History Film / MissionImpossible

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[[redirect:Film/MissionImpossible1996]]

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* The ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series adapted from the [[Series/MissionImpossible TV series]] of the same name.
** ''[[Film/MissionImpossible1996 Mission: Impossible]]'' (1996), the first film in the aforementioned series.
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* The ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series.

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[[redirect:Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries]]

[[redirect:Film/MissionImpossible1996]]

[[redirect:Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries]]

[[redirect:Film/MissionImpossible1996]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mi1.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"This tape will self-destruct in five seconds."'']]

''Mission: Impossible'' (1996) is the first entry in the ''[[Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries Mission: Impossible]]'' film series, starring Creator/TomCruise as Ethan Hunt.

Jim Phelps is called upon for a new assignment dealing with very sensitive information regarding IMF agents and their cover [=IDs=]. He brings in his standard crew, including point man Ethan Hunt, and they plan out how to recover the info. Unfortunately, their mission was compromised horribly and Ethan finds himself the lone survivor and the top suspect as a traitor. The discovery of two other survivors doesn't alleviate his paranoia, so he goes into the list of blacklisted former IMF agents to put together another team to get to the bottom of their original mission and the conspiracy behind it.

Directed by Creator/BrianDePalma, the movie became well known for the interweaving and [[GambitPileup complicated plotting.]] -- and the signature image of the MissionImpossibleCableDrop. However, it was (and remains) very divisive among long-time fans of [[Series/MissionImpossible the TV series]] (due to who the villain is, and the fact the story tends to focus on a single character, rather than a team), and was publicly disavowed by at least two cast members of the original series.
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!!''Mission: Impossible'' provides examples of:
* AbsoluteCleavage: Claire is nearly spilling out of her clothes at the end of the Kiev mission and returning to the Prague safe house.
* AcousticLicense: Features a climax where hero and villain are hanging off a speeding helicopter. Following just behind a TGV Bullet Train traveling hundreds of kilometers per hour. In a tunnel. Given this it's probably just as well Ethan Hunt uses visual aids while shouting so that [[spoiler: Phelps]] can properly recognize things are about to get a little 'splody.
* ActorAllusion:
** Ethan seems familiar with the [[Film/RiskyBusiness Drake Hotel in Chicago]].
** One of the codenames on the NOC list is [[Film/TopGun "Maverick"]].
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: Jim Phelps, the main protagonist of the original TV series, is the mole. It seems almost like a deconstruction of what the movie ''thinks'' is the 'idea' of Jim Phelps. He's a Cold War agent who ran his own show, but when [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell the conflict is over]] he finds himself in a low-paying job without a say in policy and a lousy marriage to a woman he doesn't love, so he throws his morals out the window by selling out his country to work for money. Ethan Hunt works as a reconstructed successor to the antiquated "old spy" Jim Phelps, reaffirming his loyalty to his country after they turn on him and ushering in a new era of espionage.]]
* AffablyEvil: Max the arms dealer is quite a friendly sort. She's not very evil, just greedy.
* AirVentPassageway: Ethan Hunt infiltrates the CIA headquarters this way, which leads to the famous "dangling in the ultra-secure white room" scene.
* AllThereInTheManual: The novelization of this film explains more in-depth about how some of the devices actually work (like the RF meter used by Max's crew when seeing if the NOC list they got from Job was a fake) as well more {{UST}} between Ethan and Claire that got left on the cutting room floor.
* ApologyGift: It's implied that the Department of Justice makes it up to the Hunt family in style as an apology for detaining them in order to get to Ethan.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: At the end of the film, the villain quotes the line "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" to Ethan Hunt for his obvious attraction to the villain's wife. Earlier on, the knowledge that the bad guy reads from the Bible became a clue to tracking him down, as well as his real identity.
* BadassBoast: After Ethan lays out what awaits his crew at CIA HQ, depicting arguably the most secure vault ever conceived:
-->'''Luther''': And you really think we can do this?\\
'''Ethan''': ({{Beat}}) We're ''going'' to do it.\\
''[cue transition with the iconic M:I theme]''
* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Ethan admires Luther's infamous hacking of NATO Ghostcom:
-->'''Luther''': ''[sternly]'' There was never any physical evidence I had anything to do with that!...that...''[smiles]'' that ''exceptional'' piece of work.
* BatmanColdOpen: We see the IMF team finishing up a job before the title sequence.
* BatmanGambit: Really, [[spoiler: Phelps']] plan relied on a ''lot'' of people reacting in a very specific manner and being able to pull off feats that no one could be certain they could. If Ethan hadn't been able to track down Max [[spoiler: to meet her]], convince Max that [[spoiler:the disc was a trap]], be willing to [[spoiler: trust Claire at all because of his attraction to her]] or manage to [[spoiler: steal the real list from the CIA]], then at best, all they'd be able to do would be [[spoiler: disappear and hope whomever they sold the knowledge to didn't have a CIA mole who would report them]]. And even before all that, A.) if Ethan had been able to [[spoiler: reach Phelps]] at the embassy, B.) if Phelps had [[spoiler: actually been followed]], or C.) if [[spoiler: Sarah had avoided being stabbed]], then the entire plan would have fallen apart.
* BattleCry: Ethan screams a wordless one at Krieger, after [[spoiler: hooking his and Phelps' escape helicopter to the back of a [=Eurotunnel=]-bound bullet train]].
* BlackTieInfiltration: The film opens with the team breaking into a social event in the Czech Republic to steal intelligence. [[spoiler:Turns out the information they were after was bait to smoke out TheMole, who saw it coming and pinned it on Ethan.]]
* BlindfoldedTrip: Ethan Hunt is told to put on a mask before he's taken to see the mysterious Max, being told that it's "the price of admission".
* BlofeldPloy: At the end, [[spoiler: Jim shoots his wife instead of killing Ethan when he had the perfect chance]].
* BlownAcrossTheRoom: The poor waiter (agent?) near the fish tank that Ethan blows up is not just blown across the room, but [[DestinationDefenestration through the front glass on the other side]] and out into the street, all in a curled-up, ragdoll position.
* BookEnds: At the end, [[spoiler:Ethan is offered another assignment in the same manner as Jim.]]
* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler: Ethan greatly admires and respects Jim (and is implied to have romantic feelings for Claire) and is devastated at the realization of their treachery.]]
* ButtMonkey: The CIA vault employee, who gets tagged with a liquid that makes him sick to his stomach long enough for Ethan's rogue team to make a copy of the NOC list and leave. [[AllThereInTheManual Despite his spotless record]], Kittridge has him relocated to a different job.
-->'''Kittridge''': I want him [[ReassignedToAntarctica manning a radar tower in Alaska]] by the end of the day, just mail him his clothes.
* CallingYourAttacks: "RED LIGHT! GREEN LIGHT!"
* TheCameo: Emilio Estevez's role is unbilled, though it's quite a bit more than a cameo.
* CaperCrew:
** The IMF Prague team
*** '''The Mastermind''': Jim Phelps
*** '''The Second-in-Command''': Ethan Hunt
*** '''The Hacker''': Jack
*** '''The Conman''': Sarah; Ethan joins her in disguise during the mission, but her undercover work ahead of time gets the mission started.
*** '''The Coordinator''': Hannah, who has to keep eyes on the mark in a crowded room for the rest of the team.
*** '''The Driver''': Claire. An InformedAbility as she doesn't actually drive, but she would've been in charge of tailing the mark along the Byzantine streets of Prague.
** The disavowed IMF team
*** '''The Mastermind''': Ethan
*** '''The Hacker''': Luther
*** '''The Conman''': Claire
*** '''The Muscle and The Driver''': Kreiger
* ChallengeSeeker: Luther takes on the CIA job because, in addition to the money, the idea of trying to hack the most secure server out there is tantalizing. Ethan tells him "this is the Mount Everest of hacks", knowing that's all Luther will need to hear to accept (that, and being able to keep all the computer equipment when they're done).
* ChekhovsArmy: Every random extra in the background in the opening scene shows up as a secret agent in the last scene.
* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler:The "Red Light, Green Light" exploding gum. Yes, it is [[IncrediblyLamePun Chekhov's Gum]].]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The Bible in the Prague hideout, which leads to another use with the mention of the Drake Hotel in Chicago. Also, an attentive viewer will be able to know that Kreiger is a villain due to carrying the same distinctive-looking knife as the one found on Sarah's body]].
* ChekhovsGunman: A slight case. Some random, unimportant extras at the embassy party turn out to be another IMF team observing Ethan's team, which he realizes when he spots them at the restaurant with Kittridge and realizes that Kittridge is suspicious of ''him''.
* ComicBookAdaptation: Creator/MarvelComics published a one-off prequel just before the film was released.
* CommLinks: The team use camera-radios built into eyeglasses.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: It may have been on screen for just a brief one, maybe two seconds, but Jack Harmon's death counts as he ended up getting [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaled]] [[EyeScream through the eye into a jagged piece of metal]], after losing control of the elevator he was sitting on top of.
* DeadStarWalking: Ethan Hunt's backup team includes characters played by Kristin Scott Thomas, Emilio Estevez, Emmanuelle Béart and Creator/JonVoight. Scott-Thomas' character is stabbed in the back and Estevez's hacker character is impaled through the eye in an elevator shaft, while the latter two turn out to be not dead after all, and are instead pulling The Plan. Estevez isn't even ''credited''.
* DeathByLookingUp: [[spoiler:Jack is killed this way. However, he was sitting on top of a rising elevator at the time: it rose upwards and drove his face into some spikes (not to mention being crushed as well)]].
* DecoyProtagonist: The film starts off with Phelps as the protagonist and Ethan as the deuteragonist, however, [[spoiler:after Phelps is seemingly killed and then later on in the middle of the film revealed to be the BigBad, Ethan became the true protagonist of this movie.]]
* DescriptionPorn: Ethan describing the CIA's security systems and its various state-of-the-art alarms.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: When Krieger says that he has leverage to be a part of whatever deal Ethan has with Job because he holds the NOC list, Ethan reminds him that he had two discs with him at the vault and shows off some sleight-of-hand tricks before pulling out the second disc. He then tells him, "Did you actually think I'd let you have the NOC list?", causing Krieger to toss out his disc in disgust. This was actually a con by Ethan to get Krieger to give up the disc he was holding, which actually was the real list.
* DoubleCaper: Basically the entire film: Jim Phelps' IMF team thinks they're shadowing a traitor in Prague who plans to sell the NOC list to an arms dealer. Only [[spoiler: it's actually a molehunt headed by Kittridge and a second team to expose a traitor on Jim's own team, the traitor is actually an IMF agent himself, and that "NOC list" is actually a tracking program to hone in on whoever tries to load it, with the real list safe at CIA HQ.]] Since Ethan is the lone survivor, Kittridge thinks he has his man. So now Ethan has to go rogue with a team of disavowed agents and get the [[spoiler: real and complete]] NOC list so he can expose TheManBehindTheMan and true mole ("Job") and clear his name.
* DoubleMeaning: [[spoiler: "Why, Jim? Why?"; Ethan is asking this to Jim under the guise of buying Phelps's lie that Kittridge sold them out, but Ethan is really asking ''Jim'', the real perpetrator. Jim's answer of why Kittridge betrayed them is actually ''his'' reason.]]
* DreamSequence: Ethan dreams of being approached and grabbed by Jim.
* DutchAngle: The angle goes ''very'' Dutch when Ethan Hunt meets Kittridge in the restaurant, underscoring Ethan's feeling that whole world has just gone askew.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Despite the movie being the TropeNamer for MissionImpossibleCableDrop, which in turn would set the bar for the high concept scenes and stunts of the sequels, the first film is VERY different in tone from them. There's very little in terms of action scenes until the end - even the titular MissionImpossibleCableDrop scene is more tension than action or complex stunts. Ethan's character doesn't have that "larger than life" reputation and presentation the other films give him. It's a much more quiet and psychological film whose tone does clash with its sequels, who would become more known for their action and stunts, when watching the series back to back.
** Even its big climactic sequence falls into this. The TGV train battle was one of the most advanced CG-aided sequences in a movie to that point, but as time has gone on and CG has become more prevalent, the series' stunts have stayed on the practical side, leaving the 1996 setpiece as still the most green-screen-reliant action sequence in the series.
* ElevatorFailure: Jack is atop an elevator. Someone [[spoiler:(later revealed to be Phelps)]] hacks the elevator to make it go straight up into triggered spikes.
* EpicTrackingShot: There's an epic helicopter shot that pulls up to the Chunnel Train, then through a window into a compartment.
* EverybodysDeadDave: Ethan at the end of the Prague mission.
-->'''Ethan''': This is Ethan Hunt. They're dead.\\
'''Kittridge''': Who's dead?\\
'''Ethan''': My team, my team is DEAD!
* EveryoneOwnsAMac: The Apple Power Book had its own ''Mission: Impossible'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpxBFt_96oo TV spot]].
-->''"After you see the film, you may want to pick up the book."''
* EverythingIsOnline: Averted. Ethan recruits computer expert Luther Stickell and explains his plan to get access to the computer that holds the NOC list. Luther chuckles and starts to explain to the "computer illiterate" the aversion to this trope, pointing out that this particular system is "what is called a 'stand-alone'". After a few seconds, Ethan reveals that he's not as computer illiterate as Luther thinks and describes the top-notch security around the machine. And yes, this means physically going in and getting the data onto a disk.
* EvilElevator: The elevator Jack is sitting on top of is sabotaged to cause it to move upwards rapidly, causing Jack to be killed by the machinery at the top of the shaft.
* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Ethan is distraught when he learns from Kittridge his team was killed on a mission that wasn't even a mission at all:
-->'''Ethan''': This whole operation was a mole hunt?...This whole operation was a mole hunt...*buries head in hands*\\
'''Kittridge''': [[SmugSnake Yeah.]] The mole's deep inside...and like you said, Ethan...\\
''[Ethan looks up with an OhCrap look of realization]''\\
'''Kittridge''': ''You survived.''
* ExplodingFishTanks: When Ethan realizes that he's been framed, he blows up the Akvarium restaurant's floor-to-ceiling aquariums as cover for his escape.
* ExplosionPropulsion: Ethan Hunt jumps off a helicopter in the climax just as he put explosive gum on it. The blast practically pins Ethan on the train he was jumping onto.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Jack]]'s death is a literal example: he gets a giant spike shoved through his eye (in a [[GoryDiscretionShot blink-and-you-miss-it]] moment)
* FaceHeelTurn: The ''infamous'' - [[spoiler: Jim Phelps, the hero of the original TV series, turns out to be the BigBad in the end. This is why Creator/PeterGraves, who played Jim Phelps in the TV series, refused to do a cameo.]]
* FaceRevealingTurn: [[spoiler:How Jim's survival is revealed. In the London train station, he turns around to Ethan after the latter has finished his deliberate traced call to Kittridge]].
* FakeoutMakeout: Ethan and Sarah's cover to keep eyes on Golitsyn, although they mime making out rather than actually making out.
* FakinMacGuffin: PlayedWith. Ethan hands a disk over, then convinces Krieger that it was a fake so he throws it away, then picks it up from the trash, revealing that it was real after all.
* FinalBattle: Ethan pursuing [[spoiler:Phelps and Krieger]] aboard a speeding train to prevent their escape.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In the elevator scene at the beginning, the team panics when Golitsyn suddenly takes the elevator down, blocking off Ethan and Sarah's escape route. [[spoiler: Jack can't get the elevator doors open so Ethan and Sarah can hide beneath the box, but fortunately Jim saves the day from his hotel room. This shows that Jim has superior access over the elevator. So when Jack dies minutes later in a freak elevator 'accident', it becomes rather obvious who the actual mole is.]]
** Also, in the opening briefing scene, the team ribs Jim about him being put up in the posh Drake Hotel in Chicago during a recruiting trip. [[spoiler: This becomes important as Ethan is able to link Jim as "Job", when he finds out the Bible he took from Jim's safehouse was taken from the Drake Hotel.]]
** When the team is being ambushed, [[spoiler: you can clearly see the assailant's arm crooked around so that the gun is facing Jim's camera. The flashback where Ethan puts it together in his mind shows Jim doing precisely this to fake his death.]]
** When Ethan gets ready to copy the NOC list, he initially takes out two discs from his suit, then shelves one. The audience doesn't know why he has two discs on him, but in the next scene, Kreiger boasts about having the NOC list Ethan handed him, only for Ethan to bluff him with a GoodForBad con with the other (blank) disc in order for Kreiger to toss away the real one for Ethan to retrieve.
* FrameUp: Ethan is framed by [[spoiler:Phelps]] for the deaths of his allies and being branded as a traitor to the IMF after the Prague mission.
* FreezeFrameBonus: If you are careful at looking at the screen during the Prague mission, you will realize who the real traitor is very soon. [[spoiler:When Jim gets "shot", you can see that the hand holding the gun is turned in such a way that it is obvious the shooter is Jim]].
* FugitiveArc: When a routine covert mission GoesHorriblyWrong, agent Ethan Hunt is labeled a rogue agent. Hunt must band together other decommissioned agents to expose the true double agent, thereby clearing his name.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Krieger is spooked into dropping Ethan when he sees a rat crawling towards him in the vault's air duct. Krieger is able to re-secure the rope before Ethan hits the ground, and when the scene cuts back to Krieger getting Ethan up to a safe level, the rat behind him is belly-up dead.
* GenderBlenderName: Max. She likes that her anonymity is aided by her androgynous handle.
* GenderFlip: Max's role was originally written for a man.
* GeneralRipper: Jim Phelps shows a fair number of the symptoms of this character type.
* GoodAllAlong: Disavowed Luther. Although Ethan is leery of Krieger, he's fully trusting of Luther despite his non-IMF status and even hands him the NOC list to control. By the end of the movie, Luther has been taken off the disavowed list and is back with IMF.
-->'''Ethan''': So how does it feel to be a solid citizen again?\\
'''Luther''': I don't know, I'm gonna miss being disreputable.\\
'''Ethan''': If it makes you feel better, I'll always think of you that way.
* GoodForBad: Krieger is given the NOC list upon pulling Ethan up from the Langley vault (in the novelization, he explicitly tells Ethan to give him the list or he won't be pulled up). He thinks he has leverage by controlling the disc but Ethan shows him the other disc he had on him in the vault and claims it's the real one, saying he'd never trust Krieger with the actual list. Krieger buys it and throws the other one away, only for Ethan to switch the discs in the garbage once he leaves, since Krieger really did have the NOC list.
* GoSeduceMyArchnemesis: [[spoiler: Part of the Phelps' plan to aid Ethan in obtaining the real NOC list for them. Jim admits Claire didn't even think this would work on Ethan.]]
* HelicopterBlender: Near the end of the film, [[spoiler:Krieger flies a helicopter into a train tunnel and attempts to blend Ethan. The rotors even bounce off the walls with no ill effects, only some pretty sparks. The RuleOfCool is in full force: we are not concerned with the low-pressure area behind the train making flying difficult or the top speed of choppers being too low to follow the pictured train.]]
* HereWeGoAgain: At the beginning of the film, Jim Phelps receives his "ThisPageWillSelfDestruct" mission orders from a flight attendant on an airplane, who enquires whether he would like to watch an Eastern European film: a reference to the location of his next mission. The film ends with Ethan Hunt on a plane, being asked if he would like to watch a film: "Would you consider the cinema of the Caribbean? Aruba, perhaps?"
* HeroAntagonist: Kittridge is chasing Hunt because he really does believe that Hunt is the mole.
* HeyWait: Luther leaves his seat on the [=TGV=] and a train attendant hey waits him to return his cell phone. The problem is, the cell phone was rigged up to block a transmission of the MacGuffin information, and by taking it away, Luther risked letting the info into the open.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps']] demise comes when his escape helicopter is blown up with explosive chewing gum that belonged to Jack Harmon, [[spoiler:who Jim had killed earlier in the film]].
* HollywoodHacking: With the usual triple whammy of EverythingIsOnline and ViewerFriendlyInterface. When an excuse is needed, Luther types out '''"ACTIVATE ALARM"''' on his laptop, creating a false fire detection on a security booth's computer elsewhere.
* HyperAwareness:
** Ethan meets his IMF superior for a debriefing after a botched mission. He looks around the cafe and recognizes around him another IMF team that had also been present at the botch.
** The novelization gives us another good example: When he's been hooded and is sitting in the room with Max, he is able to determine the number of doors, material the walls are made from, the direction of airflow, height of the room, and number of people in the room with him before they remove the hood.
* IHaveYourWife: Kittridge tries this in order to get Ethan to turn himself in, but Ethan is clever enough to see through it and even slightly mocks Kittridge on the ruse (which is part of Ethan's own ploy to keep Kittridge on the line long enough to trace Hunt to London.)
-->'''Hunt''': If you're dealing with a man who has crushed, stabbed, shot, and detonated five members of his own IMF team, how devastated do you think you're gonna make him by hauling Mom and Uncle Donald down to the county courthouse?
* IWillShowYouX:
-->'''Kittridge:''' I can understand you're very upset.\\
'''Ethan:''' [[TranquilFury Kittridge, you've never seen me very upset.]]
* IncrediblyObviousBug: {{Averted}}. The team have to keep tabs on the only analyst in the building allowed to use the ultra-secure computer vault they're trying to access. The act of planting the tracker requires Claire to brush his jacket with the tip of her finger, and it otherwise looked like a millimeter sized patch of cloth. The close-up on the bug to show what, exactly, she did let you see the fibers of the jacket.
* InLoveWithTheMark: More explicit in the novelization before the final cut of the film cut the sequences out, but this is the reason [[spoiler: Claire pleads for Jim not to kill Ethan]] under the guise of PragmaticVillainy.
* InspectorJavert: Kittridge. Unusual for this trope, he provides vital support to Hunt once he realizes the truth.
* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: "Good morning, Mr. Phelps." Kittridge's usual mission greeting turns into an acknowledgement about who the IMF mole really is once he turns on the watch provided by Ethan.]]
* ItsASmallNetAfterAll: After realizing that "Job 314" actually refers to [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Job]] chapter 3, verse 14, Ethan is able to track down the elusive Max on Bible sites online. While it does take him some time (he tries to manually search all the Usenet groups, only to see there's too many to do that), even if he had used the most relevant search terms and stuck to the larger sites in reality it would have taken him at least days to find the right one.
* JustTrainWrong:
** The fight scene in the Channel Tunnel. In real-life, the Tunnel consists of two single-track tunnels (and a service tunnel for electric vehicles)
** The line is also electrified with overhead catenary throughout, which would cause big problems for both a helicopter flying in the tunnel and anyone standing on top of the train.
** The helicopter could not get close to the train in the tunnel without being hit by high-speed winds created by the train moving at high-speed.
** A regular French TGV is used in place of the Eurostar variant, even being identified as such in the CoincidentalBroadcast; in actual fact, different loading gauges and voltage supplies -- and in the case of the line between Kent and London at the time, third-rail instead of overhead electrification -- make it impossible to operate a TGV in the UK. [[note]]True at the time the film was made but not now: the high speed line from Gare du Nord to Saint Pancras is technically and dimensionally capable of taking TGV's, but they still aren't allowed in the tunnel itself because of very rigorous fire safety rules.[[/note]]
** The train is also depicted leaving [[UsefulNotes/NationalRail Liverpool Street station]] rather than the actual Eurostar terminus at Waterloo.
* LargeHam: Kittridge has [[Film/TheMatrix Agent Smith]]-style enunciation.
* LaserHallway: The temperature-controlling vent in Langley.
* LaxativePrank: The team uses this as part of a distraction to infiltrate Langley, albeit with an emetic, rather than a laxative.
* MacGuffin: The NOC list is well defined, but it could be almost any kind of "Government Secrets" and the story would be exactly the same.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: A second viewing can discover that during Ethan's call to Kittridge in London, [[spoiler:Jim Phelps was standing right next to him on his left before revealing himself to Ethan, being the guy wearing a beige trench coat]].
* {{Megane}}[[{{Meganekko}} (kko)]]: Nearly every character in the movie dons glasses at some point.
* MistakenIdentity: The official government line given for imprisoning Ethan's family as a tactic to flush him out. Ethan notes that his mom was thoroughly confused at "how the DEA could confuse them for a couple of dope smugglers in the Florida Keys."
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps, essentially reversing his portrayal for ''the entire run of the original and second series'', which the movie producers weren't even involved in]].
* NotAsYouKnowThem: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps. Creator/PeterGraves, who played Phelps in the original TV series, wisely refused to return as the character inexplicably turns evil so the new guy can kick his ass on the way to becoming the new main character]].
* NotWhatISignedOnFor: Ethan gives the top-secret N.O.C. list to Luther ''because'' it's not what Luther signed up for, so he knows he won't try to steal it for his own hands.
* OhCrap:
** Kittridge when he realizes the "Red Light, Green Light" gum on the aquarium is about to blow up.
** [[spoiler:Phelps when he realizes Ethan put on the video glasses, proving to Kittridge that he was still alive. Phelps has another one shortly after when he's on the helicopter and Ethan pulls out the exploding gum. Unlike Krieger who is merely confused, Phelps knows exactly what is about to happen.]]
** Krieger and Ethan share one when Krieger drops his knife down the shaft, thus revealing that they were in the vault.
** Claire when she realizes [[spoiler: she accidentally outed herself in cahoots with Jim to Ethan, wearing a face mask of Jim]].
* OvertRendezvous: Ethan realises all the customers and staff at the cafe where he's meeting Kittridge are IMF agents, because he's seen them before.
* PhoneTraceRace: {{Subverted}} when Ethan Hunt stays on the line just long enough for his call to get traced to London (but not to the specific address) just as planned. Down to the ''second'', even. Kittridge realizes that with Ethan's expertise, that was definitely not a coincidence.
-->'''Kittridge''': He wanted us to know he was in London...
* PopStarComposer: The theme was rearranged by [[Music/{{U2}} Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.]].
* POVCam: In the party scene in Prague, this shot is used for many characters who work in Ethan's team.
* PsychoForHire: [[spoiler: Krieger.]]
* RadioSilence: As the Prague mission goes to hell, Jim orders all radio communication between the team to be cut off, fearing whoever is onto them is covering their frequency. This prevents Ethan from being able to warn the rest of the team what's happening when Jim is shot, causing everyone else sans Claire to walk to their doom.
* RagsToRiches: One of the reasons Kittridge suspects Ethan is betraying the IMF is because of a sudden monetary windfall his mother and uncle have experienced, with Kittridge noting that the death of Ethan's father was supposed to financially wipe out the family farm. [[spoiler: It's left ambiguous whether the Hunt family came into that money legitimately or was part of the Phelps' frame-up on Ethan.]]
* RealityEnsues: The famous MissionImpossibleCableDrop scene is the result of the heroes with their high tech gear breaking into a high tech vault nearly getting screwed because there was a rat in the vents, which made Kreiger sneeze. At the end of the scene, they're nearly done in by simply dropping something.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: After discovering Ethan Hunt has stolen the NOC List literally right out from under Donloe's nose, Eugene Kittridge tells an associate, "I want him [Donloe] manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes."
* RecruitingTheCriminal: Ethan Hunt recruits two disavowed agents to help pull off the Langley heist. [[spoiler:Krieger later turns out to be working with Phelps]].
* TheReveal: There are not one but two major reveals - [[spoiler:that Phelps is alive after being presumed KIA on a mission, and later that he and Claire are working together against Ethan]].
* RevealingCoverup: If the traitor had not tried to be overly clever in trying to frame Kittridge as the real traitor, Ethan Hunt would not have been able to confirm the identity of TheMole on his team. All he'd had to do was simply shoot Hunt, have TheMole grab the list, and he'd have been in the clear with Hunt still considered the traitor and everyone else believing [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] was dead.
* RogueAgent: Ethan Hunt is framed to be a rogue agent after an operation gone wrong, and the rest of the film he has to clear his name by finding the ''real'' rogue agent, who is [[spoiler:Jim Phelps, the protagonist of the original TV series, in one of the most infamous {{Face Heel Turn}}s in the history of cinema]].
* ScaramangaSpecial: The ending sequence features one of these wielded by [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]].
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Ethan tells Sarah to disregard Jim's IrrevocableOrder to abort the mission, feeling the NOC list is too valuable to let their mark, Golitsyn, walk out of their sight. This backfires badly in the moment, especially for Sarah, who is killed tailing Golitsyn.
* SeeYouInHell: Kittridge gets a pretty awesome line when he thinks he's going to nab Ethan as the IMF mole:
-->'''All right, Hunt. Enough is enough. You have bribed, cajoled, and killed, and [[TheMole you have done it using loyalties on the inside]]. [[DealWithTheDevil You want to shake hands with the devil]], that's fine with me, I just want to make sure that you do it in hell!"
* SelfServingMemory: A subversion in that the ConsummateLiar isn't the person with the flashbacks, but rather the person he's speaking to. [[spoiler: When Jim calls out Kittridge as the mole, Ethan already knows Jim is]], but Ethan verbally plays along while we see flashbacks to the Prague mission [[spoiler: where Ethan puts Jim in position to kill every team member and stage his own death.]] When he muses that the mole must've needed help to blow up Hannah in the car, [[spoiler: he first thinks of Claire as the culprit (and he'd be right), but he doesn't want to believe it, so he imagines the scenario again with Jim blowing it up with a detonator at a specific time]].
* SequelHook: The movie ends with Ethan flying back home and a flight attendant offering him his next assignment in the same manner as Jim.
* ShipTease: Jack and Sarah flirt with each other before and during the Prague mission. [[spoiler: The ship is quickly sunk when both are killed before the first act is over.]]
* ShoePhone: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] builds a gun from components disguised as a stereo.
* ShoutOut:
** The dangling wires scene was inspired by ''Topaki''.
** The bone-white look of the vault was influenced by ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' .
* SilenceIsGolden: The vault scene has almost no music, making the scene even more intense.
* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:PsychoForHire Krieger sports one when he attempts to decapitate Ethan with the helicopter blades and nearly succeeded if the propellers did not get caught in the tunnels.]]
* SmugSnake: Kittridge is practically giddy at the restaurant when he not-so-subtly implies to Ethan that he's in big trouble. He gets a rare heroic version of the trope at the end of the film when Ethan reveals to him that [[spoiler:Phelps is alive.]]
** "Good morning, [[spoiler:Mr. Phelps.]]"
* SneezeOfDoom: Everything is going smoothly, too smoothly. Right on cue, Krieger has his allergies messed with by nature.
* SnowyScreenOfDeath: Happens when Jack is killed in the elevator, his feed going to static on impact. When Ethan reaches the safe house later that night and looks at Jim's mission control laptop, every teammate feed but Ethan's is in this state.
* SoMuchForStealth: The famous MissionImpossibleCableDrop is completed successfully only for Franz Krieger to drop his knife — it miraculously misses the alarmed floor and jams in the desk, dumbfounding the computer clerk when he returns to the room.
* StealingFromTheHotel: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] took the Gideon Bible he used to find the verses needed to communicate with the various villains with him. This allows Ethan Hunt to figure out that he's the mole when he finds the Bible. However, technically Gideon Bibles are not hotel property and are ''intended'' to be taken.
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: [[spoiler: Jim Phelps.]] The cast of the original show along with its fans were most certainly not pleased.
* TheSummation: The film shows Ethan Hunt's internal summations (there are two possible solutions, depending on whether or not there was an accomplice) during a conversation with [[spoiler:Phelps]], while Ethan is verbally agreeing with him that someone else did it.
* SureLetsGoWithThat: While Ethan is [[spoiler: playing along with Jim's lie about the Prague mission, he chooses not to believe Claire is involved]] and decides TheMole could have done it all without an accomplice. [[spoiler: Jim Phelps]] merely shrugs and lets Ethan stay on that line of thinking.
* SurvivedTheBeginning: Ethan Hunt's whole team is killed off in the opening, including characters played by big-name actors Creator/JonVoight, Kristin Scott-Thomas, and Emilio Estevez. [[spoiler:Voight got better, but you don't find that out until later]].
* TimeMarchesOn: In the opening, Jim Phelps smokes a cigarette so that the people sitting around him don't notice the smoke caused by his briefing tape self-destructing. Nowadays commercial flights are strictly non-smoking.
* TraintopBattle: The finale occurs atop a speeding TGV inside the channel tunnel. Unusually for the trope, they can barely move because of the enormous wind resistance.
* TranquilFury: Ethan goes into this when Kittridge accuses him of being the IMF mole.
-->'''Kittridge''': I can understand you're very upset.\\
'''Ethan''': Kittridge, you've never seen me very upset.
* TuxedoAndMartini: The opening mission involves the heroes in tuxedos.
* UnbuiltTrope: The famous MissionImpossibleCableDrop scene was the result of the heroes with their high tech gear breaking into a high tech vault nearly getting screwed because there was a rat in the vents, which made Krieger sneeze. At the end of the scene, they're nearly done in by simply dropping something (Krieger's knife).
* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:Jim and Claire Phelps, a husband and wife pair willing to betray, frame, and kill their own teammates for several million, which is far above Jim's standard pay of sixty grand a year]].
* UnreliableVoiceover: As Jim Phelps tells Ethan a long story about how the mission went bad, Ethan imagines something completely different.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Ethan and Kittridge working together in the final act; Ethan lures Kittridge to London via a call trace; on arrival, a [=TGV=] ticket and a video watch is awaiting Kittridge. The latter item becomes very important.
* WalkingSpoiler: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps, PrecursorHero of the series is NotQuiteDead and has done a FaceHeelTurn]].
* WhamShot:
** After Ethan has made a call to Kittridge in London with the motive of allowing his conversation to be deliberately traced there, [[spoiler:the guy standing to the left of Ethan turns around to reveal himself as none other than Jim]]. It's even more significant because this shot occurred '''immediately''' after Ethan has hung up.
** Ethan going over what happened as the audience sees [[spoiler: It was Phelps who killed his own team and set this up.]]
* WhatDidIDoLastNight: The ColdOpen features a crime boss in a room with a dead prostitute. Already horrified by his actions, he's even more so when his DirtyCop associate tells him that the girl is a favorite escort of a rival crime boss. The cop demands information from him in exchange for protection. After he's whisked away, it's revealed to the audience that the cop is really Ethan Hunt in disguise and the "dead" girl is a fellow agent, Claire, FakingTheDead under heavy sedation.
* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: [[spoiler:When Phelps lies that Kittridge is the mole, he claims he betrayed them because he had become useless after the fall. He's actually talking about himself.]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Phelps]]''': ...when you think about it, Ethan, it was inevitable... no more Cold War. No more secrets you keep from everyone but yourself, operations you answer to no one but yourself. Then one morning you wake up and find out the President of the United States is running the country - without your permission. The son-of-a-bitch! How dare he? You realize it’s over; you’re an obsolete piece of hardware not worth upgrading, you’ve got a lousy marriage and sixty-two grand a year.
* YouJustToldMe: Ethan gets confirmation [[spoiler: Claire is working with her husband in framing Ethan and grabbing the money for the NOC list simply by silently posing as Jim.]]
* YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost: Happens to Ethan twice. [[spoiler:And both of them were behind it all.]]
* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The team successfully catches the mark possessing the NOC list and leaving to meet his buyer. [[spoiler: Then the team (sans Ethan) and the mark are killed one by one and the list is in the hands of the assailant.]] Only the mark wasn't a mark, the list wasn't the list, and the mission wasn't a mission.
----
->'''Flight Attendant:''' Excuse me. Mr. Hunt? Would you like to watch a movie?\\
'''Ethan Hunt:''' Oh, uh, no thank you.\\
'''Flight Attendant:''' [[{{Bookends}} Would you consider the cinema of the Caribbean? Aruba, perhaps?]]

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: The poor waiter (agent?) near the fish tank that Ethan blows is not just blown out the room, but [[DestinationDefenestration through the front glass on the other side]] and out into the street, all in a curled-up, ragdoll position.

%%* BigBad: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps is the main antagonist of the film.]]
%%* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps and Krieger.]]

* StealingFromTheHotel: [[spoiler:Jim Phelps]] took the Gideon bible he used to find the verses needed to communicate with the various villains with him. This allows Ethan Hunt to figure out that he's the mole when he finds the bible. However, technically Gideon bibles are not hotel property and are ''intended'' to be taken.

* FemmeFataleSpy: [[spoiler: Claire Phelps, who uses her seductive skills and a perceived innocence to blind Ethan to her treachery, while murdering Hannah and helping Jim frame Ethan.]]

''Mission: Impossible'' (1996) is the first entry in the ''Film/MissionImpossibleFilmSeries'', starring Creator/TomCruise as Ethan Hunt.

* FemmeFataleSpy: [[spoiler: Claire Phelps, who uses her seductive skills and a perceived innocence to blind Ethan to her treachery, while murdering Hannah and helping Jim frame and kill Ethan and their teammates.]]

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: A second viewing can discover that uring Ethan's call to Kittridge in London, [[spoiler:Jim Phelps was standing right next to him on his left before revealing himself to Ethan, being the guy wearing a beige trench coat]].

* WhamShot: Ethan going over what happened as the audience sees [[spoiler: It was Phelps who killed his own team and set this up.]]

-->'''[[spoiler:Phelps]]''': …when you think about it, Ethan, it was inevitable… no more Cold War. No more secrets you keep from everyone but yourself, operations you answer to no one but yourself. Then one morning you wake up and find out the President of the United States is running the country - without your permission. The son-of-a-bitch! How dare he? You realize it’s over; you’re an obsolete piece of hardware not worth upgrading, you’ve got a lousy marriage and sixty-two grand a year.

-->'''Flight Attendant:''' Excuse me. Mr. Hunt? Would you like to watch a movie?\\

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: "Good morning, Mr. Phelps." Kittridge's usual mission greeting turns into an acknowledgement about who the IMF mole really is once he turns on the camera watch provided by Ethan.]]

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Ethan and Kittridge working together in the final act; Ethan lures Kittridge to London via a call trace then is given a [=TGV=] ticket and a camera watch. The latter becomes very important.