I Watched Mission: Impossible For The First Time, And I Can Honestly Say I Enjoyed It, But Not How You Think

I have a confession – I’ve never seen any of the Mission: Impossible movies. Well, at least until now.

I know, I know – how could the movie and TV journalist never see a single Mission: Impossible film? It’s a massive franchise! For some reason, I just never got around to watching them. I had seen bits and pieces of the original, but had never sat down and watched the entire film.

Tom Cruise’s filmography is pretty vast, and I have seen him in so many other great films that it’s hard to keep up with every action film he does. So, those movies often fall through the cracks.

But now, the Mission: Impossible franchise is supposedly coming to an end with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which is coming out soon on the 2025 movie schedule. In honor of it, I thought I’d check out the first movie and actually watch all of it. And, it was an adventure. I will say that I was entertained, but not how you probably think. Let’s get into it.

I Went In Expecting Greatness

So, obviously, I had seen some M:I scenes before. I had written a couple of small entries on why to watch it on other lists, and thought I really knew what I was getting into when I decided to sit down and watch this film.

I’m going to be honest with you and say I really did think this was going to be one of the best '90s movies. I feel like with eight films in a franchise, there’s some room for greatness there. Sure, not every film is going to be amazing, but the first movie is what sets everything off, right?

We wouldn’t have Jurassic World: Rebirth all these years later if not for the original Jurassic Park films. We wouldn’t have all those Fast and Furious movies if not for the fun original that everyone saw back in the day. I really thought M:I. with how iconic it has become, would be one of those greats.

But I Was Given…Mediocrity?

I was really wrong.

Look, Mission: Impossible isn’t inherently a bad movie. Remember that I said in the beginning that I did have fun watching this? It’s still enjoyable, and I can totally see why so many people enjoy it.

But to get the reaction and reception that this series received right after? I didn’t think it was that good.

There are a lot of spy movies out there. I’m not a huge spy movie fan and have never claimed to be. My dad is the person who would watch all the best James Bond movies and, honestly, loves the Mission: Impossible films. But I’ve seen a good number of spy films with him, so I have a relatively decent idea of what a good spy movie is.

And M:I was just sort of…eh?

I don’t know; I think I was expecting a lot more. There were plenty of scenes in this film that have been cemented as major movie moments since, such as Ethan (Cruise) descending into that vault like a spider.

But, I also wasn’t really on the edge of my seat, waiting for something to happen. It was a lot more subdued than I expected, and I’m not entirely sure that’s a great thing. The plot was already pretty predictable, but we’ll get into that later.

There Were So Many Plot Holes I Fell Into A River, Too

Remember how Jim fell into a river after he supposedly got shot in this film? That was how I felt when I stepped into every single plot hole imaginable in this movie, falling right into the river behind him.

Like I said, the plot was predictable, with the most straightforward third-act betrayal set-up that you could get from a spy movie. What actually made this movie entertaining for me is that my boyfriend and I would just laugh at the hilarities of the plot holes of this film, and things that simply did not make sense.

For example, how the heck is a helicopter fitting into a train tunnel? How on God’s green earth did the blades of that machine not get caught up in the stone or explode? But, fine, I’ll leave that up to the magic of movie-making – maybe the tunnel was big enough to fit one, who knows?

Let’s really talk about the plot. The entire point of Ethan breaking into that CIA facility was to get that NOC list, right? It was split into two parts, one with codes and the other with identities, but why would both parts be in the same area in the CIA? Wouldn’t they want to separate it if it were so important?

And you want to know one of the BIGGEST plot holes? How was that super high-tech vault not tripped by any secret sensor? Like any? None of that makes any sense. Wouldn’t there be cameras in the room??? Did no one turn them on? I’m not sure.

And The Acting Was…Not Super Great Either

This is a somewhat minor thing, but the acting in this film was not that great. I’m not expecting Academy Award-winning performances, but man, at least try something. Some actors in this film felt like they were just phoning it in.

On the bright side, I see why Cruise really enjoys this role. I genuinely don’t think I can see another person playing Ethan Hunt. I can’t get behind some of these acting choices, though. Goodness.

I Can See Why It Became A Franchise…But I Don’t Think It’s For Me

Look, I’m not saying this is a bad movie. Clearly, it’s not, since seven other films came out after it, and people do love it. However, what I am saying is that I don’t think it’s for me.

I think I grew up in a time where there has been such a high saturation of spy movies that I’m sick of them, and watching movies like this, which feel very predictable, kind of makes me not want to watch them. I can totally understand why this film spawned a franchise…But I don’t think it’s for me.

I’ll take the best fantasy movies, or the best sci-fi horror films, or literally anything else, but I think spy fans can keep Ethan Hunt. My mind can’t seem to separate the realities of espionage from the ridiculousness of this film. And that’s on me. But hey, at least my dad has enjoyed the heck out of these movies.