Mission: Impossible (1996)

Man, when this came out I was thinking that we are going to have another James Bond franchise only with an American and I was super stoked about it.
Unfortunately I got my wish. This is really the only one worth watching and M:I2 just destroyed the series that didn't have the sense to die.
But....what you have here is 3 Days of the Condor, directed by De Palma, with lots of action.
No, I'm not joking, it's really 3 Days of the Condor with less plot and tension and more action and shooting. And Cruise instead of Redford, which actually is a pretty even swap from one generation to another...only Redford is still the better actor and Cruise only really acts when he wants to.
So, yeah, if you saw 3 Days of the Condor you know what is going on. Just make it international, push up the RPMs, add a soundtrack by 1/2 of U2 and you have Mission:Impossible.
But, despite that, it's really fun and enjoyable.

While the sequences that _Mission: Impossible_ is most famous for (the ceiling-descent and train-top) are truly thrilling, absolutely everything in between these scenes is obvious and uninspired. Rarely can a movie have you so completely engaged one minute, and then immediately back to checking the time the next.
An important film, pop-culturally speaking, but not a very good one.
_Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._