Mission: Impossible (1996)

May 22, 1996

May 22, 1996

Mission: Impossible is a 1996 American action spy film directed by Brian De Palma and produced by and starring Tom Cruise from a screenplay by David Koepp and Robert Towne and story by Koepp and Steven Zaillian. A continuation of the 1966 television series of the same name and its 1988 sequel series (canonically set six years after the latter), it is the first installment in the Mission: Impossible film series. It also stars Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jean Reno. In the film, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) seeks to uncover who framed him for the murders of most of his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team.

Numerous efforts by Paramount Pictures to create a film adaptation of the television series stalled until Cruise founded Cruise/Wagner Productions and decided on Mission: Impossible as its inaugural project. Development initially began with filmmaker Sydney Pollack but most of the final screenplay was complete after De Palma, Steven Zaillian, David Koepp, and Robert Towne were hired; De Palma also designed most of the action sequences, while Cruise did most of his own stunts. Principal photography began in March 1995 and lasted until that August, with filming locations including London, Pinewood Studios in England, and Prague (a rarity in Hollywood at the time).

Mission: Impossible was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount on May 22, 1996. The film received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, with praise for the action sequences, De Palma's direction and Cruise's performance but criticism for the convoluted plot; cast members of the original television series negatively received the film. The film grossed $457.7 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1996, while the dance rendition of the original theme song by Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton became a top-ten hit internationally and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. The film's success led to a long-running film franchise, beginning with Mission: Impossible 2, released four years later in 2000.

Storyline

After finishing a mission in Kiev, IMF agent Jim Phelps and his latest team are sent to Prague to stop rogue agent Alexander Golitsyn from stealing the CIA's NOC (non-official cover) list, which reveals the identities of all their undercover agents in Europe. However, the list is stolen, and the team is killed one by one, along with Golitsyn, leaving Phelps' pointman Ethan Hunt the only survivor.

During a debriefing with IMF director Eugene Kittridge in a restaurant, Ethan learns that another IMF team was present during the mission and that the operation was a setup to lure out a mole within the IMF with the help of Golitsyn, who was posing as the rogue agent. The mole is believed to be working with an arms dealer named "Max" as part of "Job 314". Realizing that Kittridge suspects he is the mole, Ethan escapes, using a plastic explosive disguised as chewing gum.

After returning to the Prague safe house, Ethan realizes "Job 314" actually refers to Bible verse Job 3:14, with "Job" being the mole's code name. Phelps's wife Claire, who faked her death during the mission, arrives and explains that before his death, Phelps warned her that they were compromised, which enabled her escape. Ethan arranges a meeting with Max to warn her that her NOC list is fake and that it is equipped with a tracking device. Despite Max's initial skepticism, they escape a raid by Kittridge's team. Ethan convinces Max that he can obtain the actual NOC list for $10 million and Job's true identity.

Ethan and Claire recruit two disavowed IMF agents, hacker Luther Stickell and helicopter pilot Franz Krieger. They infiltrate CIA headquarters in Langley, steal the authentic list, and escape to London. Krieger takes the magneto-optical disk containing the list, but Ethan tricks him into giving it up before giving it to Stickell for safekeeping. Kittridge has Ethan's mother and uncle falsely arrested to lure Ethan out. After learning about the arrests, Ethan contacts Kittridge from a payphone, intentionally allowing the IMF to trace the call. Phelps resurfaces unexpectedly, recounts surviving the shooting, and tells Ethan that Kittridge is the mole. However, Ethan has already realized that Phelps is the mole after discovering that the Bible he used in Prague was taken from Chicago's Drake Hotel, where Phelps was stationed on a previous assignment. Ethan pretends to believe Phelps and arranges to exchange the list with Max aboard the TGV train to Paris, secretly inviting Kittridge to the meeting.

On the train, Ethan directs Max to the list, and she sends him to the baggage car where the money and Job are located. Meanwhile, Stickell sabotages Max's upload of the list to her servers. Claire goes to the car to collect her share of the money from Phelps but realizes he is Ethan in disguise. When the real Phelps arrives and takes the money at gunpoint, Ethan sends a live video of the confrontation to Kittridge, exposing Phelps as the mole. Claire tries reasoning with her husband, but Phelps kills her and subdues Ethan. Phelps climbs to the train's roof and attempts to flee with Krieger in a helicopter using a rope, but Ethan hooks it onto the train, forcing the helicopter into the Channel Tunnel. He uses another piece of explosive to destroy the chopper, killing Phelps and Krieger. Kittridge takes Max into custody and recovers the NOC list from Stickell. As he and Stickell are reinstated in the IMF, Ethan is unsure about returning to the team. On the flight home, an attendant approaches him and covertly offers him the chance to take on a new mission as team leader.

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