Mission: Impossible (movie)
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Template:Infobox Movie Mission: Impossible (1996) is the first film based on the television series Mission: Impossible. It was directed by Brian De Palma and starred Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. The film was the third highest grossing film of the year.
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Plot summary
Ethan Hunt, the point man in Jim Phelps' team of IMF agents, is framed for attempting to steal and sell the CIA "NOC" list to an arms dealer named "Max". The NOC list is a list of every IMF agent, their codenames and their real names.
Filming locations include: Prague, London, and the United Kingdom.
Cast and characters
- Tom Cruise — Ethan Hunt
- Jon Voight — Jim Phelps
- Ving Rhames — Luther Stickell
- Jean Reno — Franz Krieger
- Emmanuelle Bιart — Claire Phelps
- Henry Czerny — Eugene Kittridge
- Vanessa Redgrave — Max
Crew
- Directed by: Brian De Palma
- Written by: David Koepp, Steven Zaillian
- Produced by: Paul Hitchcock , Tom Cruise
- Composed by: Danny Elfman
Reaction
Although the film ranked the third highest in box office gross for the year, the film was criticized for being unfaithful to the original television series Mission: Impossible by focusing on star Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt rather than emphasizing teamwork. At the same time the film made the central character of the television series, Jim Phelps, a traitor in the CIA. The script was also criticized for being too complicated, a twist on the usual complaints that summer blockbusters are too lowbrow. To the film's credit though, it was regarded as much more faithful than its sequel Mission: Impossible II.
Trivia
- The movie prominently features 230 MB magneto-optical discs, curiously named diskettes, maybe a product placement.
- The heist scene seems to be a reference to both Topkapi and 2001: A Space Odyssey movies.
- Peter Graves, who played Jim Phelps in the original series, declined to reprise his role in the movie after learning his character was to die at the film's conclusion.