In Mission: Impossible (1996), Tom Cruise played Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force who is framed for the deaths of his team and must clear his name while uncovering a traitor. Directed by Brian De Palma, the film follows Ethan through Prague, London and a high-speed train sequence, as he assembles a new team to steal a list of agents.
Cruise made Ethan the centre of a new franchise. He was intense, athletic and resourceful, and the film’s set pieces, including Ethan hanging from the ceiling of a vault, became defining images of nineties action cinema. The film was a major hit and launched a series that would run for decades.
Mission: Impossible remains a signature Cruise role because Ethan Hunt became his most enduring character, a hero whose missions grew ever more daring, and whose appeal was built on Cruise’s own commitment to doing the action for real.