Mission: Impossible

Factual error: Liverpool Street Station is shown as more or less deserted in the hours of daylight. The only way this could be achieved in real life is by phoning in a bomb threat.

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Suggested correction: It's night. After Ethan sees that his parents have been arrested, he walks out in the streets, and it's dark outside. Several shots later the big clock in the station is shown, and you can see that it's about 11pm.

This validates the entry rather than correcting it. If it is 11.00 pm the pubs have just closed and Liverpool Street Station would be heaving. This is true of any mainline station in London - as well as the fast food restaurants associated with them. Any Londoner knows that.

Factual error: In the scene of the eurotunnel train the ticket collector is wearing a 70s British Rail uniform This was the national railway company for Great Britain but is now defunct due to privatisation in the 90s.

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Suggested correction: At the time of filming, British Rail would still have existed as it was only being dismantled in the mid 90s. However, I think Eurostar would provide their staff with different uniforms.

Andy Benham

Plot hole: In the famous raid on the computer room raid, where Hunt is lowered from the ceiling, we see a close up of the screws to the vent being undone and caught in a holder so they don't fall on the floor. But the screws cannot be put back in their holes and done up once the vent is closed, and there is not enough time for Hunt to be pulled back up and the vent closed and screws replaced when the operator returns to the room, as Hunt was pulled back up with seconds to spare.

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Suggested correction: They would not have to use screws to reattach it. They could use tape, glue, or magnets.

LorgSkyegon

That would be detected, but of course, the perpetrators would be long gone.

Plot hole: At the end of the tunnel, the helicopter has been attached to the train; Phelps knows it, the pilot knows it, and yet Phelps still climbs across to the helicopter like he's trying to escape, but there's nowhere to go. He's deliberately climbing into a potentially lethal situation he can't get out of for no reason except it makes it convenient to kill two bad guys with one explosion.

Jon Sandys

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Suggested correction: Phelps detached the cable before he jumped to the helicopter. The problem was Krieger tried to kill Hunt first, before trying to escape.

David George

Factual error: When the helicopter blows up, the train stops dead in its tracks almost instantly. A high-speed train like the TGV needs more then two miles to come to a complete stop from its top speed, or at least from the speed it's traveling at. And a Little Bird attached to it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference.

Friso94

More mistakes in Mission: Impossible

Jim Phelps: Of course he knew. Just when he knew is something of a mystery. You mind telling me, Ethan? Was it before or after I showed up in London?
Ethan Hunt: Before London. But after you took the Bible from the Drake Hotel in Chicago.
Jim Phelps: They stamped it, didn't they? Those damn Gideons.

More quotes from Mission: Impossible

Trivia: An early draft of the script was set to feature several characters from the original series all being killed off to raise the stakes for the new characters. The producers wanted to bring back as many of the original actors as possible. All declined, as they felt it was disrespectful to the original series. As a result, only the character of Jim Phelps was brought back, albeit as a surprise villain and not a hero.

More trivia for Mission: Impossible

Question: Why did Claire return to Ethan? Jim must have sent her but why? Ethan had been framed, why send Claire to potentially expose herself to IMF if found? Is it because: Max receives mail from Ethan, immediately contacts Job to say "What the hell man someone claims you sold me junk!" Now Job/Jim knows he didn't deliver the actual list so he already plans to have Ethan steal the real one for him. Or is that too far fetched?

Answer: Jim has not been paid (at least in full) yet. This is revealed in the conversation Ethan has with Max in the car. Payment was conditional on the disk passing all her safety checks, which she had not done yet (she had not even looked at it yet). There is no way Jim knew the NOC list was junk at this point in time. However, since Jim has not been paid yet for the NOC list, he might have been trying to play it safe, and have Claire just keep tabs. If things don't go as planned, he might have left Claire as she was expendable to him. Also it is unlikely Max contacted Jim (Job) to ask about the email from Ethan (pretending to be Job). Max at this point believes the two are the same person. She simply invites Job to come in and discuss further.

Answer: Sending Claire back to Ethan was a daring ploy to get on the inside of Ethan's confidence. It made no sense and was the least likely thing Claire would do if she was part of Jim's plan. Ethan could have killed her, but the ploy worked and Ethan was confused enough to let her live.

Charles Austin Miller

But why? Jim sells the list to Max and rides off into the sunset with Claire, or so he intends to. What does he gain from having someone on the inside initially? Ethan is screwed, Jim doesn't need to get all the juicy details of how he goes down. Later on it's beneficial for him to have Claire in place there, but initially it makes no sense. Before Ethan formulates any plan and before Max finds out the list is bad.

Jim knew the first NOC list was bad but used the failed raid as an opportunity to kill off a number of IMF agents who might otherwise thwart his plans. Jim still needed Ethan to procure the real NOC list, but this time using a reduced team that contained 2 moles (Claire and Franz). Jim knew that Ethan was the most capable agent, but wanted him under close scrutiny by Claire and Franz.

Charles Austin Miller

He knew it was bad? Then why did he give it to Max anyway? If Ethan hadn't warned her she might have been caught by Kittrdige. Are you saying Jim foresaw everything, I mean everything that Ethan would do? He went through with the embassy raid knowing it was a mole hunt in advance, knowing Ethan would later get the real one for him? What if Ethan had gone with Kittridge in the restaurant? I mean it's unlikely, but this whole scenario sees Jim leaving sooo much to chance. I find it more plausible that he did think he was getting the list in Prague and then adapted to the situation to use Ethan to get the real one. I mean if he really knew the list wasn't in Praque he could have saved himself the trouble and just hire a couple of disavowed agents to do the Langley job himself, just like Ethan did. He had Claire, Krieger and Luther. Yeah no Ethan, but I mean I'm sure he could have found someone else who is capable.

More questions & answers from Mission: Impossible

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