Product: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Rating: 2.0
Depends on your preference
This is a great movie if you are a fan of action films. Cruise is good as Ethan Hunt. Jon Voigt fair as Jim Phelps. The supporting characters add to the action and the suspense is solid throughout.But if you like the TV show, this is a lousy movie. It has little spirit from the TV show and what they do to Phelps is a crime. If Hunt's character is created new for the franchise couldn't they have used another character - instead of Phelps - to play the role they designed?When you remake a television show there are certain elements that should be true to the remake - otherwise totally remake them. Putting in new characters? OK - just don't play with the believability and the make up of the old ones. Of course when a show is as old as Mission you aren't going to want the same leads playing their old characters, at least not if they are in a lead role. Voigt is not Jim Phelps - appearance: wrong; style of speech: wrong; leadership ability: wrong.This isn't to say that Mission is so sacred that it can't be changed. But if the plan is to use the popularity of an old TV show to stir interest, why insult that popularity in the manner in which they did? Dan Ackroyd used the Dragnet franchise to make a comedy years ago - but he honored the spirit of the show in doing so.The long technical moments showing Barney and Willy or some other character from TV are missing here and probably rightfully so. They could be boring on the big screen, especially if not done right - and it appears that the director and star weren't planning on doing it right.This is a star vehicle for Cruise and he handles it well. But they had no business messing with the franchise. At the least, they should have made up for it in the sequel.