Rewatchables Reference

• The Langley heist – almost entirely in silence, iconic image of Cruise hanging from the ceiling, incredible tension with the sound-triggered alarm and the digital meter. The rat in the air duct is a nice touch.
• The Prague sequence – a 32-minute opening act that ends with Cruise jumping through the aquarium. Hitchcockian and features the shocking deaths of the entire team.
• Ethan's phone call to Kittridge after Prague – 'They're dead. My team is dead.' Cruise goes full Ruffalo before Ruffalo. 'Do you read me? The list is in the open.'
• Ethan and Max's negotiation – Vanessa Redgrave looks at Cruise like he's a steak. Pure chemistry.
• The Phelps vs. Hunt coffee shop scene – Hunt visualizes what Phelps actually did while Phelps lies to him. Confused a generation of filmgoers.

• De Palma's visual style – the Hitchcockian vibe, deep focus shots, playful camera work. Summer blockbusters all look the same now; this one has a charismatic look.
• The cat-and-mouse format of set pieces – ducking in and out of hallways, masks, disguises, hanging from places, rather than buildings falling down.
• The casting of great actors in supporting roles – Voight, Béart, Reno, Rhames, Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas, Czerny, Estevez. Every speaking part feels lived-in.
• Cruise's performance – closer to Daniel Kaffee than the Superman version of Ethan Hunt we know now. There's a scene where he's just tired from surfing the internet all night.

• The masks – no rules for how they work, and if you can make a mask of anyone's face, half the movie doesn't need to happen. The Senator Walter mask raises especially absurd questions.
• All the computer and internet technology – Ethan typing 'internet access' into a computer, floppy disks, Usenet groups, Netscape browsers, 'upload complete' screens. Crystal-clear streaming video in 1996 Prague.
• The insanely attention-drawing surveillance eyewear worn during the Prague sequence.

• Juliette Binoche turned down the role of Claire because she didn't want to be known for blockbusters.
• Peter Graves and Martin Landau both turned down roles after reading the script.
• Sean pitches Demi Moore as Claire – reprising the Cruise/Moore chemistry from 'A Few Good Men'.
• The original script had Peter Graves' IMF team with Cruise as the youngest member, all killed in the opening.

• Vanessa Redgrave as Max – 59 or 60 years old, one of the great actresses of the 20th century, playing an arms dealer who communicates via Usenet. More sexual chemistry with Cruise than anyone in his filmography except Kelly McGillis. Smiles like a shark, calls him 'Dear Boy,' takes nitrous hits.
• Henry Czerny as Kittridge – felt over the top on first viewing, now excellent. His interplay with Rhames is very funny. Dresses like a G-man from the 1930s during the pursuit.
• Jean Reno – volcanic hot streak from The Professional to this to 'Ronin'. Basically the same role in 'Ronin'.
• Emilio Estevez – fun cameo, 'Hasta lasagna, don't get any on ya.' Never appeared in a blockbuster ensemble like this again.
• Ving Rhames as Luther – smart choice casting this imposing Marsellus Wallace figure as the hacker. Becomes Ethan's conscience throughout the entire franchise.

• Henry Czerny – going full Ruffalo as the bureaucratic CIA antagonist. 'I want him manning a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes.'
• Tom Cruise's face-acting when he's on the computer working through the Job 3:14 Usenet connection – incredible blinking work.

• Why did Jim Phelps shoot Claire first on the train? She barely says anything – 'Jim, don't' – and he kills her. Makes no sense.
• Jim and Claire's relationship in general – he immediately trashes her to Ethan Hunt ('you've tasted the goods, right?') which seems needlessly cruel.
• What really happens at the end when Kittridge says 'we can work out a deal' to Max, an international arms dealer? She just walks away?
• The helicopter-in-a-train-tunnel physics. Jean Reno says he could 'fly a helicopter into the lobby of Fort Knox' but this seems very tough.
• If Ethan Hunt can make a mask of anyone's face, why not make a mask of William Donloe, who works inside the Langley vault, and just walk in?

• Senator John Walter, Democrat of Virginia: Is he a real senator who goes on fishing trips while IMF uses his identity? Is he a co-opted intelligence officer? Or is he a completely constructed 65-year-old human citizen played entirely by Tom Cruise when necessary?
• How is the McLaughlin Group available in crystal-clear video in a Prague hotel room in 1996?
• What is Krieger's endgame? Just 'live by the black market, die by the black market' money-grabbing?

• Tom Cruise: No.
• Brian De Palma: No.
• Ving Rhames: No – Baby Boy or 'Pulp Fiction'.
• Jon Voight: No, not close.
• Kristin Scott Thomas: No – The English Patient.
• Jean Reno: Possibly, but Léon: The Professional is strong competition.
• Henry Czerny: Maybe – but Sean argues Clear and Present Danger is better.
• Steven Burum (cinematographer): Debated – Chris says 'The Untouchables'.
• Danny Elfman: No – Beetlejuice or 'Batman'.
• Not Apex Mountain for anybody individually.

Tom Cruise – he's the engine of the entire thing. Can't imagine anyone else playing Ethan Hunt (they tried with Jeremy Renner and it didn't work). But Jason argues the real winner is the chaotic, old-Hollywood collaborative filmmaking process that somehow produced something great. Sean notes it's weirdly 'end of an era' for almost everyone involved – De Palma's last great movie, Voight's last good movie before Anaconda, the end of a certain kind of blockbuster filmmaking.