Mission: Impossible

I have watched this film for the second time and I still don't know what the hell is going on. Double agents everywhere you look, everybody is ready to turn on you at the drop of a hat and people are dropping dead left and right. One of them Emilio Estevez, who I had totally forgotten was in this at all. Well, he barely is. Rest in peace.

To make comprehension even more difficult, people that one presumed to be dead resurface later on in the movie. They may or may not be on your side (probably not).

The cast is full of acting heavy weights. And I am not even referring to Tom Cruise here. Kristin Scott Thomas (alas, another agent we lose too early in the game), Jon Voight (good guy? bad guy? alive guy? dead guy?), Emmanuelle Béart, Vanessa Redgrave (I mean, come on), Ving Rhames, Jean Reno (who always makes a film immediately better).

Whenever the blot gets to confusing, there is an explosion to distract the cast and the audience. Or, I think that it the reason. Some of them are caused by exploding gum. James Bond didn't have exploding gum, did he? So, there.

There is also the famous Topkapi-rip-off-scene. If you do not know what I am talking about, that means you have not seen Topkapi, in which case we can never be friends.

Also, a helicopter in a tunnel dragged along by a train. Fighting, danger, gum, explosion! Such fun!

5/10

Anonymous

So, according to this film by Roland Emmerich (and from what I understand it reflects Emmerich's beliefs) William Shakespeare's plays where actually written by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, played by Rhys Ifans (in a surprisingly good performance, I only remember ever seeing him play idiots and druggies).

When the Earl solicits a lesser known playwright to stage plays that he actually wrote himself, the man agrees to do so. The play bill fails to mention any author name. When the performance is a great success and the audience cries for the playwright to come out on stage to be celebrated, the rather dimwitted William Shakespeare, an actor himself and always slightly drunk, hogs the spotlight and takes his bows.

Shakespeare is portrayed by Rafe Spall. This may actually be my favorite performance of the film, which is heavily populated by many a brilliant actor. One other wonderful portrayal is that of the (old) Queen Elizabeth I, by the great Vanessa Redgrave. Her younger self is played by her daughter Joely Richardson.

The film jumps back and forth in time, showing the story of the plays and the (alleged) rouse as well as Edward de Vere's younger years, during which he had an affair and a child with Queen Elizabeth I.

Do I believe that the story as told here has any merit? Not really. Do I care that Emmerich's (and the film's screen writer's) beliefs are probably wrong? Nope. The film is entertaining enough the way it is. You get war and intrigues, illicit affairs spawning bastards and the literary society in uproar.

7/10