Mission: Impossible

Corrected entry: In the scene were Max tells Ethan the combination for the money, the code is 3-14, in the bible Job 3:14 says "with kings and their advisors whose palaces lie in ruins" possibly referring to Phelps who was the king of the operation and Claire and Krieger, his advisors.

Correction: The code can be applied to any book of the bible, chapter 3 verse 14, and without the character Max actually referring to any book in the bible, it doesn't even have to refer to the bible.

Corrected entry: Why is there a sign inside the secure room saying whether the security measures are on or off? The only people able to read it would have to be in the room, and anyone supposed to be there would know they were off, and there would be no reason to put a sign up for anyone not supposed to be there.

Correction: The sign may be redundant but it's not a mistake for it to be there.

tw_stuart

As previously stated, the government does goofy, redundant stuff like that. Such as giving Phelps the full files on his usual team, double locks on things, etc. I guess it's either their way of spending money to look cool or as to warn any of the higher ups that might drop by, maintenance or a janitor that they've inadvertently triggered the lock. These are just guesses but plausible ones.

Corrected entry: In the scene where Tom Cruise and Vanessa Redgrave are in her chauffeur-driven car, he "sets his price" for the NOC list, stating that he wants "two million dollars in bearer US Treasury bonds, with all coupons attached". The film is set after the fall of the Berlin Wall and after the Eurostar started running, that is no earlier than the nineties; however, the U.S. Treasury ceased to issue bearer bonds in 1986, so it would be impossible to find by that time, those bearer bonds, with "all coupons attached" (unless they can locate a lazy bones or neglectful investor which has let several years go by without collecting his coupons).

Correction: Bearer bonds are still available outside the US. They may not be sold by the US and trading in them in the States may be illegal, but most banks in Europe (especially in Switzerland) can get them if they want to.

Guy

Corrected entry: When Ethan is hanging in the room trying to get the NOC list the guy that is supposed to be working in there comes back and sits down, and just before he pukes his brains out his eyes look straight up towards Ethan.

Correction: His eyes move up, but his head does not. While reading this, try looking up without moving your head: you won't be able to see the ceiling right over you, which is where Ethan would be.

Corrected entry: How will the death of Jack be explained or disavowed to authorities, since he will be found with all his technological stuff, including the laptop with all of the IMF information?

Correction: IMF is not a publicly known division of the CIA, so the CIA could state they were not aware of its existence and that they are rogue and unbacked by the U.S.

Corrected entry: At the end of the movie, when Tom Cruise is talking at the outdoor pub, it never shows him drinking any beer. But when they do a "cheers", his glass is nearly empty.

Correction: They didn't just arrive at the pub when the scene begins, so it's quite possible that Cruise's character could have downed most of the beer prior to the toast.

Corrected entry: Emilio Estevez is clearly seen in the beginning of the movie. He had quite a few scenes, as did Kristen Scott Thomas, yet his name is not on the ending credits and hers is.

Correction: Emilio Estevez's role was uncredited.

Corrected entry: When stealing the NOC list, why worry about raising the temperature of a temperature-controlled room? If your body temperature can even raise the temperature of such a large room significantly, wouldn't the air-conditioning just kick in to compensate and keep the temperature of the room constant?

Correction: Because the security system is set off by unexpected temperature deviations. This is made very clear in the dialogue. If the sensors for the air conditioning can detect the change, then why can't those for the security system? They quite possibly share the same temperature sensors, anyway.

J I Cohen

Corrected entry: When Ethan and Claire are explaining the mission to Luther and Krieger, Krieger says "While we're in Virginia, we should stop by Fort Knox." Fort Knox is in Tennessee.

Correction: Actually, Fort Knox is in Kentucky. Virginia does border onto Kentucky, so Krieger's suggestion to travel over to Fort Knox from there is not unreasonable (the distance from the state line is probably about 200 miles).

Tailkinker

Corrected entry: When Ethan is going down to the security room on a rope you can see a man standing on the floor at the bottom. It's right after he starts to descend.

gandolfs dad

Correction: The room is empty all the time until the employee enters.

Sacha

Correction: What Sacha said is correct, but if this is referring to the second time Ethan descends into the room, then... that's obviously the employee that entered the room, not a crew member.

zenee

Corrected entry: In the computer room, when the operator enters the room we see an overhead shot and the room has a highly polished floor. We see the reflections of everything, but the operator doesn't notice the reflection Hunt would have made by hanging from the ceiling. It would be very noticeable on the floor even if he wasn't looking straight down - the reflection would be well within his field of view.

Correction: What a load of old dingo's kidneys. Normal human eyesight takes in much, much more that a few degrees straight ahead! Can you see the floor or ceiling when you are standing upright? Of course you can - it's called peripheral vision. Hunt would stand out like a dog's. Well, he'd be visible, put it that way.

Where you are focused on something, your peripheral vision severely reduces. Donlow was so focused on (and confused by) the knife stuck in the desk that he simply didn't take notice of any reflection.

LorgSkyegon

We also have to remember that he's been puking his guts out. That right there can take every ounce of focus to get through your day. Plus as mentioned, the knife. He's wondering how a knife got into a secure vault. It doesn't take him long to figure out someone made a download, so he reports the breach.

Correction: You're assuming the operator would look at the floor. He simply didn't look down.

Corrected entry: In the computer room, when the man returns and Tom Cruise is being pulled back up, notice that the floor becomes reflective when the security system is deactivated. The camera angle just happens to hide the view of Tom's reflection on the floor.

Correction: It wouldn't matter if his reflection was in shot, because Eathan is so far up that his reflection wouldn't be noticable to the casual eye of the technician, unless he looked down at the floor(which he didn't).

Aaron Wilson

Corrected entry: When Ethan is hanging from the ceiling of the computer room suspended just above the floor he watches sweat build up on the corner of his glasses then drop. When he catches the drop he is seen to breath a sigh of relief, then there is a cut to Luther also breathing a sign of relief back in the control position. Luther would not have been able to see the drop build up on the glasses from a camera in the glasses.

Correction: No, he couldn't have seen the drop build up, but he could certainly have seen Ethan catch it, so a sigh of relief is quite reasonable.

Tailkinker

Corrected entry: Claire leaves the fire fighter uniform in the closet but is seen wearing it again in the truck while leaving.

Correction: We don't see Claire after she leaves the hall so she has all the time she needs to change back her clothes.

Nope. We see Claire leave the building in the red outfit carrying only a handkerchief over her face. She must have had another fireman's uniform in the truck.

Corrected entry: When Tom Cruise is talking to Krieger and the other guy on the train about breaking into Langley, he clearly states that any noise above a whisper would trigger the alarm system, but the noise he makes when he's getting pulled up from the room is much louder than a whisper.

Correction: The pulling up happens a split second after the technician has set off the alarm, so the noise detector is set off.

Corrected entry: When Hunt and Krieger are crawling around in the duct work to break into the computer room, the arm that removes the vent cover is visibly that of a black man. Both Hunt and Krieger are white.

Correction: Both Hunt and Krieger are wearing black gloves.

Regarding the correction - the original entry refers to the whole length of the arm - not the black glove covered hand. It does indeed look like a darker skin color arm, but it is most likely due to the poor lighting in that scene.

Factual error: The vents that Hunt and his sidekick crawl down at CIA Headquarters are standard galvanized steel box vents; they are very common in the building trade. Try walking or crawling down one - you'll make a noise like the sky is falling down. People will be able to hear you for miles. Every person in that building would know somebody crawling about in the vent system. (This error applies to dozens of films, not only this one).

More mistakes in Mission: Impossible

Eugene Kittridge: Hello, Max.
Max: My lawyers are going to have a field day with this. Entrapment, jurisdictional conflict.
Eugene Kittridge: Well, maybe we'll just leave the courts out of this one.
Max: I'm sure we can find something I have that you need.

More quotes from Mission: Impossible

Trivia: Director Brian De Palma reportedly had creative difficulties with Tom Cruise, who was also a producer and thus had final say in the decisions made during production. While this has been disputed, many have noted the fact that De Palma did very little press for the film (including "politely excusing" himself from scheduled media interviews at the last moment) and never took up an offer to record an audio commentary for the film as evidence.

More trivia for Mission: Impossible

Question: Was Kreiger going to kill Ethan Hunt above the vault immediately after grabbing the disk from Ethan's mouth? Earlier when Ethan says, "Zero body count," Kreiger responds "We'll see," insinuating maybe he's still planning to kill somebody. As soon as Ethan's to the top, Kreiger grabs the disk, a quick, "Merci" (as if saying thanks, now goodbye), and the knife is already out, but luckily dropped. They are both so freaked out at such a near miss, Ethan doesn't even notice Kreiger was going to kill him. Did this cross anybody else's mind? Why else was the knife out to be dropped?

Answer: I disagree with the other answers. I watched it in slow motion and thought he was going for the kill. There would be minimal struggle since Ethan isn't in a fighting position and Krieger was inches from his throat with the knife before he dropped it. He wouldn't care if there's a lock down because he would be out by the time they notice Ethan's body above. I guess blood spilling would give it away, but he'd still be out and under cover before anything can be done. He doesn't have to know who Max is or how to contact her he's working with Claire and Phelps. Luther wouldn't care too much because he just met them. At most all they have to say is that there was an accident and Ethan didn't make it. Max wouldn't care because she just wants the real list. If Ethan dies early the bad guys win and IMF will think hey he was the mole and got double crossed. There is 0 reason for Krieger to not kill him at that moment. He has the disc and that's all he needs.

Job as Jim lost confidence of Max. The deal was with Ethan. Ethan had to survive.

Answer: Krieger presumably used his knife to kill the rat in the vent. It's unlikely he would have tried to kill Ethan above the vault, as there would have been a noisy struggle which would set off the intrusion countermeasures. Luther would have also seen it happen on Ethan's head-mounted camera.

Sierra1

Also, Krieger didn't know how to communicate with Max.

Krieger didn't need to communicate with Max because he was actually working with Claire and Jim, and Jim was in communication with Max.

Krieger may have killed the rat with the knife, but that's not why it's in his hand when he confronts Ethan. After killing the rat, he has both hands on the cable holding Ethan.

Answer: I don't think he intended to kill him. If so, why would Ethan continue to work with a guy who literally just tried to murder him? But I also have no idea why Krieger had the knife out.

More questions & answers from Mission: Impossible

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.