Mission: Impossible

Dir: Brian De Palma

1996

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The original TV series Mission: Impossible ran from 1966 - 1973 and had a brief revival from 1988 - 1990 when it was brought back by the studios using reworked scripts that never saw the light of day from the original series due to a screenwriters strike taking place at the time. The original series had a few reoccurring characters but only two that lasted the entire seven seasons. The idea behind the IMF was that it was a secret team made up of people with various skill-sets that would overturn dictators, crime lords and generally evil bad guys. New characters were picked occasionally but regular groups settled throughout the seasons. Some of these characters were played by actors of such calibre as of Sam Elliott, Leonard Nimoy, Barbara Bain and Martin Landau who would play spies with talents such as mechanical and electronical knowledge, weight-lifting, acting, make-up and modelling. It is safe to say imagination was needed to enjoy the show but it was lots of fun and it had a big fan following. The 1980s incarnation was slap-dash and didn't bring anything new to the idea. The formulaic episode structure of the original series was largely copied, unsurprising as it used old scripts but occasionally the formula would be broken and a major character would be killed off. Anyone who has seen the revived TV show will forgive Tom Cruise of any changes made in his films from the original. In fact, the 1996 big screen adaptation keeps many of the core ideas. There is a big element of disguise that played a big part in the original, each member has their own skill-set and is chosen accordingly and further agents are hired when needed. Both the 80's show and the 1996 film feature the same original team member. While the 80's show stars original series actor Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, who was a regular from season two until the show's cancellation, the film stars Jon Voight instead. Brian De Palma's all action espionage thriller doesn't ever really connect with the two previous Mission: Impossibles but they could still be linked, it's up to the views discretion in many respects. It was decided that the majority of the characters should be new and unrelated to the original, a wise decision in my opinion. Let's face it, the original idea is good but not great, it needed a rework. Why not create something new I hear you cry? Well in all honesty, apart from the cool sounding title, Mission: Impossible is all about the theme tune and whether or not you chose to accept it. Brian De Palma and Tom Cruise certainly did and it was a huge success. Personally I thought it was seriously over the top. The mid-nineties was awash of dodgy action films and Mission: Impossible is close to being one of them. It has, what are now considered, some classic scenes but looking back, it also has a lot I'm sure actor and director probably regret. I'm right down the middle. I didn't like it much in 1996 but it has grown on me somewhat.