Chronological Release
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Mission: Impossible 8 - TBD
RANKED
7. M:I 2
Every time I watch this movie it’s always after several years have passed and I forget just how bad it really is. I tend to think, “I remember it not being great, but I don’t think it was that bad. I’ll give it a chance again.” And then I subject myself to it all over again. To clarify, this movie is directed by the maestro John Woo. The movie has its merits. There are elements of it that I genuinely admire. In fact it might be a decent movie had it not been under the banner of Mission: Impossible. But as a Mission movie it just falters. The slo-mo, the style over substance approach, stunts over story and zero character development. The character of Ethan Hunt has never felt more distracted from his true purpose than in this movie. Apparently stunts were created and the script was developed around those sequences and that’s a massive red flag from the get-go. Basically, Woo is a phenomenal director when remaining in his lane and this franchise is well outside his bread and butter. He was the right director for the wrong movie.
6. M:I
Brian De Palma, of Scarface and Untouchables fame, directed the first of the franchise featuring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, IMF extraordinaire. This particular entry focuses more on the espionage angle with action elements added to enhance the drama. The way I view this entry is as a preview of what the franchise could evolve into one day. It showed little bits of everything and allowed for future sequels to pick and choose what their focus will be. It proved that it could be an intimate spy thriller or a full blown action epic. Dealer’s choice. The security room sequence, the exploding aquarium, the repeated mask/face reveals, the helicopter/train sequence all have become iconic spy genre staples. I think best of all, it proved Tom Cruise to be an excellent action hero and the rest is history.
5. M:I 3
After the disastrous performance of the second installment, the M:I franchise nearly died before it ever really began. Luckily we have J.J. Abrams to thank for performing live saving techniques to breathe new life into a potentially burgeoning franchise. It upped all aspects of what made the first great, it ignored the second completely and made the character of Ethan Hunt more human than ever. He is vulnerable this time. He has something to lose but also something to fight for beyond the vague concept of the “greater good.” And as much as I love the forthcoming films more overall, their villains all despicable in their own right, the third mission features the best villain of them all with Owen Davian, played maniacally by the late great, Philip Seymour Hoffman. He may not be the most physically imposing bad guy Hunt will face throughout these movies, I believe him to be the most sociopathic and unyielding. He seems to have zero ethical qualms about who he makes business deals with and who he has to eliminate in order to get exactly what he wants. Were he a world leader, he would be a dictator, power hungry and never satisfied. He is a true antagonist to go up against the likes of Ethan Hunt.
4. M:I - Rogue Nation
I like to call this the beginning of the McQuarrie era of Mission: Impossible. Ghost Protocol is the first to fully embrace this vision of what the franchise would ultimately become, it was with Christopher McQuarrie however that it perfected the overall approach to what we think of when we hear the title M:I. It became a spectacle event with extraordinary action and stunt sequences surrounded by intriguing, global espionage. The stakes are raised and the consequences more severe than ever. This will prove to be one of Ethan Hunt’s greatest tests of not only his skills but his moral compass as well. Can he maintain his sense of right and wrong when the man hidden in the shadows is creating absolute havoc with intent on escalating his efforts even more? How do you beat someone that doesn’t play by the rules? Rogue Nation also introduces one of the best characters of the franchise with Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, a British Intelligence officer and professional provocateur. And possibly Hunt’s equal?
3. M:I - Ghost Protocol
Making the leap from Pixar animation to his first live-action movie ever, Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird sure picked a hell of a franchise as his jumping-off place. And what a hell of a job he did. Ghost Protocol is when the franchise truly began to take-off in ways we hadn’t experienced yet with this particular franchise. It felt bigger, riskier and bolder. It saw the potential of Tom Cruise’s willingness to take things to an entirely new level of extraordinary. It’s the first in the franchise to utilize IMAX cameras creating one of the most astonishing sequences ever put to film as it captures Tom Cruise flying around the outside of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. As someone who has acrophobia, I felt this scene in the pounding pulse in my neck. My palms were sweaty. It’s a phenomenal scene and establishes the bar as high as possible for its successors to come.
2. M:I - Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning feels like a bit of a callback to what Rogue Nation is. While still showcasing some truly awe-inspiring stunts and sequences, it feels more story oriented creating one of the most intriguing storylines of the entire franchise. It delves into the fear of artificial intelligence during a time when A.I. is spreading throughout our society with what some might call a serious lack of oversight. Dead Reckoning explores the idea of what it might look like if A.I. ever truly became self-aware and fearful for its own survival. It sees mankind as its greatest threat and will use every ability it possesses to eliminate us as a species. Of course Ethan Hunt can’t allow this to happen.
More than any other in the franchise so far, this looks into the past of Hunt and what brought him into the life of a globetrotting spy. It brings back the best of past supporting characters with Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby. What separates Dead Reckoning from the others is its choice of villain. While there is certainly still a human element as Esai Morales plays Gabriel, the physical representation of the true antagonist, the real player is the artificial programming running amok throughout countries’ spy agencies and world governments with an aim to destabilize and ultimately destroy any and all entities it perceives as a threat. The one thing it just may have underestimated is Ethan Hunt.
1. M:I - Fallout
This is Mission: Impossible at its best. It features the most brazen, unhinged sequences of the entire franchise. As visually stunning as the Burj Khalifa scene is, the peak of M:I stunts lies with the HALO sequence. It features Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt and Henry Cavill as August Walker jumping out of a C-17 Globemaster military cargo plane at 25,000 feet, and opening their chutes below 2,000 feet. HALO (High Altitude, Low Open) jumps are usually done by military personnel but this scene is the first time an actor ever performed this kind of skydive. Beyond this amazing sequence is a phenomenal fight scene in a bathroom between three men all unwilling to admit defeat. Cruise learned how to actually fly a helicopter in order to be in camera for a death defying scene between two competing helicopters. It’s a glorious, breathtaking action adventure showcasing Tom Cruise at his best as the man with no fear. Every entry into this franchise, with the exception of the second film, has been top notch but Fallout is truly a moment etched in pop culture forever.
And there you have it, all seven Mission: Impossible movies from worst to best. And when part eight finally makes its debut, I will return to this list for an updated version. Whichever M:I movie you like best, there’s no denying each has its strengths making all of them the right choice. And it makes this franchise one of the best to ever do it. Seven movies in, only one real mistake. And it’s only continuing to get better. That’s the true appeal of the Mission: Impossible franchise.
As always remember, my name is Chase unless you hate this in which case my name is unequivocally, Jimmy Palmquist.