This Blog Will Self Destuct In 5 Seconds...

With JJ Abram's Star Trek reboot just round the corner, I'd thought I'd revisit Abram's movie debut MI:III. Unfortunately, my DVD player was having none of it, forcing me to watch the best of the franchise, 1996's, Mission Impossible.

And what a corker it is...combining the talents of screenwriter David Koepp and director Brian DePalma (both at the top of their game). DePalma wisely chooses a 60's cold war style, reminisant of the TV series on which the movie is based.

It has a memorable, starry cast (Emilio Estevez, Kristen Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Ving Rhames, Jean Reno, the foxy Emmenuelle Beart, the twitchy Henry Czerny and the coniving Jon Voight; even if they're not on screen long, they bring the story to life and add weight to their scenes.

Koepps script is lean, mean, tight and consise. Despite the seemingly complicated plot, its structured in a way that helps tell the story; a simple three act structure (Prague, Langley and London) and each scene within the acts are stremlined to maximum efficiency. Gadgets are used sparingly and are used more than once (unlike Bond movies)which raises the plausability of the fantastical plot.

DePalma directs the f#*k ot of this. Each shot designed to convey information, whether it be to set up visual story elements (the knife design) or storytelling devices like DePalma's trademark POV shots (used to show the camera-mounted-in-the spectacles-gadget). Every aspect of story-telling has been considered here, from the use of sound (listen as the soundtrack fades to nothing as Cruise lowers into the computer room) to the inventive editing on display (the tension is racked up as Czerny loses his cool in the fish tank restaurant with a frenzied display of editing). Couple this with a crate of iconic shots (the now legendary hanging centimetres above the motion sensitive floor scene) and thrilling set pieces (the channel tunnel chase) and you've got a spy movie thats amoung the best there is.

It odd, that on first viewing, I didn't immediately warm to this. But now, it easily one of my favorite movies ever.