Factual error: CIA headquarters in Langley has its own firefighting unit and never, ever calls for outside help. In fact it is official CIA policy that they would rather have a building and its contents burn to the ground than allow unauthorised access by firefighters they know nothing about.
Mission: Impossible (1996)
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Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Jean Reno, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart
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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.
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: 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.
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.
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.
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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.