Mission Impossible (Blu-ray) (1996)

"Exciting, smart and enormously enjoyable.  Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
"Enormous fun.  Mark Salisbury, Empire
"...[the] wildest ride of the year!  Stephan Holden, The New York Times

Editor's Note Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, leader of a crack squad of intelligence operatives, in this labyrinthine action-thriller based on the hit 1960s-'70s television series. When a dangerous mission in Prague goes inexplicably wrong, Hunt finds himself out in the cold. A mole has infiltrated the CIA, and suspicions are that it's Hunt. His only chance: Find out who the real mole is and turn the tables. The plan takes him on an incredibly suspenseful infiltration of CIA security, leading to a spectacular chunnel climax that would make Hitchcock proud. Thanks to crisp, inventive direction from Brian De Palma and Danny Elfman's dynamite electronica score (including a catchy update of the original Lalo Schifrin theme), this mission is great fun. The talented roster of stars backing Cruise includes Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, John Voight, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jean Reno. A witty script by Robert Towne (CHINATOWN, SHAMPOO) and David Koepp keeps the ball rolling in unexpected directions, with the paranoia always set to high. A box-office record-setter during its original release, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE led to a well-deserved sequel, also with Cruise and Rhames.

	Emmanuelle Beart
	Henry Czerny
	Jean Reno
	Jon Voight
	Kristin Scott Thomas
	Tom Cruise
	Vanessa Redgrave
	Ving Rhames
	Brian De Palma - Director
	Bruce Geller - Based On Television Series Created By
	Danny Elfman - Original Music By
	David Koepp - Screenplay
	Norman Reynolds - Production Designer
	Paul Hirsch - Editor
	Paul Hitchcock - Executive Producer
	Robert Towne - Screenplay
	Stephen H. Burum - Cinematographer
	Tom Cruise - Producer

The Impossible Mission Force is called into action and then into question in this thriller based on the hit television series. Big-budget special effects and action sequences propel the complex story, as does the unmistakable musical score. Sight and Sound
"...MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE is an explosion of pleasures..." 07/01/1996 p.46-8

USA Today
"...Stylish, brisk..." -- 3 out of 4 stars 05/22/1996 p.1D

Entertainment Weekly
"...A Rubik's cube that keeps on twisting..." -- Rating: B 06/07/1996 p.44

Variety
"...Cruise tackles the action genre even more convincingly than he did in TOP GUN....And he looks great, too..." 05/20/1996

New York Times
"...A sleek, whooshingly entertaining update of the vintage television series....MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE catapults you into the wildest movie ride of the year..." 05/22/1996 p.C13

Los Angeles Times
"...MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE has lots going for it -- a charismatic star in Tom Cruise, Brian De Palma's sleek, elegant direction, a first-rate cast, a superb suspense sequence, lots of action capped by a breathtaking stunt at the climax..." 05/21/1996 p.F1

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "Jacking his own paranoid angst into this slicked-up spy thriller, Brian De Palma maxes suspense and style to cut the template for post-Bond techno-blockbusters." 07/01/2006 p.127

DVD Verdict 9 of 10
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to revitalize Paramount's Mission: Impossible franchise. Your first task is to re-release the first film of the series on the recently-introduced high definition DVD formats. As you may recall, this picture was a highly-fictionalized version of our IMF operations, concerning a fictional IMF agent named Ethan Hunt, played by popular actor Tom Cruise, and his quest to clear himself of charges of treason...To refresh your memory, the other available agents for this mission were French hunk Jean Reno, American medieval-on-their-asses-getter Ving Rhames, English famous-family-member Vanessa Redgrave, and French actress Emmanuelle Beart...To best execute this plan, you will be required to infiltrate various media outlets, especially those specializing in the review of DVDs, in order to increase the awareness of this product. - David Ryan

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
This is a movie that exists in the instant, and we must exist in the instant to enjoy it. Any troubling questions from earlier in the film must be firmly repressed...Of course it's convenient that the decibel level is set high enough that it isn't triggered by the noise of a computer copying a disc -- which is precisely what it should be guarding against. Convenient, too, that the infra-red rays guarding the ceiling hatch can be so conveniently dealt with. And very convenient for the audience that the rays are madevisible to a normal eye...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