A Really Difficult Mission

WARNING: THIS WEEK'S COLUMN WAS WRITTEN WHILE SITTING IN MY CAR IN MAHTOMEDI WAITING FOR MY FAMILY TO JOIN ME FOR A BIG SLAB OF PRIME RIB DINNER AT PICCADILLY AFTER AN EXTREMELY LONG DAY AT WORK, IN THE HOT HUMID MUGGY AIR. CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATE FOR POSSIBLE SPOILAGE.

Good morning Mr. Maeda. At least every two years for the past two hundred and twenty years, citizens all over the country get together on a pre-defined date to elect their officials to govern the land. To maintain a fair and impartial system, several rules, laws, and procedures have been developed and redeveloped over that time to help ensure that our elected officials are chosen in a precise way. Your mission should you decide to accept, it to make sure that every vote that counts gets counted in Minnesota's fastest growing county. The weight of the election falls squarely on your ever sagging shoulders after merely two months of training. Any screw up will result in unwanted publicity or possible lawsuits. As always should any of your IMF force get caught or killed, the secretary (Ms. Growe) will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self destruct in five seconds. We suggest you do not do the same. Good look Dave.

My brother has a theory that I had it a bit easier than he did growing up. Spoiled? Who me? Ask him and he will, as sure as the sun melts ice cream, describe how my mother used to allow me in my preschool days to stay up late to watch Sea Hunt and Mission Impossible while he had to go to bed to be well rested for school. This is a supposed example of how I was given privileges none of my other siblings received.

My only answer to that (I can't exactly deny it) is to compare where we both are at now. He is a successful junior high band teacher (a real life Mr. Holland as it were), while I'm now all excited about the prospect of another season of Savannah episodes.

Not to say that I am so easily amused or entertained these days- far from it -which makes it seem odd and special that I have to report how much I enjoyed the motion picture version of Mission Impossible. This was the most entertained I had been at a movie in a long time. Plop Sandra Bullock in the middle of it, and it would have far surpassed that all time great entertaining movie Speed as a rolling good time. As it stands, even little Tommy Cruise performs above the call of duty and the movie looks and feels wonderful.

Mission Impossible was a show that defined cool years before the Fonz. With its pseudo sophistication, gadgets, complicated plots, and cerebral stories, the show sometimes came across as a bit sterile but that was somewhat the point. Espionage is tricky business after all. Despite its rather right wing politics, the show generated much sympathy for its characters, essentially a group of rogue spies who spread American capitalism into smaller countries all in the name of national interest. But how could you not like Barney, Willy, Cinnamon and Rollin? From the unsurpassed opening theme (both music and visuals) to its format of getting Mr. Phelps his assignments in hidden places via explosive tapes, the show was all style but came across as having substance too. As a kid I didn't much understand the stories but I loved the notion of putting on masks, tricking people and occasionally getting into a sticky situation which one would pull oneself out of at the last possible moment.

The movie is able to maintain the spirit behind the TV show while translating the whole thing into something worth watching on the big screen. There is a moment in the movie where Cruise's life depends on a single drop of sweat. The tension is thrilling. The story doesn't always track and make a whole lot of sense but it is more than made up for by things like exploding gum. We don't exactly get to know or care about any of the characters but because of the sheer momentum of the movie, we don't really need to. Mission Impossible is as tricky as the masks the characters hide behind. Things never are as they appear, and things aren't as improbable as they often seem.