Brian De Palma's 1996 summer action flick, which started out just plainly as, well, a summer flick, was a big success (thank god the sequels were better) and spawned a franchise. So, did it deserve to be a big success and start it's own franchise? Well, I am very sorry to the legions of fans of the original film in the popular spy franchise, but the first time I saw it, I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I hated every moment of it's goofy, horribly dated special effects, overly talky symbolism, murky plot and dull acting. So, I recently re-watched this one again, and I have to say, it really actually hasn't changed all that much. So, back to the question I just asked earlier, did it deserve to be a big success and spawn a franchise? Well, no. Don't get me wrong, this is a strangely varied franchise where as every time a new installment comes out, it is always better than the previous film, and to me, the first Mission Impossible has always been a gigantic dark horse. So, despite the PG-13 rating, there are several mature themes: There is very infrequent but occasionally bloody violence, one implied scene of sexuality and frequent but mild language including b-tch, h-ll and d-mn. So, if you like this first installment in the franchise, than good for you. Fantastic. in fact, more power to you, I just most certainly did not.