Mission: Impossible: Special Collector's Edition DVD Review

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Title: Mission: Impossible: Special Collector’s Edition

Region: One

Genre: Spy Espionage Action Thriller

Stars: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Heart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vanessa Redgrave

Writers: David Koepp and Robert Towne

Based On A Story By: David Koepp and Steven Zallian

Based On The Television Series Created By: Bruce Geller

Director: Brian De Palma

Feature length: 110 minutes

Extras: Mission: Remarkable – 40 Years Of Creating The Impossible, Mission: Explosive Exploits, Mission: Spies Among Us, Mission: Catching The Train, Mission: International Spy Museum, Mission: Agent Dossiers, Tribute Montages, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Mission: Impossible III Trailer, Photo Gallery

Languages: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and English and French Language Dolby Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Closed Captions and English and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Keep Case

Chapter Stops: 13

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 1996/DVD Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Home Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

This is not meant to be a true story, but I once heard an anecdote on the radio where the famous host referred to Tom Cruise as being smart by explaining that since he probably never will be the next James Bond, he found a franchise he liked where he could star and call the shots. Now as I noted above, this is just an anecdote and not at all meant to be a description of why Cruise resurrected “Mission: Impossible” into a successful film franchise, but I do believe in general that just like every studio would love to have an animation reputation and franchises like Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers, I do think every studio would love to have an ongoing franchise like the James Bond films. Something that could transcend generations and movie stars as well as tell stand alone adventures to match the times. “Mission: Impossible” offers Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures the chance to tell exciting spy stories that could conceivably transcend generations and stars since Cruise is a Producer for the franchise as well as the Star until he either decides that he wants to hand the franchise to a new IMF agent. I saw “Mission: Impossible III” on the big screen two weeks ago and while I think it was better than the second film, I do think that the first film is still the best one so far. The third film just felt very much like an episode of “Alias” to me and I suppose that is what Cruise and Writer and Director as well as the Creator of “Alias,” J.J. Abrams wanted and in some ways I thought the film reflected the newly married Tom Cruise’s relationship with his Wife Katie Holmes. Not that the characters are meant to be doubles of either Actor and as far as I know Holmes does not even have a cameo in the film, but I do think that much like life impacts and reflects what we do for a living, I think the new film portrays Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character in a more personal and human like factor as opposed to just a super spy. So since he’s happily married, so is Ethan Hunt. However when the first film premiered, it was an excellent popcorn spy thriller with a somewhat controversial character twist and what were then state of the art CGI effects.

The plot features Cruise as Ethan Hunt, a super spy who witnesses the systematic assassination of his fellow IMF operatives and is framed for their murders and disavowed by the CIA. Using any skills and connections he has, Hunt puts together a team of fellow disavowed agents and mercenaries in an attempt to find out who framed him and clear his name by preventing the CIA noc list from being exposed and placing the lives of operatives worldwide in danger. The cast features John Voight, Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave, Ving Rhames, and Emilio Estevez. As one of the early Paramount Home Entertainment DVD releases, the original “Mission: Impossible” DVD featured a letterboxed (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation as well as a pan and scan (1.33:1) aspect ratio presentation. This new Special Collector’s Edition DVD features a long overdue anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation that looks excellent. A definite vast improvement over the previous release. In addition the DVD features a well English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound as well as English and French Language Dolby Surround Soundtracks and English Closed Captions for the Hearing Impaired and English and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded onto the dual layered disc as options.

There are a number of featurettes included among the extra value materials beginning with the retrospective “Mission: Remarkable: 40 Years Of Creating The Impossible” (11:25), a look at the pyrotechnics and action effects under the title “Mission: Explosive Exploits” (5:09), a look at the climactic train sequence (2:38) as well as two very interesting shorts that give viewers a look within the International Spy Museum (6:30) and the art of assuming an undercover identity on the field (8:39). There are even Agent Dossiers for the characters in the featured IMF team from the first film.

In a celebration of Tom Cruise’s contribution to cinema, two montages that run at 9 minutes and 13 seconds and 3 minutes and 52 seconds respectively are included along with their respective award ceremonies footages with Cruise accepting the Stanley Kubrick Award For Excellence In Film from BAFTA (3:19) as well as MTV Generation Award presented by his Wife Katie Holmes (3:42). Anthony Hopkins, who appeared in “Mission: Impossible II” can be seen behind Cruise during his BAFTA Award acceptance speech. The teaser and trailer for “Mission: Impossible” as well as the trailer for Mission: Impossible III” can be viewed individually or in succession (4:50) as well as 9 TV spots that feature a “Play All” feature (3:47) and a photo gallery wrap up the bonus features on this DVD. The main menu is preceded by a trailer for “Mission: Impossible III” (1:38) and the main menu is animated with motion transitions to standard interactive still frame menus and are easy to navigate.

Definitely an improvement over the original release, “Mission: Impossible: Special Collector’s Edition” is available on DVD-Video at retailers on and offline now courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.

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