Mission: Impossible

RATING: A+

Ah, the 1990s. This was a pretty good decade in a lot of ways for entertainment. There were many movies during this decade that still hold up extremely well today. Jurassic Park, Independence Day, and The Matrix (even though that came on the tail end of that decade). Mission: Impossible is another one that holds up very well today in multiple ways even almost 20 years later. 

Mission: Impossible centers around Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), an agent for a covert espionage agency called the IMF who ends up becoming a target when the rest of his team is killed during a mission and he ends up going at it without the help of his crew to come up with the real culprit, and find out who the mole is that has been causing problems for the IMF. 

The plot may only sound about average, but things quickly heat up. There are multiple plot twists, perhaps most infamously one involving Jim Phelps--an original character from the TV series. I have not watched the old series, so this affected me in no way, and these days, it won't affect many other people either. 

Most people remember the film for its famous CIA break-in scene. And yes, that scene is fantastic. It's hard to describe accurately in words--you have to see it for yourself and watch as Ethan tries to pull of a soundless computer heist while hanging from the ceiling. There's very few "break-in" scenes in the last 20 years that even compare to it. 

But that's not the only thing that holds up real well. There is also the bullet train scene, which I won't talk about too much to avoid spoilers--but when you think about it, the only thing that even compares to it recently is an also-bullet-train scene from The Wolverine. Also worth mentioning is the soundtrack, which is easily one of the best of the '90's, composed by Danny Elfman. 

Mission: Impossible, in many ways, is in a league of its own. Coming out of 1996, this is one of the more thrilling films I can think of. There are a couple of confusing points, and occasionally Tom Cruise can be amusingly annoying (he still does well for the most part though). But it's definitely a film that is worth checking out if you haven't already.