THEN & NOW: The cast of ‘Mission: Impossible’ 19 years later

Topping that, it seems, might actually be impossible.

If all goes to plan that could mean the next Mission: Impossible film will hit cinemas quite soon – at least compared to the lengthy breaks the franchise’s fans have had to endure in the past. Cruise donned the suit in the first “Mission: Impossible” installment in 1996. Mission: Impossible II was released four years after the first film.

“I think there are always big problems to solve and ways to figure it out and the sequences keep you on the edge of your seat…it’s amusing and fun and it takes you to a different place”, Cruise said. Dun-dun DUH NUH, dun-dun DUH NUH, doodoladooooooo, doodoladooooooo, doodoladooooooo, BA-NAH.

Of Mission: Impossible’soriginal supporting players, only Ving Rhames (as the surveillance expert Luther Stickell) remains by Hunt’s side in the fifth movie, but Simon Pegg (as the tech wiz Benji) and Jeremy Renner (as the stuffy government exec Brandt) have been added into the rotation to serve as incredulous sounding boards. Amid the hype, you get the feeling that the promo isn’t trying to sell Cruise’s bravery, but is instead trying to connect with something the audience might already be thinking: This guy is a maniac-but isn’t that what we like about him? The film is partly set in Vienna, where last week’s premiere was held.

“Rogue Nation” takes us from Belarus to Morocco to London, where Hunt clings to vehicles moving at redline speed.

“Mission: Impossible” contained a huge cast of Hollywood legends and others from all over Europe.

But there’s just not a lot of zing or zest here, and the connective tissue between the action sequences feels stiff.

How Long Will Tom Cruise Play Ethan Hunt? As directed by Christopher McQuarrie (who previously worked with Cruise on 2012’s Jack Reacher, and continues the tradition of every installment having a new helmer), the latest Mission sees Hunt matching wits with an outfit bearing the sinister appellation “The Syndicate”, which operates nearly like an opposite number of our Impossible Mission Force. It’s simultaneously a little too cool and a little too hokey for its own good, and has what might be the most anticlimactic final confrontation of the series.

The “Mission: Impossible” franchise has been picking up supporting players along the way like a lint roller going over a Christmas sweater. And unlike its buff star, the whole thing is starting to show its age.