After PULP FICTION maybe the pop masterpiece of the 90s? Probably hyperbole, but minutes after my umpteenth viewing it's the truth.

94/100

Mission: Impossible is delightfully cheesy, aged to perfection and surrounded by the meatiest strip of bacon ever crafted. It's a tasty and junky blast, from the first frame to the last. Brian De Palma has always been known for his sensual and gleefully silly ventures, all of which possess immaculate form and content. but this is easily his most delicious in regards to spookiness. The set-pieces here are just magnificent, relishing in flawless camerawork and ingenious pacing, and it's all enhanced by Danny Elfman's peerless score. In spite of its commitment to tone, De Palma's film also has a rat complicating things and dangerous chewing gum. Fun, fun, and fun.

I want Brian De Palma to direct my life.

94

Still the gold standard of auteur-franchise-fuckery. De Palma lays out all the traditional crayons and colors inside the lines, yet it still plays like one great big con-job. The *classic* opening, literally dividing its space and revealing itself as a movie-set, is only the beginning of how De Palma constantly expands and constricts his canvas. Shooting wide and large, in the case of the final train/helicopter action set-piece (which is still an all-timer), and shrinking a 'light-bulb' revelation to nothing more than conjoined edits and alternate viewpoints find common ground in his delicious zooms, ghostly steadicam, and operatic tendencies. The looming fog, traveling gazes, and canted angles are right out of early-British-period Hitchcock and Film Noir, but there's a few additions such as exploding chewing gum, floppy-disc-drives, and (gasp!) email. So assured it'll re-wire the brain.

I

"One, two, three, toast, TOAST!"

Haven't seen this movie in probably close to a decade. As much as I enjoy the later entries in the series (and probably prefer them, too) each film increasingly seems to forget that they're a spy movie and just focus on creating exhilarating action set-pieces (which isn't inherently a bad thing at all) but there's just something nice about this first movie that the later films in the series kind of seem to lack.

I’d love this movie so much more if it wasn’t for the last fight.

I'll always hate the climax. Y'all wasted Jean Reno.

Surprisingly little action for a Mission Impossible movie. It has good characters but the plot is quite difficult to follow.

Basically a post-Cold War version of “The 39 Steps” with some phenomenal stunts and two incredible action set pieces (the Langley heist and the train fight).

What if Hitchcock, but modern?

Never seen the Mission Impossible Films before so I thought I’d give them all a try. 

First one under the belt and it’s pretty naff but entertaining. The heist scene on the wire was fantastic but other than that it’s pretty shoddy and dated but not awful. It’s fine.