Mission: Impossible (1996) Review

"Red light!  Green light!"

-Ethan Hunt

An IMF (Impossible Mission Force) assignment goes horribly wrong and results in the deaths of the entire team, except for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).  Ethan learns that the whole mission was actually a mole hunt to figure out which member of his team turned traitor and since Ethan is the only one left alive, he is assumed to be the mole.  Ethan is forced to flee for his life and go underground, working with arms dealers and ex-IMF agents to figure out who framed him.  Unfortunately, if he wants to learn the truth, Ethan must break into the CIA.

What Works:

The three major action set pieces are all really well done.  I love the 1st act of this movie as we watch the team function as a solid unit until everything falls apart.  The deaths of Ethan's teammates are very well done and Tom Cruise really brings his sadness and anger to the screen.

The 3rd act helicopter sequence is also really excited to watch, but the highlight is 100% the CIA break-in.  The direction of this sequence is superb.  There are a lot of moving pieces, but we always know what is happening.  The tension is ramped up to perfection and there is a reason this sequence is so iconic.

Tom Cruise does an excellent job throughout the movie.  Not only does he have great emotional range, but he's fun to watch.  Say what you will about the guy, but he can lead an action-movie, no doubt about it.

Although he doesn't get a ton to do, I like Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell.  I find it very funny that they cast Rhames to play the group's hacker.  He's such a big dude, you would expect him to have a fight scene or two.  Nope, he's in front of a computer for most of the film, which I find very amusing.

What Sucks:

This plot is overly complex and it's taken me a few watches to get a handle on who is doing what in this movie.  I think I have it figured out now, but there are a few things that don't make sense.  How does Ethan figure out that Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) is behind everything?  Because he finds a bible from a hotel Jim stayed at in the safe-house?  Why does that incriminate Jim?  He could have just taken the bible.  It doesn't mean anything, but the movie makes it a big deal.  

Secondly, I have no idea why Jim didn't just shoot Ethan on the bullet train.  He shot his own wife, why didn't he shoot the man who ruined his plan?  I know some of the action scenes for the movie were filmed before they had figured out what the story was going to be and that definitely shows.

The scenes between the action set-pieces don't have the same level of energy to them and I could feel myself losing interest.  The story isn't really interesting enough to carry the movie.  It relies too much on the action scenes.

Finally, I find Emmanuelle Béart's character, Claire Phelps to be very annoying.  I don't know exactly what it is, but I've seen this film a bunch of times and I have always found her irritating.

Verdict:

The original Mission: Impossible film has some fantastic and iconic set-pieces and a solid performance from Tom Cruise, but the plot is convoluted with too many plot holes, the energy is inconsistent, and the female lead is annoying.  It's still a solid movie and worth watching, but this is a rare case where most of the sequels are superior to the original film.

 7/10: Good