Mission
Impossible Film Analysis
The first shot is an establishing shot to show the character’s
surroundings of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is an array of very steep
and high mountains which Tom Cruise is seen climbing. This gives the audience
an insight to his strength and capability of just how powerful he is but also
the Grand Canyon is very bare with no people to show his isolation from the
rest of the world and how this will affect him throughout the rest on the film.
The camera which could
have been used on a helicopter as it is so high up, starts to zoom in towards
the character to show him making his climb. As you can see, he is not held onto
the rock by any form of support, just his bare two hands which adds to the
danger shown in the opening scene. Next, the camera does some pan shots to
prove to the audience that he isn’t being held on by anything and to emphasise
the characters strength and how it might be used throughout the rest of the
film. Then the camera zooms out to give the audience more of a view of the
Grand Canyon and the climber showing just how high it is.
As the character carries on his climb, there is a close up of
his face which tells us that he is not
scared or in fear of what he is doing and how high he is up which makes the
viewer feel more secure that he isn’t going to fall off of the rock. A birds
eye view is made as the camera looks down and the character is looking up
towards it. In the scene, we can hear the diegetic sound of an eagle circling
around him as if he is the prey but Tom is not fazed by it at all and just
carries on. The birds eye shot that was made could be to represent how the bird
could be looking down on him.
The next shot that is made is when the character jumps from
one part of the rock to another in order to be able to climb up easier. This
shocks the audience even more as he is already risking his life let alone jump
across the rock because if he was to fall, he would die so he is making a huge
choice. When he makes the jump and gets to the other side, he falls down the
rock but luckily manages to hang on to the edge of the cliff which is
significant because no one else would have been able to get such a good grip
with just their fingertips lifting their whole body weight. Then, he hangs off
of the cliff with just one arm which would take some serious strength to which
so this emphasises to the audience just how strong and powerful he is and that
no one should cross him.
The camera pans/moves around like a bird would when flying to
show the character holding on to the rock in a position which is similar to how
Jesus was on the cross. This symbolises how Tom Cruise will be seen as the
saviour in this film and will save people that he comes into contact with
unless they are the villains. There is a zoomed in close up to his face and the
expression on his face shows that nothing fazes him and he isn’t bothered about
where he is or what he is doing proving his fearlessness. Suddenly, he swings
round back onto the rock to begin his climb again. When he gets to the top of
the mountain, there is a moving shot or 360 degree shot which is like the bird
coming to get him but it just circle round him as he watches and doesn’t harm
him. An establishing shot gives a clear view of the Grand Canyon and the overall picture so that you can see
everything in its surroundings.
Next, we see the helicopter come into view and turn round to
when the character is. Because the helicopter is black, we just assume that
something bad is going to happen because there is another character in a black
and white suit that is holding what appears to be a gun. When he fires the gun,
an object lands in the rock and then there is a close up view of Tom’s face
smiling so we know he knows the person and what the object could be so the audience
don’t feel on-edge anymore. A low shot is taken when Tom walks over towards the
object and picks it up. When he takes the lid off of the arrow shaped object,
there is a close up of the sunglasses that are inside to show what they are and
what the main focus is as they are the only things in that shot. Then there is
another close up of Tom’s face when he smiles and shakes his head because he
knows who they are from and what they are because they aren’t ordinary
sunglasses. When he puts the sunglasses on, we get a point of view shot which
is the same as if we were looking through his eyes at the information he is
being told. Furthermore, there is then a mid shot where we can see the
character with his sunglasses on and also some of the scenery of the Grand
Canyon. The shot is panned so that we can see the full view of the character
not moving as he is focused on what he has to listen to showing his mental and
physical ability to block out what is happening around him to listen to one
voice. When he takes off the sunglasses and throws them away they explode and
the film titles start up which makes it a great opening scene because it gives
the audience a mixture of things that will happen through the entirety of the
film and the explosion emphasises again the danger that will come with the job
that he does.
The music is quite calm at the start which is not what you
would expect because of his circumstances. Then it builds up bas the character
gets higher up the rock. When he jumps the music slows temporarily for a second
and the singing stops but when he is hanging onto the cliff with one hand, then
puts the second hand on, the music’s tempo builds up again getting louder and
louder and the singing is back again. The music sounds like some that you would
hear on holiday abroad but it is really ironic as he is rock climbing which you
wouldn’t normally do on holiday.
