All Mission: Impossible Movies Ranked – Is Dead Reckoning Tom Cruise’s Best Movie of the Franchise So Far?
The Impossible Mission Force – a brainchild of television producer Bruce Geller – has been in action and on the field ever since 1966, carrying out sensitive missions and covert international operations. In 1996, the show moved onto the big screen, senior field agent Ethan Hunt became the face of the elite cover operations unit, and boldly or perhaps inadvertently Tom Cruise kick-started an action-packed series that remains as relevant into its fourth decade as it was before the turn of the century.
The Hollywood scene has transformed a lot since the first installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise, moving away from ‘macho’ real-life heroes in favor of giving all the powers to extraterrestrial protagonists of DC and Marvel Universes. But Cruise has changed little, and he continues to attract viewers with just one selling point: Stunts. The latest movie of the series – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – has managed similar box office previews (in the region of $6m) to its predecessor Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
His fans clearly care less about the plot and side characters and as long as the charming 61-year-old continues to do his own stunts, they will continue to queue up for tickets. But for new curious fans who are looking to skim over rather than dive head-on into the series, we’ve ranked all seven of the Mission Impossible movies, from worst to best, below.
Mission: Impossible III – 2006 (71% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
Ethan has retired from his fieldwork, as he tries to settle down with his fiancee, Julia Meade, a nurse who has no idea about his true identity. But he’s still training recruits for his former employer IMF. Eventually, he finds himself drawn back into the field in his attempts to rescue his protégé and a daughter-like-figure Lindsey Farris, who was captured by Owen Davian. The American arms dealer is looking to sell the Rabbit’s Foot – a biological hazard – to terrorist groups and in his pursuit threatens to end everyone Ethan loves.
The third installment of the series was disastrous for Tom Cruise in more than one way. JJ Abrams’ attempts to bring Ethan’s human side to the fore didn’t work, and neither did the idea to go with CGI stunts in random locations (Shanghai, Berlin, Vatican City, and Maryland ) that made little sense to the plot that was visible halfway through the movie. The one time (The Bridge Scene in Maryland) Cruise took the mantle of stopping Davian from getting away from IMF’s grasp (without CGI’s too much influence) it irked Paramount Studios which decided to cut ties with the superstar for taking too much risk.
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Mission: Impossible II – 2000 (56% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
In the second movie of the series, we are told about a deadly German virus Chimera and its anti-dote Bellerophon. Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich, the creator of the bio-weapon is killed and the IMF is worried the virus is out in the open. Ethan Hunt is called upon and handed the task to recover it with an additional three-person team.
While MI III’s plot is so obvious that one might do with watching it only till the interval, MI II’s plot is so slow and drubbing that one might not even wait for half of the movie before walking out. The only saving grace of the movie is John Woo, the iconic action spy film director, who somehow saved it from being the first on this list by directing some intense action sequences – which to be fair is the USP of the whole franchise.
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Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – 2011 (93% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
The bombing of the Kremlin sees Ethan Hunt and his crew implicated and disavowed by the United States government, which invokes Ghost Protocol, the measure that leads to no support from the government. Without any backing, the IMF tries to track down Hendricks, a dangerous terrorist with access to Russian nuclear launch codes.
The fourth installment of the series is filled with a brilliantly scripted thriller that takes Ethan and his team from Burj Khalifa (Dubai) to the streets of Mumbai with action-packed sequences in between in their dangerous pursuit.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – 2015 (94% Rotten Tomatoes rating )
CIA chief Alan Hunley, in hopes of absorbing the IMF into his agency, convinces a Senate committee to disband the acclaimed force. With no backing from the United States government, Ethan Hunt and his team combine with Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) to put brakes on a rogue network of skilled agents, The Syndicate.
Hunt makes his entry latched onto a cargo transport plan that’s about to take off and establishes the ‘rogue’ theme of the 2h 11m action-packed movie that’s comfortably the most intense film of the MI lot. The energetic sequences aren’t just limited to Hunt, as Rebecca Ferguson is equally insane and manages a few gasps by jumping off the car in a chase scene. Interestingly, the movie was released eight years ago today!
Mission: Impossible – 1996 (66% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
Ethan Hunt’s mentor Jim Phelps is killed during a messed up mission, and Ethan is considered the prime suspect. Now on the run, he works with hacker Luther Stickell to find who framed him and prove his innocence by breaching a CIA building.
The movie that started it all isn’t the most favored by the critics, but the 1996 release set the tone for all its successors. Perhaps it’s the nostalgia speaking but Tom Cruise trying to hack a CIA computer hanging by the help of cables to bypass pressure and weight sensitive floor remains the most iconic single shot of the series. It paved the way for all larger-than-life action sequences in the following editions. Oh! and Cruise’s acting is surprisingly versatile in this.
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Mission: Impossible – Fallout – 2018 (97% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
Ethan Hunt wakes up from a daunting dream of Solomon Lane warning him he should’ve killed him when he had the chance. Meanwhile, the remnants of the Syndicate (see Rogue Nation!) have formed a new organization, the Apostles, which is planning a series of nuclear attacks. Ethan and his team are in a race against time to recover orbs of plutonium that the Apostles plan to use in nuclear weapons.
Director Christopher McQuarrie brilliantly uses the angle of the time to put the viewers on the edge of their seats and deliver an action master class that saw the sixth installment not only break all box office records of its predecessors in the series but also establish itself among the highest grossing films of all time with a worldwide gross of about $791.1 million. From Cruise’s bungee-jumping in the middle of lightning to Henry Cavill’s fist reload – the movie has delivered, apart from eye-watering numbers, several shots that awe MI fans to this date.
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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – 2023 (96% Rotten Tomatoes rating)
In the penultimate installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Ethan Hunt is briefed to retrieve half of a key from Ilsa Faust required to access a rogue AI, termed the “Entity”, which is believed to have the potential to control any digitally operative intelligence. Ethan warns Ilsa to lay low, but she’s killed by Gabriel, a liaison for the Entity. Grace (Hayley Atwell) joins forces with Ethan and boards a train to find the buyer looking to connect both halves of the key.
From Ethan’s attempts to onboard the train to his motorcycle stunt from a cliff and pinch of his emotionally vulnerable side – where he realizes he can’t save everyone – in between makes the Dead Reckoning Part One the most complete Mission: Impossible movie so far. And it ends with a question of how Ethan will get his hands on a computer deep inside a sunken submarine in the Arctic, perfectly rolling the carpet for the second part – which is expected to be the final edition of the iconic series.
