My memory of this flick is dim, but this scene puzzles me and I really don’t want to watch it again: why did the bad guy fly the helicopter into the Chunnel, and was he planning on flying it all the way to France (or GB, whichever way they were headed)? Even by action movie standards this seems really dumb.
Wasn’t the helicopter tethered to the train and being dragged along by it? It’s been a while, I admit.
[checks wiki] Yeah, that was it. Of course the whole idea of using a helicopter to escape from a high-speed train is a lunatic, idiotic plan in the first place.
Yeah, it got attached to the train.
You’d think the engineer would notice something like that.
Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) snags the extraction cable that’s tethered to the helicopter to help Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) escape and he attaches it to the train. Instead crashing as one would normally expect a captive helicopter to do Jean Reno’s character is dragged into the tunnel by the speeding train.
Hilarity ensues.
To be ‘fair’, Jean Reno’s character was said to be an expert pilot. It wasn’t that he intended to fly into the Chunnel, but since it was either fly in after the train or crash, what else could he do? I suspect he was as surprised as the audience that he was doing it. If any heli COULD do it, I would think a 500 would be the one - small rotor diameter, fast, nimble. (JAQ, MD500/AH6 design engineer. I admit my bias!:))
Of course, even more wrong than flying in was the fact that the Chunnel is three separate tunnels. The trains are not in the same tunnel (the air compression from the two trains running at each other would have smashed the 500 against the wall).
Speaking of the crash, I have to applaud the film makers-they must have used a real airframe. The wreckage showed all the proper airframe structure. Hollywood doesn’t always do that-witness the semi-truck in Terminator - it looked like a plywood mockup rather than a real truck.
The tether dangling from the helicopter was designed to hold a person. Once it was clipped to the train, wouldn’t the tether give way because the force of helicopter + train = way more than a human’s body weight?
Let’s face it: the whole movie sucked. I wasted one evening of my life going to see it, and I’ve never had any desire to see any of the sequels.
I hate Brian de Palma movies in general, but this one was the worst ever!
The sling load will take well over 1000 lbs, plus margins. Then the sling rips itself out of the keel, likely with major structural damage. But the sling hook does have a quick release, for just such emergencies as losing power while slinging, or being pulled into a tunnel.
I must speak in this movie’s defense. I enjoy it quite a bit. BUT, it is not a “Mission Impossible” movie. MI was all about the “con”. Subtlety. Teamwork. This movie was all about one man action-adventuring his way through a problem. You know who else does that?
MI was the best James Bond movie of the '90s.
I DO hate it for shitting on the character of Jim Phelps. That aspect is pretty much is unforgivable.
Yep. When I heard that Jim Phelps was not only not the protagonist, but was a fucking BAD GUY,* I decided to give the entire franchise a miss.
Maybe some day Hollywood will make a movie of Mission: Impossible.
*Hey, there could be people who don’t know.
I enjoyed most of the Mission Impossible movies, but you’ve nailed what I don’t like about them. They aren’t really based on the TV series, and would be far more interesting if they were.
I wish the producers had hired David Mamet to write the first one. It would have been a very cerebral, mind-bending film, and there would have been no nonsense about helicopters flying into tunnels.
Worse part was in the reveal, Phelps basic explanation was shrug “I did it for the money.”
I enjoyed this film, and am fine with sacrificing Phelps despite growing up with the show. They did a decent job of disguising it.
Agreed. I saw p[arts of the first pone, and didn’t much care for what I saw, so I avoided the sequels.
I have gotten as far as the second movie. I didn’t think it was particularly terrific, although its mere existence tied up Dougray Scott long enough that he had to give up the role of Wolverine in favor of Hugh Jackman, so I guess it earns a few bonus points. My favorite part of the whole movie was – and bear in mind I had not paid any attention to who directed it – the scene with all of the goddamn pigeons or whatever they were. I said, “Wait, is this a John Woo movie?”
The second was abysmal. The third is pretty good, but you should really check out the fourth one. It’s the best in the series.
Sacrificing Phelps was only part of it. The TV show was always an ensemble; the team worked together to pull off some incredibly intricate scheme. The problem with the first movie (and maybe the others) was turning it into a star vehicle for Tom Cruise. It wasn’t a team anymore, it was Cruise and a few people who helped him.
The Chunnel is indeed three tunnels, but let’s nitpick the nitpicks.
The train never went through the Chunnel, just a regular one somewhere in France.
Are you sure? The Wiki article notes it is the Chunnel (FWIW). I thought the dialog stated that as well.
Now I’ll have to rewatch. Not a bad chore - I like the movie (despite my complaints above.)