Tom Cruise Month #2: Mission Impossible, A Few Good Men

[Mission Impossible (1996)]

[ In Mission Impossible, agent Ethan Hunt a clandestine operative of the United States of America, under suspicion for treasonous activities after a treacherous double-cross, has to uncover and expose the true spies before complete condemnation from the U.S. Gov’t. This occurs through rapid-fire technological improvisations and an enthralling, intentionally misdirected plot line, spanning multiple continents and implementing a vast array of capable actors.

The film, directed by Brian DePalma , and starring Tom Cruise as the lead agent, Ethan Hunt, alongside Jon Voigt, Jean Reno, and the alluring Emmanuelle BĂ©art, churns through stoic performances and grande exaggeration, creating a heightened awareness in the audience during rhythmic bouts of deafening action. It’s also true that Tom Cruise was in a lofty position during this portion of his career, emanating charisma and inviting the audience to saddle inside of his romping, energetic frame during numerous stressing scenes.

Though the plot of Mission Impossible copies countless spy-themed, cinematic parables from the ’60’s and into the early ’90’s, what remains the quintessential selling point for Mission Impossible is the positive adoption of such espionage tropes, while incorporating humor, and of course the star-performer’s voracity for all thing’s sensory heightening. In multiple scenes Tom Cruise is able to transcend the screen in order to install the emotion of stress and gaiety into the audience, for example, when Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt) is dangling from the wall, in hopes of not falling into the laser trip-wires, the frontal focus and De Palma’s inclusion of quick-cutting, trap the anxiety into the viewer for more than a concerning minute.

An over-exaggerated espionage action/drama that hits its audience right on the head.]

[A Few Good Men (1992)]

[ Nubile military attorney, Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise, defends Marine soldiers against murder accusations, many of which contend that they were merely following orders. As he’s given important assignments for once in his life, Kaffee questions the perceived ‘opened/closed’ case, debating key personnel, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, finding that military politics and motives are equally as jarring when officers are given power.

The film, written by Aaron Sorkin a prolific dramatist, directed by Rob Reiner, and featuring the notable Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, alongside other A-list actors, revels in political intrigue, shifting the viewer’s’ perception of the case at every corner. The narrative of the two marines’ testimonial losing factual ground, the audience is forced into a background position with the delectable chance of listening to key prosecutors. Turning the film into a sort of voyeuristic, rhetorical merry-go-round.

As the plot was conceived by Aaron Sorkin, the dialogue finds pacing well above normal speech, inflicting plot-points, jokes, wittiness beyond compare, and moral prerogatives, converging into a singular outstanding audiophile performance. In addition, the assigning of top-tier actors to the role of litigators, such as Tom Cruise’s Kaffee, a brilliant performance of dissolution and value-destruction, to Jack Nicholson’s depiction of hellish rage from masked inferiority, ensures tantalizing depictions of complex personalities. The action primarily occurs behind close doors, yet maintains its overwhelming energy due to the conflict of egoism.

A quick-witted, dialogue-heavy melodrama with outstanding performances. Must see.]

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