After watching “Mission: Impossible II” (2000) in theaters soon after its release date of May 24, 2000, I decided not to see anymore then promised to return once the franchise was on its last film. Time to pay the piper and (re)watch the existing entire franchise, seven movies, before “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (2025) is released on May 23, 2025 (or more specifically before my screening on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. First, “A Minecraft Movie” (2025) and now this! What I do for the love of the game! I’m probably the only person not into this franchise.
“Mission: Impossible” (1996) is the first of eight movies that reboot the television series. When most of an Impossible Missions Force (“IMF”) team gets killed, a survivor, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), gets accused of trying to sell a list of N.O.C. (Non-Official Cover) agents who work for of the CIA. Ethan makes it his mission to find out who betrayed them and framed him with the help of fellow survivor, Claire (Emmanuelle Béart). I remember not enjoying anything about this movie except for Vanessa Redgrave, and twenty-five years later, my opinion has not changed.
“Mission: Impossible” has not aged well. Because I came to the movie expecting more of an ensemble work, not the usual Tom Cruise action flick, I was disappointed. Other than Ethan, the opening team consisted of team head, Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), tech guy, Jack Harmon (an uncredited Emilio Estevez), and undercover agents: Jim’s wife, Claire, Sarah Davies (Kristin Scott Thomas), Hannah Williams (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), who has two lines, which is more than Taskmaster got in “Thunderbolts*” (2025). The women agents are unbearably physically helpless, and it feels as if at least Thomas should sue for wasting her time. Voight plays a double agent and is laughably absurd in the physical showdown against Cruise. Estevez was arguably more or as interesting as Cruise, so it is a shame that they did not have more time to play off each other. Estevez and Cruise had solid young buck chemistry, and Ethan is a one-note, humorless character so that banter was sorely missed. Considering that Estevez and Cruise’s relationship goes back to their first appearance together in “The Outsiders” (1983), it is not a surprise that they work well together.
Claire stood out as an old-fashioned, heavy-handed archetypical character—the whore, and it felt tacked on. It was one of the reasons that I stopped watching the franchise because the stories had a prurient fascination with women spies willingness to have sex to achieve their goals when it did not have to be a plot point or treated as if the woman lead should be ashamed of her choices. “Mission: Impossible” laid on the attraction between Ethan and Claire from the beginning, but it was all unnecessary subtext, especially since Ethan did not seem tempted at all. Meanwhile they still go through the motions with Ethan confronting Claire by doing a boob body search, holding her close and tossing her on a bed. These scenes should be overflowing with pent up heat, but is just awkward. The chemistry between the two actors is nonexistent, but to be fair, Béart is the weakest actor in the entire movie and just a pretty face. If a pretty woman is going to be dull, she needs to be prettier. To be fair, it is not a good movie so maybe Béart is not a bad actor. I did enjoy her other films, “L’Enfer” (1994) and “Nathalie…” (2004).
Including Claire, Ethan assembles a team of disavowed former agents to get the NOC list as bait to lure out the mole in in the second half of “Mission: Impossible.” This team includes Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) and tech expert, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames). Reno, who is an icon as the titular character in “Leon: The Professional” (1994) is given a thankless role. Franz is a duplicitous, incompetent and sadistic individual who favors switchblades, and let’s hope Reno got paid favorably. He almost feels as if he would fit in better in a James Bond flick as one of the villains’ henchmen. Meanwhile Rhames ended up getting job security so no notes.
Cruise is a solid actor, but as Ethan in “Mission: Impossible” is one of his weakest roles. For a seasoned spy, he gets hysterical quickly, and his array of accents are only slightly less ridiculous than Kenneth Branagh’s in any film where he does not use his natural accent. The silicon mask work is better in “Tropic Thunder” (2008). With his farming background, Ethan is James Bond meets Clark Kent without the swag, powers or sex. Yes, Cruise does his own stunts, but if Catherine Zeta-Jones was cast as a gender-bender Ethan a la “Entrapment” (1999), it would have been less of a snoozefest.
“Mission: Impossible” is a boring movie. We are supposed to be invested in Ethan because he is wrongly accused and theoretically worried that American spies will become exposed and killed, but it is easy to forget considering a whole slew of spies were already killed. So, their day would only get moderately worse. The technology is so dated. One word: payphone. The soundtrack is so loud and obnoxious. My kingdom for a selective mute button. Danny Elfman has made many of my favorite soundtracks so if the master has a bad day, it is quite alright.
Director Brian De Palma is the only one who emerges unscathed. He is making a movie through the lens of spy craft as fictional filmmaking: what is real and what is not. The team is like a more sedate team of theater kids playing dress up, setting up scenes, knowing how to exit a scene. When the mole betrays the team, he orchestrates his dramatic death. They get their mission on flights requesting an in-flight movie. The best scene is when the mole and Ethan debrief about what happened on the team’s fateful night, and the onscreen image shows what Ethan is thinking contrasted with what he is saying to convince the mole that Ethan suspects nothing. It is the best sequence in “Mission: Impossible.” The safe room looks good but did nothing for me.
The best actor in “Mission: Impossible” is Redgrave. She seemed like the only professional in a movie filled with screwups. As Max Mitsopolis, the person who wants to buy the NOC list, Redgrave seems as if her pulse is relaxed, and she is having fun. She also looks terrific doing it! In her final scene, she feels as if she is in charge, not the IMF director, Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), and if wishes would come true, she will resurface in a latter entry in the franchise.
If anyone but Cruise was behind “Mission: Impossible” and in front the camera, there would be no sequels. It was not a good movie so it only could improve over time. Favorite Cruise films for context (not in a particular order or an exhaustive list): “Interview with the Vampire” (1994), “Magnolia” (1999), “Collateral” (2004) and “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014). To be fair, I tend to stay away from spending money on anyone who owns an island (among other reasons), but he is entertaining.
