Mission: Impossible

1996 Action/Adventure

After he is framed for the death of several colleagues and falsely branded a traitor, a secret agent embarks on a daring scheme to clear his name in this spy adventure. Though it drew its name from the familiar television series, director Brian DePalma's big-budget adaptation shares little more with the original show than the occasional self-destructing message and the name of team leader Jim Phelps (Jon Voight). The film focuses not on Phelps but his protégé, Ethan Hunt (a reserved Tom Cruise), who becomes a fugitive after taking the blame for a botched operation. He responds by banding together with a group of fellow renegades, and he is soon maneuvering his way through a twisted series of double crosses that mainly serve as excuses for spectacular high-tech action sequences. Much of the activity revolves around a missing computer disk, with the film's most famous scene depicting Hunt's delicate efforts to retrieve the disk from a secure, well-alarmed room in CIA headquarters. more..

Director: Brian De Palma

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Beart, Jean Reno

Reviews

  • Enormous fun.

    - Empire

    26 April 2013

  • Director Brian De Palma is having too much fun zipping around curves and hitting the accelerator to slow down. He's a supremely confident engineer, and if you're game enough to make a jump for it and hold on, he offers the giddy excitement of watching the ground rush by beneath your dangling feet.

    Charles Taylor - Salon.com

    26 April 2013

  • The bottom line on a film like this is, Tom Cruise looks cool and holds our attention while doing neat things that we don't quite understand--doing them so quickly and with so much style that we put our questions on hold, and go with the flow.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • It's a movie of profoundly convoluted pop pleasures. Between dazzling suspense sequences, it invites the audience to work for a good time.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • Stylish, brisk but lacking in human dimension despite an attractive cast.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1997)

     
  • Best Foreign Language Film

    Awards of the Japanese Academy (1997)

     
  • Danny Elfman

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1997)

  • Golden Screen, Germany (1996)

  • Favorite Movie Actor

    Kids' Choice Awards (1997)