Before the first part came out, Tom Cruise was already a big name in Hollywood. But the role of special agent Ethan Hunt continued to bring him to new heights, becoming an icon of action movies.
In particular, Tom Cruise always takes on dangerous scenes in movies without needing a stunt double. Throughout the 7 parts, the actor is not afraid to perform difficult scenes, whether running on a train, clinging to the side of a plane, racing, skydiving… That helps each scene become realistic, creating a sense of reality. more emotional than works using green screen and computer effects.
Actor Tom Cruise plays the action scenes in the movie himself without a stuntman.
In the latest part, Tom Cruise continues to affirm his style and class at the age of 61. He even broke his own achievements with deadly action scenes.
The most impressive segment is when the star drives his motorbike at high speed on a cliff, then parachutes in mid-air. Even though the scene was only a few minutes on screen, it took the actor 15 months of practice with more than 13,000 motorbike jumps and 536 practice parachute jumps.
The combination of script, director and Tom Cruise’s efforts helped Mission Impossible become increasingly appreciated, becoming a popular brand with a large global fan base.
After the success of Mission Impossible, many action and spy works continued to be born later such as the Jason Bourne series, Kingsman, Hitman… However, no name has been able to surpass the project headed by Tom Cruise. private and starring.
The series received a “rain” of praise from critics. Even the Guardian newspaper said that there is no part of Mission Impossible that is bad, and affirmed that this is “Hollywood’s best movie franchise”.
