Mission: Impossible

Factual error: In the scene of the eurotunnel train the ticket collector is wearing a 70s British Rail uniform This was the national railway company for Great Britain but is now defunct due to privatisation in the 90s.

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Suggested correction: At the time of filming, British Rail would still have existed as it was only being dismantled in the mid 90s. However, I think Eurostar would provide their staff with different uniforms.

Andy Benham

Plot hole: Accessing the secure room through the duct work would be virtually impossible (pardon the pun). First is this an air supply duct, return air supply duct or an exhaust duct? If it was an air supply or a return air supply duct there would be a squirrel cage fan moving the air. Not the propeller fan you see in the frame. If it was an exhaust air duct again no propeller fan. The size of whatever duct it is for that size of a room is questionable. The room was small yet the duct was large enough for a man to crawl through. The last reason why this would be impossible is where are all the screws that ducts are assembled with? They would definitely stick through the ducts and catch clothing, scratch hands, heads etc.

Factual error: The TGV (and also Eurostar) trains are powered by an overhead power transfer, so an escape from the train with a helicopter would indeed be a Mission Impossible.

Continuity mistake: As the firefighters are entering Langley they mention they need to shutdown the air conditioning. The guard states that the aircon is in sector 21 that has no alarm. Luther 'helps' by triggering the alarm in that sector. A while later when Kittridge is talking to his people in the ops room you can see that the alarm is active in the 3 sectors as the guard mentioned but now sector 21 is missing. (00:57:30)

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Jim, Claire and Ethan are in the baggage car of the train Claire takes the money off of Ethan, the money is not folded in any way. However, in the next shot where she passes the money to Jim it is suddenly folded conveniently to fit into Jim's pouch.

Factual error: In the scene in the aquarium restaurant where Kitridge reveals to Ethan that the operation was a mole hunt Ethan uses the chewing gum explosive to smash the glass and make his escape. However, the explosion also causes a man within the aquarium restaurant to go flying through the air and through the window. It is physically impossible for a chemically composed explosive of that size, that is not enclosed, to create enough force to move him in that way, add to the fact that he is seemingly the only person or object (besides the aquarium glass) affected by it, all these combine in making this scene physically impossible.

Plot hole: There is absolutely no way Jim Phelps would have "died" when he got shot even if he was faking it. The first time we see his death he's pointing his gun right at the camera on his glasses which are on his head and not his chest. Later when we see the how he fakes his death he's not pointing the gun at himself anyway so he wouldn't be able to get the angle of the gunshot from his camera's point of view as we saw the first time.

jbrbbt

Plot hole: In the famous raid on the computer room raid, where Hunt is lowered from the ceiling, we see a close up of the screws to the vent being undone and caught in a holder so they don't fall on the floor. But the screws cannot be put back in their holes and done up once the vent is closed, and there is not enough time for Hunt to be pulled back up and the vent closed and screws replaced when the operator returns to the room, as Hunt was pulled back up with seconds to spare.

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Suggested correction: They would not have to use screws to reattach it. They could use tape, glue, or magnets.

LorgSkyegon

Continuity mistake: When the "firemen" (Ethan Hunt, Claire Phelps, Luther Stickell and Franz Krieger) leave Langley, Claire is in a red coat and red dress. As we see all four drive off in a fire truck, Claire is in a fireman's costume. Firstly, when did she have the time to change and secondly, why change? (01:08:00 - 01:10:00)

oobs

Mission: Impossible mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: At the end of the film, when the news about the train and helicopter accident plays on the TV, as the camera pulls out, the camera's reflection is visible in the blue window shutter. (01:44:08)

zenee

Revealing mistake: When we see a close-up of a knife being pulled out of a man's stomach, it's obviously a prop knife where the blade goes into the handle, as we can see the end of the blade while it's being pulled out. (01:19:50)

MikeH

Plot hole: At the end of the tunnel, the helicopter has been attached to the train; Phelps knows it, the pilot knows it, and yet Phelps still climbs across to the helicopter like he's trying to escape, but there's nowhere to go. He's deliberately climbing into a potentially lethal situation he can't get out of for no reason except it makes it convenient to kill two bad guys with one explosion.

Jon Sandys

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Suggested correction: Phelps detached the cable before he jumped to the helicopter. The problem was Krieger tried to kill Hunt first, before trying to escape.

David George

Continuity mistake: During the Job 3:14 scene, Ethan places the Bible parallel to the laptop and the gun. In the close-up angle it always appears that way, but in wider angles the laptop is slightly slanted. (00:34:15)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Claire finds Ethan disguised as Jim, he has his normal hands. However, in all previous scenes of him in disguise, he has fake hands as well, that are wrinkled like Jim's.

Continuity mistake: At the end, Ethan is drinking a pint and leaves a little left in the glass. This little bit of drink then vanishes is subsequent shots. (01:40:30)

Ssiscool

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: Why did Claire return to Ethan? Jim must have sent her but why? Ethan had been framed, why send Claire to potentially expose herself to IMF if found? Is it because: Max receives mail from Ethan, immediately contacts Job to say "What the hell man someone claims you sold me junk!" Now Job/Jim knows he didn't deliver the actual list so he already plans to have Ethan steal the real one for him. Or is that too far fetched?

Answer: Jim has not been paid (at least in full) yet. This is revealed in the conversation Ethan has with Max in the car. Payment was conditional on the disk passing all her safety checks, which she had not done yet (she had not even looked at it yet). There is no way Jim knew the NOC list was junk at this point in time. However, since Jim has not been paid yet for the NOC list, he might have been trying to play it safe, and have Claire just keep tabs. If things don't go as planned, he might have left Claire as she was expendable to him. Also it is unlikely Max contacted Jim (Job) to ask about the email from Ethan (pretending to be Job). Max at this point believes the two are the same person. She simply invites Job to come in and discuss further.

Answer: Sending Claire back to Ethan was a daring ploy to get on the inside of Ethan's confidence. It made no sense and was the least likely thing Claire would do if she was part of Jim's plan. Ethan could have killed her, but the ploy worked and Ethan was confused enough to let her live.

Charles Austin Miller

But why? Jim sells the list to Max and rides off into the sunset with Claire, or so he intends to. What does he gain from having someone on the inside initially? Ethan is screwed, Jim doesn't need to get all the juicy details of how he goes down. Later on it's beneficial for him to have Claire in place there, but initially it makes no sense. Before Ethan formulates any plan and before Max finds out the list is bad.

Jim knew the first NOC list was bad but used the failed raid as an opportunity to kill off a number of IMF agents who might otherwise thwart his plans. Jim still needed Ethan to procure the real NOC list, but this time using a reduced team that contained 2 moles (Claire and Franz). Jim knew that Ethan was the most capable agent, but wanted him under close scrutiny by Claire and Franz.

Charles Austin Miller

He knew it was bad? Then why did he give it to Max anyway? If Ethan hadn't warned her she might have been caught by Kittrdige. Are you saying Jim foresaw everything, I mean everything that Ethan would do? He went through with the embassy raid knowing it was a mole hunt in advance, knowing Ethan would later get the real one for him? What if Ethan had gone with Kittridge in the restaurant? I mean it's unlikely, but this whole scenario sees Jim leaving sooo much to chance. I find it more plausible that he did think he was getting the list in Prague and then adapted to the situation to use Ethan to get the real one. I mean if he really knew the list wasn't in Praque he could have saved himself the trouble and just hire a couple of disavowed agents to do the Langley job himself, just like Ethan did. He had Claire, Krieger and Luther. Yeah no Ethan, but I mean I'm sure he could have found someone else who is capable.

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