Mission: Impossible (1996)

As one of the few successful TV to movie conversions Mission: Impossible has managed to find enough success to make a trilogy of films that were all quite well accepted by the viewing public and action fans alike. I have never seen the Mission: Impossible television series, so my views on this are strictly as an action fan, but the film is definitely worth a look.

Tom Cruise, American secret agent Ethan Hunt, is part of a mission sent to Prague in which Hunt later finds himself the lone survivor of his team, who are suddenly and mysteriously eliminated. Now Hunt is being pinned with the murders by his own organization and thought of as a traitor. Obviously someone from the inside is attempting to set Hunt up to take a fall. The only way to find out who it is, is to play along, a task that will be quite "impossible" as his goal is to acquire an agent hit list located in the heart of the CIA.

Mission: Impossible is a descent action film; it's almost obvious the series itself was based upon the British version known as James Bond. Unfortunately that's a series that's almost "impossible" to live up to, but the film itself is made up of a strong cast and is quite well written. It's only real faults show up when compared to some of today's more top of the line action films, showing the film is really nothing spectacular and at times very predictable. The identity of the villain setting up Hunt is easily determined ten minutes into the film, if you pay attention, and even the big twist at the end isn't very surprising. But if you’re looking for an entertaining action film sans everything that makes the Bond series great, Mission: Impossible is worth a look, but it's got nothing on Bond or the Jason Bourne series.

7/10