Mission: Impossible

Spoilers right from the get go

I know the original cast from the TV show weren’t best pleased with this one, especially since the main man Jim Phelps turned out to be a traitor, but I find it hard to dislike De Palma’s work here. He makes it work as an action film while giving it the old-school-spy thriller vibe to set it apart from everything else.

I remembered this as being quite cheesy but aside from the final scene (where a helicopter navigates the channel tunnel…), the jokes work quite well, the action scenes stand up even 20 years (!) after the fact and the performances are solid.

I think it was good enough to convince the wife to watch all five.