Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible

A flashy, splashy summer-movie blockbuster that's fun and exciting without being mindless? That's the impossible mission accomplished by director Brian De Palma, star-coproducer Tom Cruise, and the crack team of Mission: Impossible. Based on the '60s TV show and an almost impenetrably complex (but nonetheless thrilling) original story by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List), with a screenplay by Koepp and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo), Mission: Impossible begins with veteran agent Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) and his expert crew embarking on a mission that goes horribly, horribly wrong. But nothing is what it seems. The nail-biting set piece--always a signature of director De Palma (Carrie, The Untouchables)--in which Cruise is lowered from the ceiling to retrieve information from a computer in a high-security vault--is an instant classic. But perhaps even more impressive, at least in retrospect, is a flashback sequence in which two characters attempt to reconstruct a series of events from multiple points of view. It's pretty daring and sophisticated stuff for a big-budget spy movie, but brains were always what put the Mission: Impossible team ahead of the competition, anyway, no? --Jim Emerson

Director(s): Brian De Palma
Production: Paramount Pictures
  3 wins & 14 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Metacritic:
59
Rotten Tomatoes:
63%
PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Year:
1996
110
Website
14,260 Views

[Ethan meets Kittridge at a restaurant]

Eugene Kittridge:
I am...I can't tell you how sorry I am. I know how much Jim, in particular, meant to you, Ethan...personally as well as professionally.

Ethan Hunt:
Yeah.

Eugene Kittridge:
Here's a passport, visa. Usual drill. We'll work the exfiltration through Canada, debrief you at Langley. Throw the Prague police a bone or two. You know, toss them a few suspects....You follow me?

Ethan Hunt:
Yeah, I follow.

Eugene Kittridge:
I think we've lost enough agents for one night.

Ethan Hunt:
You mean, I've lost enough agents for one night.

Eugene Kittridge:
You seem hell-bent on blaming yourself, Ethan.

Ethan Hunt:
Who else is left?

Eugene Kittridge:
Yeah. I see your point.

Ethan Hunt:
Why was there another team?

Eugene Kittridge:
What?

Ethan Hunt:
Of IMF agents at the embassy tonight.

Eugene Kittridge:
I don't quite follow you.

Ethan Hunt:
....Well, see if you can follow me around the room. The drunk Russians on the embankment at 7:00 and 8:00...The couple waltzing around me at the embassy at 9:00 and 11:00...The waiter standing behind Hannah at the top of the stairs..Bow tie, 12:00...The other IMF team...You're worried about me. Why?

Eugene Kittridge:
Well, for a little over two years we've been spotting serious blowback in IMF operations. We have a penetration. The other day, we decoded a message on the internet from a Czech we know as Max.

Ethan Hunt:
The arms dealer.

Eugene Kittridge:
That's right...Max, it seems, has two unique gifts, a capacity for anonymity and for corrupting susceptible agents. This time, he'd gotten to someone on the inside. He'd gotten himself in a position to buy our NOC list. An operation he referred to as Job 314, The Job he thought Golitsyn was doing tonight.

Ethan Hunt:
But the list Golitsyn stole was a decoy.

Eugene Kittridge:
That's correct. The actual list is secure at Langley. Golitsyn was a lightning rod. He was one of ours.

Ethan Hunt:
This whole operation was a mole hunt....This whole operation was a mole hunt.

Eugene Kittridge:
Yeah....The mole's deep inside....and like you said.....You survived. I want to show you something, Ethan. Since your father's death your family's farm has been in receivership, and now, suddenly, they're flush with over $120,000 in the bank. Your father's illness was supposed to have wiped out that bank account. Dying slowly in America, after all, can be a very expensive proposition. So...why don't we quietly get out of here and onto a plane? I can understand you're very upset.

Ethan Hunt:
Kittridge, you've never seen me very upset.

Eugene Kittridge:
Alright, Hunt. Enough is enough. You have bribed, cajoled, and killed and you have done it using loyalties on the inside. You want to shake hands with the devil, that's fine with me. I just want to make sure that you do it in Hell.

[Ethan throws explosive gum on a large aquarium in the middle of the restaurant, causing an explosion of water and breaking the window allowing him to escape into the night]

Ethan Hunt:
[face covered by hood] I thought I was going to see Max.

Matthias:
You misunderstood. No one sees Max.

Ethan Hunt:
Then what am I doing here?

Matthias:
Allowing Max to see you and hear what you've got to say.

Ethan Hunt:
I don't communicate very well through a shroud.

Matthias:
If Max doesn't like what you have to say, you will be wearing that shroud indefinitely.

Ethan Hunt:
[thinks a second] I'm willing to take the chance.

Matthias:
Very well.

[Uncovers Ethan's face]

Max:
Who are you and what are you doing here?

Ethan Hunt:
I need $150,000.

Max:
[Laughing] Oh, really?....And you thought if you simply showed up, I might give it to you?

Ethan Hunt:
Why not? You gave Job 125.

Max:
Hmmm..The penny drops. You are not Job...Job is not given to quoting scripture in his communications...Then there was it's tone, aggressive but playful. Job is not playful...So you are something of a paradox.

Ethan Hunt:
Well, that depends.

Max:
On what?

Ethan Hunt:
Whether you like a paradox...I want $150,000 today.

Max:
Ah Nah. That is quite out of the question.

Ethan Hunt:
The disk Job sold you, it's worthless...It's bait, part of an internal mole hunt.

Max:
And how might you know that?...Are you another Company man?

Ethan Hunt:
Like Job?

Max:
We're asking about you.

Ethan Hunt:
I'm NOC...Was...Now, Disavowed.

Max:
Why, may I ask?

Ethan Hunt:
That is the question I want to ask Job.

Max:
I don't know Job anymore than Job knows me.

Ethan Hunt:
Even so...I'm sure you could arrange an introduction.

Max:
Why should I?

Ethan Hunt:
Because I can deliver the actual NOC list. The one you have is not only worthless, it's certain to be equipped with a homing device to pinpoint your exact location.

Max:
Um Hmm.

Ethan Hunt:
Boot it up. In anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, you'll have Virginia farm boys hopping around you like jackrabbits.

Max:
It's easy to say the disk is worthless when you say I can't look at the information and see if it's worthless. Not a tenable position, sir.

Ethan Hunt:
Okay. Use it. But...I'd suggest you pack first.

[Matthias boots up a laptop and inserts the disk]

Matthias:
26, 27. So far so good.

Max:
Not so good for you, my friend.

Ethan Hunt:
I'd say you've got about...two minutes.

Matthias:
32 and 33.

Max:
Doesn't mean it's a signal. Could just be the hard drive heating up.

Matthias:
44 and 45.

[Kittridge and a team of agents raid the apartment but find nothing, while Max and her agents escape out a back door and take Ethan with them.]

[Ethan and Claire are recruiting for the mission]

Ethan Hunt:
Simple game. Four players. Exfil opens the pocket, Cyber Ops lifts the wallet.

Franz Krieger:
Bank?

Ethan Hunt:
[shakes his head] IMF mainframe.

Franz Krieger:
Where exactly is it?

Ethan Hunt:
In Langley.

Luther Stickell:
In Langley? The-one-in-Virginia Langley?

Franz Krieger:
Inside CIA headquarters at Langley? [to Claire] Is he serious?

Claire Phelps:
Always.

Franz Krieger:
[scoffs] If we're going to Virginia, why don't we drop by Fort Knox? I can fly a helicopter right in through the lobby and set it down inside the vault. And it would be a hell of a lot easier than breaking into the goddamn CIA.

Luther Stickell:
What are we downloading?

Ethan Hunt:
Information.

Luther Stickell:
What kind?

Ethan Hunt:
Profitable.

Claire Phelps:
Payment on delivery.

Luther Stickell:
[doubtfully] I don't know. I just don't know.

Ethan Hunt:
Well, this doesn't sound like the Luther Stickell I heard of. What'd they used to call you? The Net Ranger? Phineas Phreak? The only man alive who actually hacked NATO Ghost Com.

Luther Stickell:
There was never any physical evidence that I had anything to do with that... with that... [smiles] ...that exceptional piece of work.

Ethan Hunt:
You don't know what you're missing. This is the Mount Everest of hacks.

Luther Stickell:
You're all kidding yourselves. Even with top-of-the-line crypto, Cray access, STU-3's...

Claire Phelps:
[cuts him off] Krieger can get it. [to Krieger] Right?

Franz Krieger:
It may take a little time.

Ethan Hunt:
What the hell do you mean, a little time? That's not what Claire tells me about you.

[Krieger hesitates]

Luther Stickell:
[to Krieger] Thinking Machine laptops? I'm talking about the 686 prototypes, with the artificial intelligence RISC chip.

Franz Krieger:
Twenty-four hours.

Luther Stickell:
[laughs] And, uh, I get to keep the equipment when we're done.

Ethan Hunt:
Well, Luther, I guess you're all out of excuses.

Luther Stickell:
[laughs] Hmm. Look, uh, I just can't hack my way inside. See, there's no modem access to the mainframe. It's in what we call a standalone, which means I'd have to be physically at the terminal.

Ethan Hunt:
Relax, Luther. It's much worse than you think. The terminal is in a black-vault lockdown. [voice-over, the scene goes to William Donloe approaching the door to the computer vault] The only person allowed in the room has to pass through a series of security checks.

CIA Analyst William Donloe:
[to keypad microphone] William Donloe.

Ethan Hunt:
[voice-over] The first is a voice-print identification, and a six-digit access code. [Donloe enters a code; the door opens and he enters an office] This only gets him into the outer room. Next he has to pass a retinal scan. [Donloe removes his glasses and looks into a retinal scanner] And finally, the intrusion countermeasures are only deactivated by a double electronic key card... [Donloe inserts his ID card into a reader; cut to Hunt on the train] ...which we won't have. [Donloe then enters the vault and logs in at the terminal] Now, inside the black vault, there are three systems operating whenever the technician is out of the room. The first is sound-sensitive. Anything above a whisper sets it off. The second system detects any increase in temperature. Even the body heat of an unauthorized person in the room will trigger it if the temperature rises just a single degree. Now, that temperature is controlled by the air conditioning coming in through an overhead duct, 30 feet above the floor. That vent is guarded by a laser net.

[Stickell and Krieger trade uneasy looks; Donloe leaves the vault]

Ethan Hunt:
[voice-over] The third system's on the floor and is pressure-sensitive. [Donloe shuts the door, activating the security systems] The slightest increase in weight will trigger the alarm. And any one of these systems, if set off, will activate an automatic lockdown. Now, believe me when I tell you, gentlemen, all three systems are state-of-the-art.

[A drop of condensation from Donloe's soda cup falls on the floor, triggering the alarm. Cut to the train.]

Luther Stickell:
[After a stunned silence] And you really think we can do this?

[pause]

Ethan Hunt:
We're going to do it.

[A flight attendant offers Jim Phelps a movie]

Attendant:
Would you like to watch a movie, Mr. Phelps?

Jim Phelps:
I prefer the theater.

Attendant:
Would you consider the cinema of the Ukraine?

Jim Phelps:
Perhaps you'll choose one for me.

[She gives him a cassette]

Jim Phelps:
Thank you.

[He plugs it in and starts it for a mission briefing]

Voice on Tape:
Good morning, Mr. Phelps. The man you're looking at is Alexander Golitsyn, an attaché at our embassy in Prague. He is also a traitor. He has stolen one half of the CIA NOC list, a record of all our deep-cover agents working in Eastern Europe. For security reasons, the NOC list is divided in two. The portion that Golitsyn already has contains code names, but this half is useless without its mate, which matches the code names with their true names. It is this half which Golitsyn plans to steal from the embassy during a reception tomorrow night. Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it, is to obtain photographic proof of the theft, shadow Golitsyn to his buyer, and apprehend them both. We've already dispatched a team selected from your usual group. Sarah Davies is already undercover, Jack Harmon can hack into any security system, Hannah Williams will handle surveillance, your wife Claire will cover transport, and Ethan Hunt will be your pointman as usual. He is now in Kiev and will rendezvous in Prague at a safehouse of your choosing. As always, should you or any member of your I.M. force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim.

[Jim blows smoke from his cigarette to cover the burning of the tape]


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