After 27 years, the action series “Mission Impossible” still retains its appeal thanks to the new script, thrilling action sequences and the performance of Tom Cruise.
Born in 1996, Mission: Impossible is an action movie starring and produced by Tom Cruise. The work quickly created a fever at the box office with a revenue of more than 450 million USD, being the 3rd best-selling film of the year.
That success made Top Gun actor decide to spend money to make sequels, creating a global hit brand. In particular, each of the following parts is invested more heavily, and is appreciated more than the previous part.
After 27 years, the series is still loved by both audiences and critics with part 7 Dead Reckoning Part 1 (Vietnamese title: Karma Part 1 ) just released . Most agree that this is one of the best action franchises of all time.
New generation James Bond image
The script of Mission Impossible was originally built on the TV series of the same name released in 1966. However, the movie cut the length of the characters to focus on the male lead Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). He is a high-ranking agent working for the Mission Impossible (IMF) Force created by the US government.
In each movie, Ethan Hunt and his teammates have to perform seemingly impossible tasks. Sometimes they have to stop the deadly virus threat, when they confront a multinational criminal organization. But with talent and wisdom, Ethan Hunt overcame all obstacles, asserting his position as the best agent of the organization.
Basically, the series still follows the familiar motif of the action genre, the spy. However, the attractive, well-built script helps the film conquer the audience and retain its charm even when they know in advance that the ending will still be good over evil.
The image of Ethan Hunt in the series is somewhat reminiscent of the James Bond character – the famous 007 agent of writer Ian Fleming. Both are sharpshooters, smart and brave. Like Bond, Ethan Hunt is also peachy, constantly seducing many beautiful women while on duty.
The crew also cleverly changed to refresh and add 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 system (artificial intelligence).
The work exploits the dark side of technology, delving into the consequences that AI may have on humans in the future. Therefore, the story is close to the young audience, breathing new life for the famous brand.
Breathtaking missions
An important factor in the success of Mission: Impossible is the thrilling action. Through each film, the screenwriter creates thrilling situations, sometimes irrational but enough to make viewers hold their breath to watch.
Right in the first part, the main character receives the task of breaking into the data warehouse guarded by the CIA. He hung upside down on the cable, deftly breaking through the layers of security without leaving any traces.
As time goes on, the level of writer challenge for Ethan Hunt increases. For example, in part 4 Ghost Protocol (2011), the character has to climb the world’s tallest tower in Dubai. From the outside, he used technology gloves to cling to the glass door, sometimes carelessly and almost lost his life.
Thrilling action sequences become the “specialty” of the brand.
The first 4 parts of Mission Impossible are handled by different filmmakers. But since the 5th part Rogue Nation (2015), the director’s chair belongs to Christopher McQuarrie, who is a familiar partner of Tom Cruise.
The director almost put all the essence into part 7 – the most expensive movie in the franchise with a budget of up to 290 million USD. The action sequences are continuously installed with increased drama, helping the film to keep its appeal through each act despite its rather 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.
Charm from Tom Cruise
Before the first movie came out, Tom Cruise was already a big name in Hollywood. But the role of special agent Ethan Hunt continues to take him to new heights, becoming an icon of the action movie genre.
In particular, Tom Cruise always takes on dangerous scenes in the movie without the need for a stunt. During the 7 parts, the actor is not afraid to perform difficult scenes, whether running on a train, clinging to the wall of an airplane or racing a car, skydiving… That helps each film become realistic, creating a more emotional than works using green screens and computer effects.
In the latest installment, Tom Cruise continues to assert his style and class at the age of 61. He even broke his own record with deadly action scenes.
The most impressive segment is when the star rides a motorcycle at high speed on a cliff, then launches a parachute in mid-air. Although the scene was only a few minutes long on screen, it took the actor 15 months of practice with more than 13,000 motorcycle jumps and 536 practice skydiving times.
The combination of script, director and Tom Cruise’s efforts has helped Mission Impossible to become increasingly appreciated, becoming a hit brand with a large global fan base.
After the success of Mission Impossibility, many action and spy works continued to be born, such as the series Jason Bourne , Kingsman , Hitman … However, no name has yet been able to surpass the project led by Tom Cruise. private and main.
The series received a “rain” of praise from critics. Even the Guardian newspaper said that there is no Mission: Impossible part is bad, and asserted that this is “Hollywood’s best movie franchise”.
