Mission: Impossible (1996)

Alex and Ben embrace the arrival of Tom Cruise: Action Star as he dons the Ethan Hunt persona for the first time and kicks off his most successful franchise to date - both commercially and personally. There's no room for ambiguity here - this is a love fest as De Palma's slick direction is praised, the film is assessed as both a stand-alone spy film and a revival of Mission: Impossible and Cruise himself earns the cinematic achievement of becoming a one-man movie-making machine (hint: numbers). Plenty of classic staples are in play, the Cruisiverse goes to the next level after a peek into NegaCruisiverse and we even look forward a little at where the franchise might go. All this and jokes about 90s email to boot. Your mission is to listen. Choose to accept it. Music (Mission: Improbable) is by Dorian Kelly; artwork is by Laura Highton; contact details are at the end of the episode.