‘Mission: Impossible’: THR’s 1996 Review

On May 22, 1996, Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise unveiled the big screen adaptation of Mission: Impossible, which would go on to gross $180 million and kickstart a feature franchise. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

The fuse is burning throughout the big-screen reworking of the cloak-and-dagger TV show Mission: Impossible, but apart from the wham-bam conclusion, there’s a disappointing lack of fireworks in this hotly anticipated production.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

• 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl': THR's 2003 Review

• 'Dallas': THR's 1978 Review

• 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi': THR's 1983 Review

An upsy-daisy download takes place as Tom Cruise invades the CIA. The Paramount release will open huge and download gigabucks worldwide. However, tepid word-of-mouth will knock it off the must-see list of many movie goers.

The first production by high-rolling star Tom Cruise and his partner and former agent Paula Wagner, Brian De Palma’s dour and only fitfully entertaining techno-thriller teases one with some of the original show’s team espionage spirit, but overall takes itself too seriously. Set mainly in European cities, with several strong actors underutilized, if nothing else Mission: Impossible is a laptop computer owner’s equivalent of Bullitt (in which Steve McQueen floored his Mustang through the hills of San Francisco).

Secretaries, receptionists, temps and those who wear glasses will also be thrilled to see the fondness with which headsets, spectacles and key boards are utilized by the characters. Caught in the glitchy realm between the all-out fantasy of the Bond films and such believable spy dramas as Three Days of the Condor, Mission: Impossible is gadget-crazy to the point where some elaborate sequences are all but incomprehensible. A good, old-fashioned car chase wouldn’t have hurt.

With such heavy-hitters as Steven Zaillian, David Koepp and Robert Towne fashioning the screenplay, the dreary script and half-baked characters are the real shockers. Combined with weak casting in several crucial supporting roles, the revenge-and-redemption motivation keeps the hero alive as he goes to great lengths to track down a “mole” (or traitor) threatening to shake up the CIA’s post-Cold War operations in Eastern Europe.

From the lackluster opening sequence introducing Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his covert team to their very next mission, which ends badly for several members, Mission: Impossible starts off on shaky ground and never quite rights itself. Of the two prominent female characters, the more intriguing one played by Kristin Scott-Thomas departs the picture early.

Alas, in the romantic back-up role French star Emmanuelle Beart (Manon des Sources) plays a character that frequently makes no sense, starting with the fact she’s the wife of Ethan’s boss. That would be IMF veteran Jim Phelps, the one familiar character name from the TV show. But underplayed glumly by Jon Voight, this Phelps is a spook-on-the-loose who dies, comes back in a nightmare to extend a bloody hand at the guilt-plagued Ethan, and is otherwise disenchanted with his career.

Hence, all the furor concerning a pair of computer files matching codes names with the real names of CIA covert operators. When Ethan is accused by a Company honcho (Henry Czerny) of being the mole, he escapes and sets out to find the mysterious Max, who was the seller of one of the pilfered files. Providing some desperately needed elegance and humor with her unexpectedly warm performance, Vanessa Red grave is super as Max.

Another major supporting player who helps salvage the Aim’s latter half is Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) as a hacker who helps Ethan break into CIA headquarters at Langley, Va. This midfilm sequence, entailing Ethan’s hanging by a tether in a supposedly intruder-proof room (in one of the most closely guarded buildings in the world), provides a few tense moments and the film’s biggest laughs at the expense of a puking governmental type and a rat (momentarily a candidate for the elusive mole).

The presence of Jean Reno (The Professional) as another hastily recruited team member, however, is distracting. The fine actor is no match (no one is in this film) for the erratic whirlwind that is Tom Cruise, whose character has no life to speak of beyond his role as crack IMF point-man. Fans of Cruise will not be completely disappointed, but beyond its of yelling and awkward attempts at comic relief, the actor is the sputtering fuse in a film that finally explodes for the crowd-pleasing climax on a high-speed train.

Ultimately, the fact that one cares little for the characters makes wading through the technoflauge to root for them an all but impossible task. De Palma uses his usual array of skewed camera angles — and the film is excellently shot in wide screen by Stephen H. Burum — but the most charged-up moments occur in the transitions, when Lalo Schifrin’s great theme music is blasted on the soundtrack in new orchestrations by composer Danny Elfman. — David Hunter, originally published on May 21, 1996

Best of The Hollywood Reporter

• Natalie Portman at Cannes: "I Need to Leave the Drama for the Screen"

• Diane Keaton: "You’re Gonna Pray to Get Off This Call"

• Ailing ‘Superman’ Star Valerie Perrine Finally Finds Her Hero: "The Guy Should Be Sainted"

Click here to read the full article.