Mission Impossible (1996)
We just felt in the mood for an older movie, but an excellent film all the same to watch as a family, as pickings are a bit slim at the moment. My children picked it for us to watch as a family.
What's it all about?
Of course the film is based upon the same set ... Read review
Mission: Impossiblewas one of the best action blockbusters of the 1990s, deriving a ... more
quality unique amongst its peers from the tension between Brian De Palma's directorial stylisation and the overriding presence of its star and producer, Tom Cruise. Cru...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Mission: Impossiblewas one of the best action blockbusters of the 1990s, deriving a ... more
quality unique amongst its peers from the tension between Brian De Palma's directorial stylisation and the overriding presence of its star and producer, Tom Cruise. Cru...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Tom Cruise ignites the screen in this runaway smash hit. Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, a ... more
secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team.Fleeing from government assassins, breaking into the CIA's most impenetrable vault, clinging to the roof of ...
Mission: Impossiblewas one of the best action blockbusters of the 1990s, deriving a ... more
quality unique amongst its peers from the tension between Brian De Palma's directorial stylisation and the overriding presence of its star and producer, Tom Cruise. Cru...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Production Year: 2004 - Action/Adventure - Director: Jon Turteltaub - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Advantages: Fast pacy spy adventure, with great music and some equally great stunts. Disadvantages: Stunts a bit far fetched - but you expect that with this sort of film.
==Mission Impossible (1996)==
We just felt in the mood for an older movie, but an excellent film all the same to watch as a family, as pickings are a bit slim at the moment. My children picked it for us to watch as a family.
===What's it all about?===
Of course the film is based upon the same set up used in the television series of the same name. Having said this, I have not watched any ... .../>
The film is a secret agent movie, with a group of agents given the task of going to Prague to stop a top secret list of agents, passing into the hands of traitors. The group are told to walk away if the mission fails and that their bosses will not admit to knowing them if they are captured.
The mission does go awry and it seems that all of the agents are killed, all except for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). Ethan makes ... more
Mission Impossible (1996)
We just felt in the mood for an older movie, but an excellent film all the same to watch as a family, as pickings are a bit slim at the moment. My children picked it for us to watch as a family.
What's it all about?
Of course the film is based upon the same set up used in the television series of the same name. Having said this, I have not watched any of the original series as this was before my time.
The film is a secret agent movie, with a group of agents given the task of going to Prague to stop a top secret list of agents, passing into the hands of traitors. The group are told to walk away if the mission fails and that their bosses will not admit to knowing them if they are captured.
The mission does go awry and it seems that all of the agents are killed, all except for Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). Ethan makes arrangements to meet his superiors in a restaurant and it is here that Ethan realises that he is a main suspect being the last man standing.
He discovers that the mission was really not what it seems and sets out to prove his innocence...
Opinion
You either love Tom Cruise or hate him, but this film was just meant for him. I thoroughly enjoy it every time I watch it (which has been more than once) for many different reasons. I enjoyed watching Tom Cruise in this type of film more than ever; this I feel is where he is at his best, rather than his more serious roles. His performance when he is distressed to find out he is the only member of the team who survived is especially good.
The first reason is the sound track; most people will have heard the catchy tune and blasting out at high volume it is great. As well as the main tune, the ongoing soundtrack is good at adding suspense at the right moments. I was going to give it four out of five stars, but gave it five in the end, because the music is such a massive part of the film.
I also like the lack of sound in key moments; there is silence as Ethan descends into a vault that adds to the tension and you are willing him to be successul.
The film has a star studded task, with Kirsten Scott Thomas, Jon Voight and Vanessa Redgrave to name a few. All give good performances and the direction of Brian de Palma is edgy and I particularly enjoyed the scene where Ethans discovers he is the main suspect and engages with a tit for tat with his boss Kittridge.
The stunts are particularly well executed and have been emulated many times, (especially in MI2 and MI3) Ethan has to enter a government CIA building and avoid laser beams etc (the scene already mentioned) and this has you watching holding your breath.
Ethan is also a master of disguise and perhaps this is the hardest part to find believable - but this is an escapist film in the first place. This is not a serious movie in the same way that the Bourne Identity is; it is make believe and as long as you play along, it is very enjoyable, with a few good one liners and funny scenes along the way.
A bit of trivia I found out was that Ethan (Tom Cruise) never actually fires a gun!
Now I want to watch Mission Impossible 2 tomorrow!
Availability
It is available from Amazon for only £3.78, which is a fantastic price.
Advantages: great twists Disadvantages: too complicated (maybe even impossible)
...a huge one for any Mission: Impossible fan. Personally I think it was too far. It ends in the now famous helicopter going through the Euro Tunnel scene. At the time this was made, it was cutting edge special effects.
Of course, we all know the TGV doesn't stop in London. But I'm pretty sure a sponsorship deal and misinformation (it was filmed before the tunnel was complete) insured that in this film TGV did stop at London.
I remember when it came ... ...for being the first to incorporate the tunnel. ------------------------------
Acting
------------------------------
Jon Voight does a fantastic job as Jim Phelps - just the way I remember him. Tom Cruise also pulls off a good Ethan Hunt. The actors are all believable. This film boosted many of the actors careers. Including Jean Reno and Ving Rhames who both went on to do successful films after appearing in Mission Impossible. ----------------------
...
C_W_Monkey 22.06.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mission: Impossible (DVD)
Advantages: Intricate plot, excellent acting, appropriate action sequences Disadvantages: They made a sequel...
As I have said, Mission: Impossible 2 was a poor film, and as I mentioned in that opinion, its predecessor is far better. I thought I might elaborate upon that.
Just for a bit of background, M:I began as a series in the sixties where the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) were sent on many...erm...Impossible Missions. Of course, they weren't impossible as they nearly always managed to complete the mission. The team was lead by Jim Phelps (played superbly ... ...operatives (some of the more notable ones being played by Martin Landau and Leonard Nimoy). The missions often involved elaborate stunts - at least for the time - which often had to be taken with a pinch of salt here and there. However, for the most part it was well scripted and enjoyable viewing, at least for the fantastic theme tune (which was later used in an advert with a squirrell running in time to it...).
M:I the film was made in 1996 and ...
Pleb 07.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mission: Impossible (DVD)
Advantages: good action film Disadvantages: too complex plot
This film could have been really excellent if it wasn't let down by one flaw - it's too complex. I've seen it three times so far and I've only just managed to understand exactly what's going on and who's who. The performances are strong if not outstanding and the special effects are great - and if you like gizmos then this one's for you. The sound effects are great, again not outstanding. I can say it kept me hooked, right until the end I was on ...
tom2barc 14.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mission: Impossible (DVD)
Advantages: An action plot that can stand on its own two feet Disadvantages: Possibly slightly too long
Your mission if you choose to accept it ......
Mission Impossible is Tom Cruise at his very best; sexy, funny and strutting his stuff in a high octave action adventure that introduces us to Ethan Hunt the agent we can't forget in a film, whose theme tune we can't stop humming.
Jim is the leader of a highly trained group of espionage assassins working for the government and Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is his point man. Their job is simply to track the man/men ... ...powers that be. Simple for such a crack-team or so you'd think. But as you can guess things don't exactly go to plan.
All of the team minus Ethan are killed, or so we believe, in an operation that turns out to be an internal mole hunt to find the insider corrupted by a Czech Arms Dealer known only as Max. Worse still he's framed for their deaths and must now race like a burning fuse in order to flee the government assassins and stay one step ahead ...
MI9to5 09.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mission: Impossible (DVD)
Advantages: Action to the max Disadvantages: Intelligent moviemaking, this aint
MI2 could not have contained ANY more action then it did. There is no way on earth. From car chase to punch up to gunfight and back again, this rollercoaster ride through a million different ways to make you feel as if you are actually there were perfectly engineered by John Woo (who also directed Face Off). If you like a cunning plot, character development, and more twists then a piece of pasta, go and see something entirely different. If, however, ...
hedzy 17.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Mission: Impossible (DVD)
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Advantages: You can watch this film 1000 and love it still Disadvantages: None from my angle
MissionImpossible 2 on DVD: The special features
MissionImpossible was a great film, no-one can deny that, but the sequal, funnily enough titled, "MissionImpossible 2" is, in my opinion even better! I'm not going to go into detail about the film, but it basically follows along the same lines of the first one. (The world's greatest spy/detective, spying and detecting! :)
The Special Features include:
A brilliant 'Behind the scenes' feature, with various exclusive interviews.
An outstounding 'Stunts and special effects' feature, which goes into great detail how they created 11 of the amazing stunts in the film, one of which being that fab car chase on the clifftops.
Various commentries from the director, John Woo
A music video by Metallica
An alternate title sequence, which i personally prefer to the standard one ...
Advantages: Fantastic action sequences Disadvantages: It's obviously not perfect
Now if you've read my reviews on the first two MissionImpossible films then you will already know that I am a great fan of them and find the fact that the films tells an intelligent story very intriguing. As you can imagine therefore MissionImpossible 3 is also a member of my DVD collection and is a film that has an outing into my DVD player rather frequently.
***** BASIC DETAILS*****
MissionImpossible 3 was released in 2006 and has a film rating of 12. Tom Cruise plays the role he has in the previous two films and is aptly supported by Ving Rhames, Maggie Q, Michelle Monaghan and Jonathon Rhys Meyers (another reason why I was not going to miss this film).
*****THE PLOT*****
Now retired Hunt is preparing to marry his fiancée but is called back to participate in a rescue mission. How can he refuse when the girl in question ...
Advantages: Great directing, great action stunts, good story, great acting. Disadvantages: None!
Another excellent film that I have recently purchased on DVD, is MissionImpossible 2. Not only is it a great action movie, reminding me sometimes of other great movies, like The Matrix and James Bond, but it has a fairly good storyline, as well as a bit of lovey dovey stuff.
Tom Cruise is back playing Ethan Hunt, our MissionImpossible hero. Sequels are so much better when the original star is cast.
So what’s the impossiblemission this time?
Doctor Nekhorvich (played by Rade Serbedzija), has found out that the company he works for, Biocyte, has developed a lethal form of influenza known as Chimera. They have also developed a cure for this (Bellerophon), and Doctor Nekhorvich learns that they plan to release Chimera into the population so that they can make huge profits on the cure, Bellerophon.
He informs the head ...
"...A Rubik's cube that keeps on twisting..." -- Rating: B (Entertainment Weekly, p.44, 07/06/1996)
"...MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE is an explosion of pleasures..." (Sight and Sound, p.46-8, 01/07/1996)
"...Stylish, brisk..." -- 3 out of 4 stars (USA Today, p.1D, 22/05/1996)
"...Cruise tackles the action genre even more convincingly than he did in TOP GUN....And he looks great, too..." (Variety, 20/05/1996)
DVD Description
Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, leader of a crack squad of intelligence operatives, in this labyrinthine action-thriller based on the hit 1960s-'70s television series. When a dangerous mission in Prague goes inexplicably wrong, Hunt finds himself out in the cold. A mole has infiltrated the CIA, and suspicions are that it's Hunt. His only chance: Find out who the real mole is and turn the tables. The plan takes him on an incredibly suspenseful infiltration of CIA security, leading to a spectacular chunnel climax that would make Hitchcock proud. Thanks to crisp, inventive direction from Brian De Palma and Danny Elfman's dynamite electronica score (including a catchy update of the original Lalo Schifrin theme), this mission is great fun. The talented roster of stars backing Cruise includes Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, John Voight, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jean Reno. A witty script by Robert Towne (CHINATOWN, SHAMPOO) and David Koepp keeps the ball rolling in unexpected directions, with the paranoia always set to high. A box-office record-setter during its original release, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE led to a well-deserved sequel, also with Cruise and Rhames.
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