Review of Mission: Impossible (1996) by Xavier C — 06 Mar 2015

I expected a little more world-building in this movie. This has become a rather large franchise, soon to span 5 installments, so it surprised me to have the lore not being fleshed out at all. There's a team of people who seem like they have an extensive history together, and then they're all gone by the end of the movie except for Cruise's character. I never got to know them for real. It didn't talk about what the IMF is, what they do, how it started, or the backstories for characters. I wouldn't even know what the acronym stood for if I hadn't already seen Ghost Protocol. Maybe since it was based on earlier source material, they did not feel the need to talk about it.

Entertainment wise, this was okay. It has nice spy movie elements, nice acting, and a plot that kept me relatively invested. The special effects are quite dated by current standards. I would have liked to see some good action, but there isn't really any. I can't find anything to make this stand out from other spy movies. The most memorable thing was the theme; it's awesome, and I had a smile on my face whenever it came on.