The Tom Cruise-led version of Mission: Impossible has come to an end with the eighth film in the series. They have produced some of the best spy action films, rivalling competitors like Bond and Bourne due to their terrific stunt work and focus on teamwork.
Many A-list actors have appeared as enemies and allies of Ethan Hunt. The series was able to attract top-tier directors like Brian De Palma, Brad Bird, and Christopher McQuarrie, and they all put their stamp on their entries.
As I did with the Bond films, I will rank all the Mission: Impossible films from worst to best. As a disclaimer, even the weakest entries have some form of virtue, whether as action films or character pieces.
8. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the most recent film to be released and advertised as the finale to the movie series. Sadly, it was a disappointment, where the reviews were more mixed. It was an indulgent film due to excessive runtime, over-complicated plotting, and making out that Ethan Hunt was the incorruptible chosen one who could defeat The Entity. It was a film made by inflated egos.
The Final Reckoning spent its first hour with a lot of explaining about events that happened in the previous films and what could happen. The film only found its mojo when the action in The Bering Sea started, and it was a thrilling action experience. Whilst it had some long action sequences, it was a film that needed more variation and a critical editor to remove the fat.
7. Mission: Impossible 2
Mission: Impossible 2 has generally been seen as the ginger-haired stepchild of the Mission: Impossible series. It has the lowest IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes scores in the series, and it earned two Razzie nominations.
This film saw a change in direction for the series as it pivoted towards action. Hong Kong action legend John Woo was brought in to direct, and the film was designed around the action sequences, resulting in the plot being simplified. Mission: Impossible II felt more like a vanity project for Tom Cruise since the sequel had Ethan Hunt work more like a one-man act, who showed how much of a badass his character was. Ethan’s introduction was free climbing up Dead Horse Point in Utah. Luther was turned into the comic relief because his expensive clothing kept getting ruined.
Mission: Impossible 2 was the film with the least amount of international travel in the series. Most of the action took place in and around Sydney. It was not a location that lent itself well to a spy thriller.
Since the film was made by John Woo, it did have some excellent action sequences, especially during the final act with the motorbike chase and the fight on the beach. Dougray Scott’s Sean Ambrose was a physical upgrade to Jim Phelps. It was Scott’s most memorable role, and due to the filming delays, he had to withdraw from X-Men, where he was cast as Wolverine. Whilst Hans Zimmer’s score was a product of the time, I do enjoy the rock version of the Mission: Impossible theme.
Oddly, Mission: Impossible 2 was the only film in which Ethan doesn’t go rogue.
6. Mission: Impossible
1996’s film Mission: Impossible was the film that started the film series, and it was a different beast from everything that succeeded it. Mission: Impossible had some prestigious people working on it: the director was Brian De Palma, known for Carrie and Scarface, and written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) and Robert Towne (Chinatown). The supporting cast featured the likes of Jon Voight, Jean Reno, and Vanessa Redgrave.
Mission: Impossible was more a spy thriller than an action film. Ethan Hunt was forced to go rogue after a mission in Prague went wrong, and he needed to find out who was responsible. It was a slower film where Ethan had to investigate and make deals with shadowy people. The action only kicked in during the final act where Jim Phelps tried to escape from a moving train, and a helicopter blew up in the Channel Tunnel.
The highlight of the film was the heist into the Black Vault. It has the iconic scene where Ethan had to dangle from wires into the vault using a wire setup. It was a tense scene because of all the countermeasures the vault had. Whilst it does have memorable moments, Mission: Impossible was a lesser spy film compared to its contemporaries like True Lies, Goldeneye, and the Jack Ryan movies.
Mission: Impossible did suffer some backlash from the cast of the original show. Many were upset that Jim Phelps, the only character from the TV show, was turned into a traitor.
5. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is the penultimate film of the series and was hyped up to be the action spectacle of 2023. It has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and earned rave reviews from critics like Mark Kermode, Chris Bumbray, and Linda Marric. However, things didn’t pan out that way because its budget was inflated by the COVID pandemic, and it competed with the Barbenheimer phenomenon, leading it to underperforming at the box office.
My own review was modestly positive. As an action experience, it was excellent with a massive car chase in Rome, and Ethan Hunt needing to chase after the Orient Express. Plus, Hayley Atwell was a fine addition to the IMF crew. However, the film’s storytelling was simply an excuse to get to the next action scene rather than telling a compelling story. It was also a more indulgent film because it had an excessive run time.
4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol can be considered the film where the series started to hit its stride. It boasted a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.4 out of 10 on IMDB, making it the best-received film at this point. This was the film that set up the series trope for a marquee stunt: in Ghost Protocol’s case, it was Ethan Hunt climbing up the Burj Khalifa.
Ghost Protocol gave the IMF crew more characterisation and emphasised teamwork. The story forced the main characters to stay together because they were remnants of the IMF who were forced to operate by themselves; they had no backup. The IMF was made up of bigger-name actors: Simon Pegg was promoted to be a main character, and Paula Patton’s character was tough and badass (it was a shame she never returned). The biggest name in the film after Tom Cruise was Jeremy Renner, and there were rumours that Paramount was planning to replace Cruise with the MCU actor as the series lead.
The villain’s plot involved starting a nuclear war so society could reset. This sounds heavy and serious, but Ghost Protocol was a light and breezy film with a lot of humour, and there was a load of gadgets on display. It filled a void for Bond fans who preferred the lighter, gadget-filled films. On a final note, Ghost Protocol had the best musical score in the series.
3. Mission: Impossible III
Coming in third place is the third film in the series. Mission: Impossible III came out six years after Mission: Impossible II, after a long development phase. David Fincher and Joe Carnahan were attached to direct, and Kenneth Branagh, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Scarlett Johansson were cast. After Carnahan left due to creative difficulties, J.J. Abrams got the directorial job after Tom Cruise binge-watched Alias. To be fair, Alias was a binge-worthy show.
Mission: Impossible III had the best character work in the series. Ethan Hunt had settled down with Julia Meade, leading to him retiring from field work, but was called back in when his protégé was captured. This started a chain of events that led to Ethan confronting Owan Davian, who wanted revenge against the IMF agent.
What made Mission: Impossible III special was the high emotional stakes. Ethan’s relationship with Julia was put centre stage and was in peril because of Ethan’s profession. Philip Seymour Hoffman was an inspired choice to play the villain. Hoffman may not have been physically imposing, but he made up for it with his cruelty, determination, and composure.
One of the best scenes in the film was when Davian threatened Ethan with the plan that he would threaten Ethan’s loved one, and Ethan snapped. It showed that Ethan had a dark side.
Mission: Impossible III was also a damn fine action film. The Vatican sequence highlighted the IMF’s teamwork, and the battle on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge had a True Lies quality to it.
2. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Earning the silver medal is Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. This film saw Christopher McQuarrie sit in the Mission: Impossible director’s chair for the first time and helm the series up to The Final Reckoning.
This film saw Ethan Hunt and the IMF take on a shadowy organisation made up of rogue agents from various agencies, which had been causing chaos around the world through terrorist attacks and assassinations. It was a similar plot to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Spectre, and it was the film that Spectre should have been. The Syndicate was how I imagined Spectre would operate in the modern world. The Syndicate was a great threat because anyone could be a member, and they were all highly skilled.
Rogue Nation had incredible action sequences, starting with Ethan breaking into a plane as it was taking off, the assassination attempt at the Vienna State Opera, and everything that happened in Casablanca. There was an emotional element involving Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, an MI6 agent who was undercover in The Syndicate but also trapped. She quickly became a fan favourite.
There was some fun behind-the-scenes stories. When staying at the Marriott Hotel in Peterborough, a waiter asked if Tom Cruise had a loyalty card. The other story involved BMW since they lend vehicles to the production, and when the car company came to collect them, the production pointed out all the vehicles were smashed up.
1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Topping the list is Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which has generally been considered one of the best films in the series. Fallout compared the best elements of Mission: Impossible III and Rogue Nation. The threat was The Apostles, the remnants of The Syndicate, and they were zealots who wanted to cause as much destruction as possible. The sixth tied up a lot of plotlines from the previous films, since it brought back Solomon Lane, the villain of Rogue Nation, and more importantly, Julia, giving that relationship a bittersweet conclusion.
As well as having an emotional core, Fallout had some of the best in the series. Hell, it had some of the best set-pieces in action cinema generally. It was relentless, from the HALO jump into Paris to the helicopter chase through the Himalayas. Fallout had a long run time of 150 minutes, but it never felt like it because it was so fast-paced. This was a film for which Cruise broke his ankle: that’s how committed he was.
Fallout should have been the film to conclude the series.
