u/Insane_law

When U.S. government operative Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his mentor, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), go on a covert assignment that takes a disastrous turn, Jim is killed, and Ethan becomes the prime murder suspect. Now a fugitive, Hunt recruits brilliant hacker Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and maverick pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) to help him sneak into a heavily guarded CIA building to retrieve a confidential computer file that will prove his innocence.

The first film in the franchise is about Tom Cruise running here and there and making all sorts of impossible things possible. Although he's not running here yet. Okay, this isn't my first film in this series, the first was Dead Reckoning, which I saw in the theater three years ago, but there's a difference between the two.

If we keep in mind that the genre of the Mission: Impossible film series is a spy action movie, then in the first film the emphasis is on the word “spy”. There are not many battle scenes here, but there are many different complex and multi-level tasks that the main characters have to complete, and there are a lot of different gadgets, spy things, such as explosive chewing gum, and a few human masks, which have become one of the signatures of the franchise.

Thanks to this, the film has a high level of suspense that doesn't let you go throughout the entire watching. And the most of it is precisely in the iconic scene of penetration and theft in Langley. And it can also be noted the tense final scene on the train with a helicopter - one of the few action scenes - and despite the fact that the graphics look outdated, the stunts are done perfectly, especially considering that Tom Cruise prefers to do everything himself. And all this is supported by a moderate pace, which allows you to gradually delve into the events and look for the mole together with Ethan Hunt.

Actually, I am a bit skeptical about spy movies, because with this spiral of mysteries and plot twists, the probability of plot holes is high. But with Mission: Impossible I didn't notice such a thing. And, how can I not mention the wonderful soundtrack by Danny Elfman, in particular the main theme, which sets the tone for the entire film and has also become the signature of franchise, the outstanding cinematography, which conveys the tension of the situation, especially in the scene in the cafe, as well as decent acting, although I cannot single out anyone in particular.

Overall, this is a great spy movie - light but tense and suspenseful at the same time. Recommended.

Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis) are two young, attractive serial killers who become tabloid-TV darlings, thanks to a sensationalistic press led by Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr). The press reports the pair as they go on a killing spree. A controversial look at the way the media portrays criminals.

If anyone doesn't know, the script for this film was written by Quentin Tarantino and sold to get money for his first film. Later, it fell into the hands of Oliver Stone, who shifted the focus to satire on the media for glorifying violence. Tarantino reacted to the final result like this: "I hated that fucking movie. If you like my stuff, don't watch that movie". And although I like Quentin's stuff, I was still curious. And what can I say after watching Natural Born Killers? I completely understand Tarantino, and although I don't hate this movie, if I didn't watch it I wouldn't lost anything.

The first thing this film literally shoves in your face is a very strange editing, more like a drug trip. I understand that this is how it was intended, but all these transitions from color to black and white and sometimes the insertion of some random frames didn't work for me at all. So much so that often during the viewing I had the thought: “Why the fuck am I watching it?” But I continued.

What interested me the most in this film was the plot, because I was attracted by the concept of a couple who start killing everyone around them and causing a massacre. Well, in the first half of the film I got what I wanted and I quite liked it. But the second half is much weaker, because the level of realism drops significantly, and the ending is a completely nonsense...

The undeniable plus of the film is the acting of the main characters. Juliette Lewis played the role of a traumatized girl who is going crazy perfectly, and Woody Harrelson is the perfect psychopath-killing machine. The second one was especially scary. But the other actors overact, in my opinion. Robert Downey Jr. stands out, although in the end he seemed to become better. Or I'm just used to it.

The satire on how the media portrays criminals is very straightforward, exaggerated and absurd, and it was very annoying. Although the way the Mallory family was stylized in the beginning as a sitcom is very witty and original. But nevertheless, the overall message of the film, coupled with the almost complete absence of positive characters (and the only positive one was killed a few minutes after appearing), is very depressing.

In short, I didn't like Natural Born Killers. It's very depressing, unrealistic in the second half, with strange editing and overacting supporting actors. There are pluses like great main characters and a few interesting moments, but that's not enough. Not recommended.