Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by David Koepp, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne and Bruce Geller
Starring Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno and Ving Rhames
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes

by Matt McCafferty, Staff Writer

Brian De Palma said that he agreed to direct this film in part because he was looking for a commercial hit at the time. I can’t imagine he had any idea that he was actually kicking off what would become one of the most successful movie franchises of the next 25 years (and counting). The level of excitement that comes with each new M:I release has reached James Bond levels. However, when it comes to longevity, the Bond franchise has an advantage in that it relies on a fictional character to move the series forward. Whether it’s Daniel Craig or whoever, James Bond will find a way to exist on screen in some form—and Bond fans will always be here to see what 007 will do next. As for the M:I movies, everything rests on the shoulders of Tom Cruise. M:I may have originated as a TV series in 1966, but Cruise is responsible for its continued relevance. Nobody but Cruise could play Ethan Hunt moving forward. Without Ethan Hunt, it’s not Mission: Impossible. Maybe the simplest way to put it is this: Tom Cruise is Mission: Impossible.  

We’ve all seen and heard about Cruise’s dedication to these films. Doing all his own stunts and yelling at people for not wearing masks are a couple headline examples. Whatever you may think of Cruise, you can’t deny that the man is dedicated to his craft. And yes, he is a producer for these films, so money is likely one of the motivating factors for creating good M:I movies. But if you’ve ever heard Cruise talk about any of the M:I films, it’s obvious that he genuinely cares about them on another level beyond financial earnings. His mindset is locked in on delivering something bigger and better with every new entry. Remove Cruise from the franchise and it’s a totally different animal (if it would even exist). Just think about what might have happened to this franchise if Jeremy Renner took over after Ghost Protocol.

Right from the get-go in 1996, you can see that M:I belonged to Cruise. After Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) gets his mission briefing on the plane in the beginning, there’s barely a scene without Cruise at the forefront. Cruise doesn’t pull off the jaw-dropping types of stunts that we’ve seen in the last few M:I movies, but you can still sense his dedication to the role. His stunts here are more creative than they are dangerous or what you might consider action-packed. Part of that is because the film itself doesn’t give us tons of shootouts and explosions. In fact, Cruise doesn’t fire a single bullet throughout the entire film. 

Cruise may not cling to the side of a plane in this one, but he does pull off one of M:I’s most famous stunts in the wire suspension scene. This is where Ethan breaks into Langley and is lowered down headfirst from a vent shaft into a highly-secured vault to retrieve a file from a computer. The vault is of course armed with a sensor that sets off an alarm system if anything touches the floor. Because of Cruise’s willingness to do his own stunts, the shots of him dangling just inches above the floor give us some terrific close-ups of his pained facial expressions as he genuinely struggles to hold his body up.

While Cruise deserves plenty of credit for the wire suspension stunt, De Palma’s vision for this scene needs a mention as well. On this particular watch, I came to appreciate De Palma’s patience with the way he executed it. A patient approach that was aided by his decision to exclude any music here. He relies on the sounds of breathing, grunting and the grinding of the rope to build up the tension. He takes his time to zoom in on different details as needed. As Franz (Jean Ren) begins to sweat and grunt, he tightens his grip on the rope that holds Ethan below in the vault. De Palma cuts back and forth from his sweaty face to his struggling hands on the rope. In the distance behind Franz, a rat makes its way into focus. It all unfolds in a slow, careful way that forces us to sit with the tension that is building up. Not many other directors would take their time with a scene like this in the middle of a major blockbuster action movie. De Palma was wise enough to realize that taking his time was the key to creating legitimate suspense.

The story is a little bit confusing at times if you happen to be coming into this for your first watch. I was about 12 years old when this first came out and I remember not having much of a clue about what was going on most of the time. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. The story basically functions as a mole hunt after Ethan and his team are ambushed during their mission to intercept a non-official cover (NOC) list that could expose the covers of all I.M.F. agents. Ethan teams up with two disavowed agents, Franz Kriger (Jean Ren) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to find the mole and secure the NOC list.

No matter how times I see this movie, the bullet train sequence still manages to be just as exhilarating as when I first saw it. When Cruise leaps over to the helicopter and that iconic music kicks in, it gives me a legit adrenaline rush. If you get a chance to read up a little more about how this scene was shot, you will come to appreciate it even more. It was filmed with a combination of live-action, CGI and some model work and it took six weeks to shoot with most of it taking place at the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios, London.  

There’s no question that M:I holds up well 25 years later. Sure, a lot of the tech is dated (lots of floppy disks!) and some of the dialogue is a little stale. Even still, De Palma’s unique filmmaking style in combination with Tom Cruise doing his thing makes it easy to get over those things. Most people (including myself) don’t consider this to be the best in the series. Personally, I rate it at #4 out of 6. The fact that this ranking seems low for a movie that I like quite a bit says a lot about what Christopher McQuarrie has delivered over the past few films. Rogue Nation was #3 on my best of the decade list that I wrote up in 2019. Regardless of where you decide to rank it, M:I was plenty good enough to get the franchise started back then and it’s still good enough now to hold its own amongst a group of mostly superior sequels.