Mission Impossible (1996)

The leader (Jon Voight) of a secret espionage agency and his team are assigned a mission in Prague to prevent the theft of a disc containing the names of agency operatives. However, things go horribly wrong resulting in the deaths of four agents leaving only two survivors (Tom Cruise, Emmanuelle Beart). Based on the television series of the same name and directed by Brian De Palma (CARRIE). The film was a massive hit and spawned a franchise but this splendidly made action movie remains a highpoint if only because of the relative restraint it shows while its sequels would get bigger and wilder with each subsequent movie. Incredibly, the film went into production without a finished script but you'd never know it. De Palma drives the movie forward as quickly as a bullet train with very few opportunities to linger over its far fetched narrative. A terrific rollercoaster ride of a movie! The large cast includes Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emilio Estevez, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny and Ingeborga Dapkunaite.