“Relax Luther, it’s much worse than you think.”

Justin’s rating: Today I learned that the CIA invests in the largest air ducts known to man

Justin’s review: Three ’90s factors converged powerfully into 1996’s Mission Impossible: The streak of adapting Boomer shows from the ’60s into modern day movies, Tom Cruise’s unstoppable star power, and a weird trend of trying to come up with cutsie abbreviations for movie names.*

Mission: Impossible wasn’t going to be swept under the carpet by any means. It was a huge summer blockbuster that kicked off an even bigger franchise. But what’s always struck me is that the original is in a league of its own, as John Woo and JJ Abrams planted their own distinctive spin on the series. But this one was Brian De Palma bringing some class to a popcorn spy thriller, and that’s something worth revisiting.

The film starts in the vein of the two TV series (’60s and ’80s, respectively), with the IMF team working as a jokey group to pull off an important caper. But it all goes horribly wrong as most of the team is killed, the survivors are betrayed, and this becomes the Tom Cruise Solo Show for a while.

To clear his name, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) forms a new team of spies to help him steal and/or protect a NOC list — that’s the list of undercover agents and their secret names. This is what leads the film into its most iconic sequence, that of the theft from the secure CIA computer room at Langley. You know the one, where Cruise gets lowered out of the ceiling on Peter Pan wires and then a few hundred homages follow in the decade to come.

It’s a fine enough movie, although I agree with the sentiment that the concept needed a good retooling by the third installment, and this ultimately made the franchise far better. De Palma is an old fashioned director with a lot of skill, camera quirks, and a tendency to bring in complexity to what could’ve been a mindless blockbuster.

When I rewatched this, I found that it still grated how quickly this adaptation about a full team of agents gets whittled down to focus on Cruise. That’s a pure ego move, and it’s a pity that it didn’t embrace the ensemble. I mean, sure, he gets other team members, but this film doesn’t let you forget who’s giant head is on the poster.

But we do get some fun moments, Tom Cruise running like a hamster escaping from his cage, plenty of gadgets, and the origin of the new IMF team in Ving Rhames. It’s older and quaint, especially compared to the remainder of the series, but it’s a likable enough watch with that mid-90s style.

*When we got to M:I-2, I officially tapped out and surrendered to the abbreviation insanity.

Intermission!

• One fun thing to notice is that De Palma created a different lighting scheme and visual style for each of the three acts and settings for the movie
• Emilio Estevez with a beard. Enjoy it, friends. He doesn’t even get an official credit in this movie.
• Apparently, this is the only Mission Impossible movie where the fake rubber masks are done completely practically and not with CGI
• That airplane has so much leg room. I can’t get over the leg room. And a teeny tiny TV screen! And smoking on a flight!
• Why doesn’t that gum explode with the two halves already touching?
• That’s such a bad old man mask for Cruise, it’s not convincing in the least
• Oh, so this is one of the elevators with deadly spike traps at the top
• The aquarium restaurant still looks both cool and silly in old Prague
• “Kitridge, you’ve never seen me upset.”
• I guess when you explode that much water, you’re going to do it in slow-motion to make sure everyone appreciates it
• Usenet groups! ZIP drives! Trackball mice! The ’90s remembers those.
• Artificial intelligence wrist chip! I think the movie is talking out of its butt here.
• That Black Vault is awfully white
• That “We’re going to do it” and the M:I song kicks in is a great moment
• Wearing a red dress like that is not very inconspicuous