But later, when Cruise is falsely branded a traitor, he goes solo to track down a villain named Max (Vanessa Redgrave), who can lead him to the unknown assailant that has framed him. He also recruits a couple of disgraced CIA operatives (nice turns by Ving Rhames and Jean Reno) and tries to elude his old boss (Henry Czerny, appropriately smarmy as the CIA chief.)

This setup is a bit sluggish until it reaches the film's highlight, an incredibly tense scene set in a top-secret computer room in CIA headquarters. (The big helicopter-train sequence that caps the film is also harrowing, if not in the least bit believable.)

Cruise is very good as an intelligent action hero, and his character echoes Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan in "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger." But Cruise has also turned an ensemble piece into a vanity piece.

In fact, it's fair to say that this big-screen adaptation of "Mission: Impossible" owes much more to James Bond and "Three Days of the Condor" than the old TV series. Where the show was about teamwork, as the success of each episode's mission relied on an elite corps of special agents working together, this film boils down to one maverick spy going his own way and doing his own thing.

If you're a fan of the show, be prepared for at least one major disappointment, and if you're looking for something as satisfying as, say, those Tom Clancy adaptations ("The Hunt for Red October" and "Clear and Present Danger"), forget it.

But if you just want some brainless summer fun, another "Twister"-type thriller, spy-style — this is your latest E-ticket.

"Mission: Impossible" is rated PG-13 for a fair amount of violence (including someone getting a spike in the eyeball — though it happens very quickly, without any gore) and a few scattered profanities.