It's 2025 And I Just Watched Mission: Impossible For The First Time - These Are My Honest Thoughts

People really, really love the "Mission: Impossible" movies. Inspired by the 1960s TV series of the same name, the films star Tom Cruise as super-spy Ethan Hunt, with Cruise performing wildly dangerous stunts on-camera as his character gets involved in all kinds of espionage. These things are global blockbusters, with even the "worst" of the franchise knocking it out of the park at the box office, and yet, I had never seen a single one until now. Spy movies have never really been my thing, while Cruise's ties to Scientology make him less than appealing. Be that as it may, in the name of art and criticism, I tried to set my hang-ups aside and see what the heck this "Mission: Impossible" thing was all about.

Years of exposure to commercials for the "Mission: Impossible" sequels and seeing clips on social media had led me to believe that 1996's "Mission: Impossible" and its seven sequels were in the same vein as the super-sleek, super-serious Jason Bourne movies (like 2002's "The Bourne Identity"). However, it turns out the first of the Cruise-led films has more in common with the under-appreciated 1997 box office bomb "The Saint," another updated movie adaptation of a spy property that includes a 1960s TV series.The leads in both films (Val Kilmer, in the latter case) play the whole thing straight, yet there's enough cheekiness to the story itself to keep things from becoming too cold and distant from its human characters. When you add in Brian De Palma's phenomenal direction, a score from Danny Elfman that's rather unique by his standards, and director of photography Stephen H. Burum's striking shot compositions? It's really no wonder this movie blew up the way it did and gave rise to a mega-successful franchise.

The most challenging part of spy movies, for me, is following all of the double-crossing and subterfuge. State secrets are boring, frankly, but thankfully most of "Mission: Impossible" is a heist movie that follows Hunt and his team as they try to stop a rogue agent from stealing the CIA's non-official cover (NOC) list, which includes the secret identities of all of its undercover agents in Europe. After what turns out to be a fake version of the list is stolen and his team is killed, Hunt is framed, and then we get another heist as he tries to retrieve the real NOC list and clear his name. There are portions of "Mission: Impossible" that feel like "Oceans Eleven" with significantly higher stakes (and more violence), and honestly, they're a delight. Jean Reno is great as an untrustworthy pilot named Krieger and Ving Rhames steals every scene he's in as legendary hacker Luther Stickell, with Jon Voight really giving it his all as Ethan's former mentor. 

Where "Mission: Impossible" really shines, however, is its direction. There are Dutch angles galore, which gives the movie an unsettling feeling overall, with the tilted frames constantly making you, as a viewer, feel off-kilter. It also feels like Ethan could really get killed at any time, even if you know there are sequels, and that sense of danger is ratcheted up throughout the entire film. Burum had previously worked with De Palma on "Body Double" and "The Untouchables," and he brings a whole lot of experience and skill to the director's distinctive visual style here. The actual plot in "Mission: Impossible" is honestly pretty standard spy thriller stuff, but everything else is operating on such a high level that it doesn't really matter. The movie is just self-aware enough to occasionally be funny and even leans into some of the '60s TV show's sillier bits, like its rubber mask technology that magically makes you look like someone else. At the same time, there's one scene in "Mission: Impossible" that's played deadly serious, and it's perfect.

There's a scene in "Mission: Impossible" that has been referenced and spoofed nearly to death, yet even today it somehow remains jaw-droppingly incredible to watch. When Ethan and his team have to break into a high-tech CIA clean room to steal the NOC list for themselves, it's an almost 20-minute-long heist sequence operating in near-silence, and it rules. The floor is pressure-sensitive, the room detects temperature changes, and there's even a device picking up sound, which means Ethan has to be as quiet as a mouse while he breaks in, lowered from the air vents by Krieger. Despite having seen references to the scene and jokes in everything from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to Kevin Smith movies, my heart was in my throat, my eyes were locked on the screen, and I was absolutely riveted. The sequence is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work done by some of the most skilled people in the business, and it's genuinely impressive in a way I hadn't anticipated. When you can watch a scene you thought you knew everything about decades after the fact and still be absolutely blown away? That's cinema, baby. 

"Mission: Impossible" is an impeccably well-made movie that works as excellent entertainment, even for those of us who don't give a flip about espionage. No one can deny Cruise's dedication, charisma, or athleticism, De Palma's clear vision, or the film's immense impact on action thrillers thereafter, and everyone should see it at least once. Will it be enough to get me to watch all of the sequels? It's unlikely, although I am deeply curious now about Henry Cavill cocking his arms before a fight in "Mission: Impossible – Fallout," so it's always possible.