Blu-ray Review Mission: Impossible 25th Anniversary Edition (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

It’s hard to believe that we’re already celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mission: Impossible’s first cinematic adventure. Perhaps the most faithful to the original television series in approach (though clearly deviating character-wise), this film stands the test of time. The action sequences are terrifically staged and the simmering intensity of Cruise’s Hunt character standouts. The construction of the scene between Hunt and Kittridge (played by Henry Czerny) is perhaps the film’s most dramatically exciting. While the UHD release is still the absolute best way to watch this film, for those not yet 4K equipped, this remastered Blu-ray is a very close second and is an absolute upgrade from the previous disappointing Blu-ray release.



Mission: Impossible (1996)



Released: 22 May 1996
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 110 min




Director: Brian De Palma
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller...

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[Museum Pieces]

Thank you for your review. Because of your review I watched this again last night and like you said, enjoyed it more than the one-and-only time I saw it in the theater 25 years ago. I had too many expectations back then that it could never live up to (I remember walking out of the theater angry that Jim betrayed his team). Though I enjoyed it this time, it still has a fundamental problem, at least for me. If Ethan is working with the CIA the whole time, it makes no sense that in order to sell him being disavowed, he'd have to do things that have a bigger chance of going sideways than succeeding. So the action sequences, which still had me on the edge of my seat 25 years later, are implausible in the sense that, after the fact, the success of Ethan's mission was put in way too of much jeopardy for the sake of drama. But I sure did enjoy seeing it again and wanted to tell you I appreciated your review.

 

[John Maher_289910]

My favorite of the series, thanks to Brian De Palma's visual flair.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Finally, we get an upgrade on both audio and video. I'll be picking this one up.

 

[WinstonCely]

Sorry, but I’m a bit confused. Is this not the same Blu-ray that’s packaged with the 4K?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Sorry, but I’m a bit confused. Is this not the same Blu-ray that’s packaged with the 4K?

No - it's a new master.

I believe it's a different, newer master than the version for the 4K disc as well.

Paramount did this for "Forrest Gump" too: 4K based on older master then later BD from a NEW master.

Not a good trend to base 4Ks on older masters and then market a new master only as a BD!

 

[JoshZ]

Sorry, but I’m a bit confused. Is this not the same Blu-ray that’s packaged with the 4K?

The 4K UHD came packaged with a copy of the old, non-remastered Blu-ray. This is the remastered Blu-ray that should have been included with that package.

 

[JoshZ]

I believe it's a different, newer master than the version for the 4K disc as well.

Paramount did this for "Forrest Gump" too: 4K based on older master then later BD from a NEW master.

Not a good trend to base 4Ks on older masters and then market a new master only as a BD!

The UHD release was not "based on an older master." It was a new 4K master that looked very different from the old Blu-ray.

The review that kicked off this thread in the first post says: "Well, proper redo is exactly what Paramount gave this film when they performed a remaster used for the excellence 4K release a few years ago. That remastering serves as the basis for this Blu-ray edition and the upgrade over the previous Blu-ray release is considerable (though the 4K release is still tops)" and "The strengths of this remaster follow those found on the UHD release, though without the extra oomph provided by HDR and the extra resolution."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The UHD release was not "based on an older master." It was a new 4K master that looked very different from the old Blu-ray.

The review that kicked off this thread in the first post says: "Well, proper redo is exactly what Paramount gave this film when they performed a remaster used for the excellence 4K release a few years ago. That remastering serves as the basis for this Blu-ray edition and the upgrade over the previous Blu-ray release is considerable (though the 4K release is still tops)" and "The strengths of this remaster follow those found on the UHD release, though without the extra oomph provided by HDR and the extra resolution."

I still saw edge haloes and some print flaws on the 4K, which I didn't see in the 2021 BD.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I still saw edge haloes and some print flaws on the 4K, which I didn't see in the 2021 BD.

What you saw may have been "baked in", as Mission: Impossible contains several CG visual effects, which would have been printed out to film rather than part of a DI.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

What you saw may have been "baked in", as Mission: Impossible contains several CG visual effects, which would have been printed out to film rather than part of a DI.

So why didn't I see these on the 2021 BD?

 

[Stephen_J_H]

So why didn't I see these on the 2021 BD?

Lower resolution, limited contrast, same reasons you didn't see them on the DVD.

 

[JoshZ]

Just financially speaking, the likelihood that Paramount would strike a second 4K master just two years after the last one, when no one at all was complaining about the quality of the UHD edition, is almost beyond the realm of plausibility. There was no reason for them to spend money on another remaster if nobody was calling for one.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Just financially speaking, the likelihood that Paramount would strike a second 4K master just two years after the last one, when no one at all was complaining about the quality of the UHD edition, is almost beyond the realm of plausibility. There was no reason for them to spend money on another remaster if nobody was calling for one.

The master here is probably the 4K master, minus the HDR layer and downrezzed to 1080p.

 

[Worth]

Just financially speaking, the likelihood that Paramount would strike a second 4K master just two years after the last one, when no one at all was complaining about the quality of the UHD edition, is almost beyond the realm of plausibility. There was no reason for them to spend money on another remaster if nobody was calling for one.

More than likely. Though Fox made a new 4K master for Alien, despite having a perfectly good existing 4K master from a few years earlier.

 

[JoshZ]

More than likely. Though Fox made a new 4K master for Alien, despite having a perfectly good existing 4K master from a few years earlier.

In that case, the previous master did have some issues that fans had complained about. The image was zoomed in too tight and cropped on all four sides of the frame, and suffered a revisionist teal-and-orange color grade. The UHD corrects both of those problems.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Thank you for your review. Because of your review I watched this again last night and like you said, enjoyed it more than the one-and-only time I saw it in the theater 25 years ago. I had too many expectations back then that it could never live up to (I remember walking out of the theater angry that Jim betrayed his team). Though I enjoyed it this time, it still has a fundamental problem, at least for me. If Ethan is working with the CIA the whole time, it makes no sense that in order to sell him being disavowed, he'd have to do things that have a bigger chance of going sideways than succeeding. So the action sequences, which still had me on the edge of my seat 25 years later, are implausible in the sense that, after the fact, the success of Ethan's mission was put in way too of much jeopardy for the sake of drama. But I sure did enjoy seeing it again and wanted to tell you I appreciated your review.

Thank you for that, Skylar!

 

[albert_m2]

It's funny that this would come out - I saw this one in the theater back then. I thought it was ok, but never bothered with the sequels. A few weeks back, I watch one of the sequels on Amazon and was really impressed. I happen to see the movie collection on sale so I bought it. I just watched this one for the first time since the 90s. Of course it's the previous version of the blu ray, but I did enjoy the movie more this time around.

 

[Malcolm R]

Much like the Fast & Furious franchise, this one seemed to get better as it went on. I don't really care for the first two MI films, but have liked everything from Part 3 on.