There are two kinds of people: those who hear this riff and think "sneaky secret agent rappelling from a ceiling," and those who think "Fred Durst in a red cap." Limp Bizkit's Take A Look Around is the rare song that lets you be both at once, because it hijacks Lalo Schifrin's Mission: Impossible theme and drags it, kicking and palm-muting, into a nu-metal parking lot.
This clip is the intro riff on guitar — the Mission: Impossible theme in all its down-tuned glory, with some GetGood Drums underneath so it actually hits. I also tacked on a little lick at the end, because a hook this good deserves a proper goodbye rather than just fading out awkwardly.
How the Take A Look Around riff actually works
Here's the nerdy secret hiding in plain sight: the original Mission: Impossible theme is written in 5/4 — five beats per bar, not the comfy four your foot expects. That extra beat is exactly why the riff feels like it's sneaking up behind you. Limp Bizkit keep that lopsided pulse and pile on a wall of down-tuned power chords (this lives happily in Drop C#), so the melody sits low and menacing while the rhythm keeps quietly cheating you out of a beat. If you count "1-2-3-4-5" out loud while you play it, the whole thing suddenly clicks — that's the difference between a wonky time signature and a wonky player.
The concrete takeaway: nail the tight palm mutes on the low string so each note stops dead, then let the melody notes ring. Muted-then-open is the entire spy-movie tension in one motion. Once that feels automatic, the closing lick is just seasoning on top.
Play it well and people think you're a secret agent. Play it in 4/4 and people think you're covering a completely different, much worse song. If you want the PDF and Guitar Pro file to count along properly, they're on my Patreon — no rappelling required.