Product Details

• Actors: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno
• Directors: Brian De Palma
• Writers: Bruce Geller, David Koepp, Robert Towne, Steven Zaillian
• Producers: J.C. Calciano, Paul Hitchcock, Paula Wagner
• Format: Dolby, Color, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: April 11, 2006
• Run Time: 110 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (202 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000EGDB10
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,856 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mission: Impossible (Special Collector's Edition)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mission Impossible
A flashy, splashy summer-movie blockbuster that's fun and exciting without being mindless? That's the impossible mission accomplished by director Brian De Palma, star-coproducer Tom Cruise, and the crack team of Mission: Impossible. Based on the '60s TV show and an almost impenetrably complex (but nonetheless thrilling) original story by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Steven Zaillian (Schindler's List), with a screenplay by Koepp and Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo), Mission: Impossible begins with veteran agent Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) and his expert crew embarking on a mission that goes horribly, horribly wrong. But nothing is what it seems. The nail-biting set piece--always a signature of director De Palma (Carrie, The Untouchables)--in which Cruise is lowered from the ceiling to retrieve information from a computer in a high-security vault--is an instant classic. But perhaps even more impressive, at least in retrospect, is a flashback sequence in which two characters attempt to reconstruct a series of events from multiple points of view. It's pretty daring and sophisticated stuff for a big-budget spy movie, but brains were always what put the Mission: Impossible team ahead of the competition, anyway, no? --Jim Emerson

Mission Impossible II
Visually stunning, and a likely must for John Woo aficionados, the second Mission: Impossible outing from megastar Tom Cruise suffers from an inconsistent tone and tired plot devices--not only recycled from other films, but repeated throughout the film. Despite remarkable cinematography and awe-inspiring, trademark Woo photography, the movie offers a tepid story from legendary screenwriter-director Robert Towne (Chinatown, Without Limits) and a host of other writers, most uncredited.

It is, regrettably, as forgettable as the first big-budget, big box-office MI in 1996, and it's clear (as Towne confirms) that the plot was developed around Woo- and Cruise-written action sequences. The film combines equal elements of romance and action, and is best when it features the stunning allure of Thandie Newton as Nyah, a master thief recruited by the sinewy charms of Ethan Hunt (a fit Cruise). Deeply in love after a passionate night, the couple must then combat MI nemesis (and Nyah's former lover) Sean Ambrose (Ever After's Dougray Scott). Ambrose holds hostage a virus and its cure, and offers them to the highest bidder.

Woo's famed mythic filmmaking is far from subtle, with heroic Hunt frequently slow-motion walking through fire, smoke, or other similar devices, replete with a white dove among pigeons to signal his presence. The emphasis on romance is an attempt to develop character and a more human side to superspy Hunt, but still the dreary story proves a distraction from the exciting action sequences. John Polson (as an MI team member) is an Aussie talent to keep an eye on. --N.F. Mendoza

Mission Impossible III
At the time of its release, Mission: Impossible III's box office was plagued by the publicity backlash against couch-jumping star Tom Cruise. It's too bad, because this third installment of the spy thriller franchise deserved a better reception than it got. First-time feature director J.J. Abrams (bigwig TV director/producer of Lost, Alias, & Felicity) proves more than able-bodied in creating a Mission: Impossible that's leaner and less over-stylized than John Woo's sequel and less confusing than Brian De Palma's original. Plot is still a throwaway here (Cruise's Ethan Hunt rescues his kidnapped former trainee and works to steal a device that... well, we don't really know what it does, but it's something about mass destruction that costs $850 million), but the action sequences, particularly one where Ethan faces down a helicopter on a bridge and gets flung hard against the side of a car, are particularly impressive since Cruise, at 44, is still doing most of his own stunts and shows no hint of the weathered look that's struck his action-star peers. (Though no Mission: Impossible stunt will ever be quite as simultaneously nail-biting and funny as the first film's wire-dangling break-in of CIA headquarters.)

Mission: Impossible III boasts a pedigreed cast, particularly Oscar® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) as baddie arms dealer Owen Davian. Hoffman plays Owen all teeth-clenched and cool, especially when threatening to kill Ethan in front of his lovely new wife (Michelle Monaghan) who has no idea of his spy life. But in his first action-film lead role, Hoffman's almost too calm and collected to really make a memorable villain, especially when the rest of the cast--Ving Rhames (the only other cast member to return for all three films), Asian film star Maggie Q, and an underused Jonathan Rhys-Meyers--are a highlight as Ethan's IMF team. Mission: Impossible is still fun popcorn spy fare, and if Cruise chooses to end the franchise here, at least he goes out on a high note. --Ellen A. Kim

Product Description

Tom Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, a secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team. Fleeing from government assassins, breaking into the CIA's most impenetrable vault, clinging to the roof of a speeding bullet train, Hunt races like a burning fuse to stay one step ahead of his pursuers... and draw one step closer to discovering the shocking truth.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS EDITION, July 9, 2006

By 

G.V. "Gerry" (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mission: Impossible (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

I am a big fan of this movie but there's nothing special about this, so-called "Collector's Edition" which only seems to have been issued in order to have something tied up for the release of MI3.
There are a few short clips on how the incredible set pieces were made but no new interviews, deleted scenes, commentaries, etc. The featurettes included are as shallow as they can get. This is too bad given the many years we had been waiting for a special edition of this movie. Compare this to the incredible SEs Fox has been issuing of movies such as the Poseidon Adventure, Towering Inferno, Nine to Five, Planet of the Apes, etc. and it feels like somebody at Paramount ought to be fired.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, what are you talking about?, February 25, 2000

By 

"themandgman" (Minneapolis, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mission Impossible [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I don't quite get the bad reviews for this film. Its one of my All-Time favorites, and sure, it takes brains to follow the storyline. Yeah? So? I think that you have become to accustomed to action movies with no stories, just people getting blown up. This movie centers around Ethan Hunt (Cruise) an IMF agent sent on a mission in Keiv. The mission goes wrong and its up to Ethan to figure out what happened. He soon finds himself trying to keep a IMF NOC list from getting into the wrong hands. But whose hands are those? This movie does involve some thinking, and you may have to view it a few times to truly appreciate, but isn't that what a great movie does? You pick up new things every time you view. The movie stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Jon Voigt in a great role and other well known actors and actresses.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Impossibly dull, February 26, 2000

By 

Mr. S. Carlin "arca20" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mission Impossible [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The first 15 minutes of the film nod to the original series and promise a slick new version for the 90s. Then suddenly the film becomes dull, predictable and cliched, featuring all the ideas that had previously been rejected as potential storylines for an MI film - ideas suggested by people who knew little about the series but thought the title sounded catchy. When the mission goes wrong and Ethan is speaking to Phelps...its so obvious what is happening and the film vanishes under a cloud of predictability.

After the excellent first quarter hour the film plods along between its two dull stunt set-pieces. Even these are just the usualy "by-the-book" standard fare from the Hollywood production line. If you've seen one explosive/roller-coaster ride/hero triumphs over bad guy sequemce you've seem them all. When Ethan breaks into the CIA to steal the CNOC list - there's nothnig new there at all. Its a scene that has been used in other films and a great many commercials. The Channel Tunnel scene is utterly laughable - not once did it have me on the end my seat - it just had me at the end of my tether that the film deteriorated so progressively.

I have heard some people say that this is a complicated film - I can only say that its complicated if you come in durnig the end titles. This is simplistic drivel, not only easy to follow but easy to predict. If you can't see what's happening next then you are too young to be watching this film.

Overall, a lame, boring film which again demonstrates that Brian dePalma is an overrrated director. Even the one outstanding scene I remember from one of his films was ripped-off from another (Battleship Potemkin).

If you liked the TV series - AVOID the film. If you like production line films with a couple of stupid stunt scenes in them then this will suit you right down to the ground.