Joe Leydon Film Critic The stunt work was sensationally spectacular and Tom Cruise did much dauntless derring-do. But some may forget that when the “Mission: Impossible” series first began in 1996, there were heated arguments about the franchise’s big screen debut.
Some critics were positively incensed that the heroic lead character in the popular 1966-1973 TV series that inspired the film had been reconstituted in Brian De Palma’s big-screen reboot as a treacherous turncoat.
Indeed, a few malcontents went so far as predicting the film would be angrily rejected by likeminded fans of the source material — and probably shrugged off by whippersnappers with no memory of the original show.
Which, of course, is exactly what happened – not! Now, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” — the latest entry in what has turned out to be the second-longest running movie franchise (after “Star Trek”) ever spawned by a live-action television series — has arrived in theaters and drive-ins everywhere.
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