Impossible Mission is a 2019 thriller about a master assassin who meets with conflict when she sets out on a search and destroy mission against a spiritual leader.
You come to a movie about a female assassin with a certain expectation, sturdily built around a plethora of films on the subject that pit young, lithe, highly-trained (and conflicted) women against a host of violent hurdles, packed with action and titillation. Writer and director Gilles Gambino‘s latest independent actioner Impossible Mission doesn’t fall far from the tree in that respect, its story centered around just that, or at least the promise of such, but is another thing entirely.
Rosa (Jimena Gala) is a killer, a tiny young woman with a particular set of skills that has her in high demand for offing targets. Poison is her game and while she’s been quite successful in her racquet, is having second thoughts and wants out, though her handler isn’t on board. However, he makes her a deal: do one last high-paying big job and she can walk away, no questions asked. She’s soon on the hunt for a crafty and powerful spiritual leader with a curious agenda, teaming up with operative Will Gray (Ben Vinnicombe) to stop him, though things aren’t always what they seem as she gets entangled in a romance and conspiracy out of her control.
Obviously, the name is the first on the list to tackle, an almost obscene ploy to play off the highly-successful Tom Cruise franchise though don’t be fooled for a moment as there is nothing connecting them, either with story or stunts (the original title was The Vibe). This low budget effort is mostly people walking and talking with barely a single frame of action, the characters typically all filmed in close-up shot reverse shot style (sometimes going on for nearly ten minutes at a time).
Of course, a story doesn’t need loads of over-the-top set pieces to make it entertaining, nor does the director need to be all that innovate, but Gambino really reaches for creativity here, leaving Impossible Mission a mostly very generic experience that works hard to build some suspense but rarely succeeds.
Take an extended moment where a nude Rosa wakes and slips on a shirt before walking into the next room. She puts on a slightly puzzled expression while the music dramatically rises as if there is great danger inches away only to reveal … well, you can probably guess. The problem is, it feels unearned, like much of what’s on screen where very little happens even though the film wants you to think there is.
What’s frustrating about all this is how interesting the story truly is, where quite of bit of social commentary on modern consumerism and government control lies just waiting to be exploited. I was genuinely interested in where it was heading but too often lost sight of its plot as one lengthy bit of dialogue followed another, not much of it connecting very well.
Gala is great to look at and initially puts together an emotionally compelling character but is soon lost in all the wordy complications, never really given a chance to do what she is set up to do, or at least what the premise seems to promise. I’ll admit that the ending is on point and not without a suprise up its sleeve, allowing Gala to dig a little deeper, emotionally. It’s good stuff.
However, Impossible Mission just isn’t what it claims to be, the current release poster even showing an actress and explosive event not even in the movie. As an action film, this fails spectacularly, but if it were packaged as a mystery would probably do better.