Mission: Impossible

Trivia: Peter Graves was asked to reprise his role as Jim Phelps for this movie. When Peter found out that Jim was the main villain for the film, he promptly turned it down.

Trivia: Originally, Alan Silvestri was hired to write the score, but it was eventually decided that his musical style clashed with the tone of the film, and he was replaced by Danny Elfman.

Trivia: Director Brian De Palma reportedly had creative difficulties with Tom Cruise, who was also a producer and thus had final say in the decisions made during production. While this has been disputed, many have noted the fact that De Palma did very little press for the film (including "politely excusing" himself from scheduled media interviews at the last moment) and never took up an offer to record an audio commentary for the film as evidence.

Trivia: The last major Hollywood film to be released on the Betamax video-tape format.

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.

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Mistakes

Factual error: The vents that Hunt and his sidekick crawl down at CIA Headquarters are standard galvanized steel box vents; they are very common in the building trade. Try walking or crawling down one - you'll make a noise like the sky is falling down. People will be able to hear you for miles. Every person in that building would know somebody crawling about in the vent system. (This error applies to dozens of films, not only this one).

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Quotes

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.

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Questions

Question: Was Kreiger going to kill Ethan Hunt above the vault immediately after grabbing the disk from Ethan's mouth? Earlier when Ethan says, "Zero body count," Kreiger responds "We'll see," insinuating maybe he's still planning to kill somebody. As soon as Ethan's to the top, Kreiger grabs the disk, a quick, "Merci" (as if saying thanks, now goodbye), and the knife is already out, but luckily dropped. They are both so freaked out at such a near miss, Ethan doesn't even notice Kreiger was going to kill him. Did this cross anybody else's mind? Why else was the knife out to be dropped?

Answer: I disagree with the other answers. I watched it in slow motion and thought he was going for the kill. There would be minimal struggle since Ethan isn't in a fighting position and Krieger was inches from his throat with the knife before he dropped it. He wouldn't care if there's a lock down because he would be out by the time they notice Ethan's body above. I guess blood spilling would give it away, but he'd still be out and under cover before anything can be done. He doesn't have to know who Max is or how to contact her he's working with Claire and Phelps. Luther wouldn't care too much because he just met them. At most all they have to say is that there was an accident and Ethan didn't make it. Max wouldn't care because she just wants the real list. If Ethan dies early the bad guys win and IMF will think hey he was the mole and got double crossed. There is 0 reason for Krieger to not kill him at that moment. He has the disc and that's all he needs.

Job as Jim lost confidence of Max. The deal was with Ethan. Ethan had to survive.

Answer: Krieger presumably used his knife to kill the rat in the vent. It's unlikely he would have tried to kill Ethan above the vault, as there would have been a noisy struggle which would set off the intrusion countermeasures. Luther would have also seen it happen on Ethan's head-mounted camera.

Sierra1 ★

Also, Krieger didn't know how to communicate with Max.

Krieger didn't need to communicate with Max because he was actually working with Claire and Jim, and Jim was in communication with Max.

Krieger may have killed the rat with the knife, but that's not why it's in his hand when he confronts Ethan. After killing the rat, he has both hands on the cable holding Ethan.

Answer: I don't think he intended to kill him. If so, why would Ethan continue to work with a guy who literally just tried to murder him? But I also have no idea why Krieger had the knife out.

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