Mission: Impossible (1996)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers (WGA):

Bruce Geller (television series)
David Koepp (story) ...

Release Date:

22 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Expect the Impossible

Plot:

An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.

Plot Keywords:

Mission | Spy | Stealing | Traitor | Espionage

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Tom Cruise	...	Ethan Hunt
Jon Voight	...	Jim Phelps
Emmanuelle Béart	...	Claire Phelps (as Emmanuelle Beart)
Henry Czerny	...	Eugene Kittridge
Jean Reno	...	Franz Krieger
Ving Rhames	...	Luther Stickell
Kristin Scott Thomas	...	Sarah Davies (as Kristin Scott-Thomas)
Vanessa Redgrave	...	Max
Dale Dye	...	Frank Barnes
Marcel Iures	...	Alexander Golitsyn
Ion Caramitru	...	Zozimov
Ingeborga Dapkunaite	...	Hannah Williams
Valentina Yakunina	...	Drunken Female IMF Agent
Marek Vasut	...	Drunken Male IMF Agent
Nathan Osgood	...	Kittridge Technician

Also Known As:

Mission Impossible
Misión imposible (Argentina) (Peru) [es]
Missão Impossível (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Mission: Impossible (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Mission: Impossible (Austria) (Germany) [de]
лХЯЯХЪ мЕБШОНКМХЛЮ (Russia) [ru]
Epikindyni apostoli (Greece) [el]
Görevimiz tehlike (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Misija - Nemogoce (Slovenia) [sl]
Missió: Impossible (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Mission Impossible: misión imposible (Spain) [es]
Mission: Impossible (Slovakia) [sk]
Mission: Impossible (Czech Republic) [cs]
Mission: Impossible (Denmark) [da]
Mission: Impossible (Italy) [it]
Nemoguca misija (Serbia) [sr]
Vaarallinen tehtävä (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some intense action violence.

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:PG | Malaysia:18SG | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:M | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

When Jim Phelps is getting his mission on the airplane, his team is shown one by one. In the dossiers there are aliases. The aliases are as follows: for Jack Harmon (Emilio Estevez), his alias is "Tony Baretta" (the character from the cop show "Baretta" (1975). For Sarah Davies ('Kristin Scott-Thomas'), her alias is "'Sarah Walker'", Hannah Williams' (Ingeborga Dapkunaite) alias is Pauline Brady, and Ethan Hunt's (Tom Cruise) alias is Phillipe Douchette.

Goofs:

Continuity: Krieger throws a disk in the trash really hard and you can see a piece break off. When Ethan recovers it, it is good as new.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Flight Attendant: Excuse me. Mr. Hunt? Would you like to watch a movie?
Ethan Hunt: Oh, uh, no thank you.
Flight Attendant: Would you consider the cinema of the Caribbean? Aruba, perhaps?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Schnitzelparadijs - De serie: Ali Goes to Bollywood (#1.6)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Divertimento in E-Flat Major for String Trio (K.563)

A tense thriller that is not (despite popular belief) impossible to follow.

I would like to reiterate what "Anonymous of Derby, England" said about this film (20th November). The fact that so many people have complained that they "didn't get it" is proof that our brains are being atrophied by so many movies that do all our thinking for us. I had no trouble in following the plot and found the fact that I actually had to concentrate and think things through quite refreshing. Okay, so a lot of the stunts were a bit far fetched but what does it matter when they were so entertaining? After all, it is only a movie; nobody expects us to believe that these things could really happen any more than they expect us to believe that King Kong really existed or that there's a Volcano ready to errupt in L.A. Besides, with the inspired casting of David Schneider as the train driver, Brian de Palma must have had his tongue in his cheek for at least some of the time. He's created a masterful boy's own adventure story, an original "ripping yarn" and that brilliant comic touch added to this perfectly.

"Mission Impossible" is a visual and cerebral treat. Tom Cruise is excellent as Ethan, Vanessa Redgrave makes a superb villian and Jean Reno is watchable in ANYTHING he does. The only weak link is Emmanuelle Beart, who did a good job of looking beautiful but very little else. What a shame Kristin Scott Thomas couldn't have taken a more central role; she makes the gorgeous but bland Beart look like a waste of space.

I give this 8 out of ten and it would have been more if it wasn't for Beart's character.