Product: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Rating: 4.0
Alot of bark. No bite.
In the style of my favorite DVD site, IGN.com, I'm going to review this movie based on four areas: The movie, the video, the audio, and the extras.THE MOVIE Wow. Tom Cruise is at his energetic best. Ethan Hunt is a young and very skilled IMF operative. After all, his mentor is one of the best: Jim Phelps. A man named Golitsyn has gotten himself into a position to steal the CIA's NOC list, and has the intent of selling it on the black market. Phelps, along with Ethan Hunt and the other four members of his IMF team are given the mission to catch Golitsyn in the act of stealing the NOC list, apprehend him, thereby retrieving the stolen list. Everything goes wrong. All members of the team, except Ethan are killed, including Phelps. The operation was a molehunt. Hunt is supected of the killings, and accused of imbessling money from the CIA. This is just the surface. There are many many more major-players, all part of a huge and complex conspiracy. Brian De Palma did an amazing job. This film is visual feast, for half the story is told through camera movement. The film's plot is extremely complicated. I have watched the film several times, and everytime I do, I notice something new and a another little detail that makes more sense of the plot. This film is one that has to be watched closely. Many of the plot points and nuances are subtle and require you to pay close attention. An Action/suspense film that has brains. Who would have thought?THE VIDEOStunning. A little dirty, but that is expected. After all, an original theatrical print was used for the transfer. Slight graniness, but you won't really notice unless finding flaws is the reason you are watching the movie. You also have the choice of watching the film in Pan-and-Scan or Widescreen.THE AUDIOPretty good if you have the right equipment.I usually set the disc at Dolby 5.1 sound. That option is great if you have good speakers. For those of you that hve just your Televisions, keep the disc on 2 channel. You also have the option to watch it in French.THE EXTRAThe heading should be THE EXTRAS. However, there is only one extra. All you get is the theatrical trailer. That isn't bad, but is definately not enough. Sorry, but scene selection, interactive menus, captions, and subtitles do not count as special features, especially to today's DVD's standards. (Have you seen the Fight Club DVD?)Not a bad package when you consider the quality of the sound and video, but special features are very important. Without them, you might as well go and and buy the VHS version, and save yourself a couple of bucks.