Mission: Impossible (1996) is one of those films I thought I’d watched long ago. However, when I sat down to see it at the weekend, I realised I may have thought I’d seen it, when all I’d experienced many times over the years was the image of Tom Cruise at the end of a wire in the film’s most iconic scene.
It’s no wonder the Mission: Impossible Franchise has 7 more films after the first 1996 instalment starring Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jon Voight and Emmanuelle Béart. It is an impressive action/thriller after all. One that follows Ethan Hunt (Cruise), an American agent falsely suspected of disloyalty. Naturally, Hunt immediately gets to work to expose the real traitorous entity.
In addition to that X factor that Cruise, especially, and his talented castmates bring to the film – Vanessa Redgrave being a particular highlight, the stunts and action in director Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible are the most memorable events of the movie. the kind of feats that have no doubt inspired many action/thriller filmmakers to raise their game.
Truth be told, I took a break from the Mission: Impossible franchise after Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2015), because I didn’t fully love that instalment.
Now, however, I’m ready to get back into it again. I’m picking it up from Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023). I hear that part 2 (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) is worth it, and I’d hate to miss out.
How big of an M:I fan are you? I hear that spinoffs and sequels may come without Cruise in the lead role. Whoever gets the part will surely have plenty to live up to.
Happy Film Loving,
G
The Movie My Life 
As a Tom Fan, I’m naturally an M: I fan too. My favorite is the first one that Rebecca Ferguson was in.
I also love the intro of Ferguson’s character. I look forward to rewatching that one
I liked the franchise from the get go, but I’m not sure if I’ve seen more than once just the first two or three films. I’m yet to watch the last one. The last 3 or 4 really up the ante with the stunts. In general I can say I enjoyed more or less all of them. Similar to Bond franchise to which I have a stronger nostalgic connection since I started to watch it with my father in the cinema at a very young age.
I’m the same; Bond has the biggest piece of my heart. Largely thanks to the Daniel Craig era.
I started with Roger Moore who imprinted himself on me as Bond. Pierce Brosnan felt like he looks most like the character I imagined. I only read passages from the books, so I can’t comment from my own experience but supposedly Dalton looks closest to the Bond described by Fleming. Craig is of course the quintessential modern Bond.
Moore and Brosnan are the most lighthearted interpretations, while Craig and Connery are more serious. Moore evokes my childhood, Dalton and Brosnan conjure nostalgia for my teenage years. So it depends on the mood I am. I like them all.
A true Bond fan, you are! 🤓🥂
For me, Craig, Moore, then Connery. Sad to say that Brosnan made me give up on Bond, and Craig was the answer to my prayers.
I don’t disagree with most criticism (Brosnan’s movie got too silly towards the end), but I learned to love them all for their own reasons, as they represent their own era of Bond.