Mission Impossible: Ultimate Missions Collection (DVD)

Mission: Impossible (1996): Tom Cruise is the leading guided missile in this daffy but highly entertaining reprise of the old TV spy show -- complete with a virtual-reality trip into Brian De Palma's head. With John Voight, Emmanuelle Beart, Henry Czerny, Vanessa Redgrave, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott-Thomas. Screenplay by David Koepp and Robert Towne, directed by Brian De Plama.

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000): Amazon.com
Visually stunning, and a likely must for John Woo aficionados, the second Mission: Impossible outing from megastar Tom Cruise suffers from an inconsistent tone and tired plot devices--not only recycled from other films, but repeated throughout the film. Despite remarkable cinematography and awe-inspiring, trademark Woo photography, the movie offers a tepid story from legendary screenwriter-director Robert Towne (Chinatown, Without Limits) and a host of other writers, most uncredited.

It is, regrettably, as forgettable as the first big-budget, big box-office MI in 1996, and it's clear (as Towne confirms) that the plot was developed around Woo- and Cruise-written action sequences. The film combines equal elements of romance and action, and is best when it features the stunning allure of Thandie Newton as Nyah, a master thief recruited by the sinewy charms of Ethan Hunt (a fit Cruise). Deeply in love after a passionate night, the couple must then combat MI nemesis (and Nyah's former lover) Sean Ambrose (Ever After's Dougray Scott). Ambrose holds hostage a virus and its cure, and offers them to the highest bidder.

Woo's famed mythic filmmaking is far from subtle, with heroic Hunt frequently slow-motion walking through fire, smoke, or other similar devices, replete with a white dove among pigeons to signal his presence. The emphasis on romance is an attempt to develop character and a more human side to superspy Hunt, but still the dreary story proves a distraction from the exciting action sequences. John Polson (as an MI team member) is an Aussie talent to keep an eye on. --N.F. Mendoza

Mission: Impossible 3 (2006): Tom Cruise returns as Special Agent Ethan Hunt, who faces the mission of his life in Mission: Impossible III. Director J. J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias") brings his unique blend of action and drama to the billion-dollar franchise.