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The latest Mission: Impossible film — Dead Reckoning Part One — is in theaters now, and the Tom Cruise-led franchise is one of the most successful ones in Hollywood.
As the Fast & Furious franchise has increasingly become a superhero franchise sans superpowers, the Mission: Impossible franchise has evolved into seeing what crazy stunt Cruise can pull off. What began as simple spy noir is now one of the most exciting tentpole franchises, and it's a franchise that has aged like wine.
With Dead Reckoning Part One hitting theaters, it feels appropriate to rank all seven of the films, with the previous six all available to watch on Paramount+.
7. Mission: Impossible 2
Does anyone remember this film? No? Okay then. At the very least, you might as well still catch up on it just to see what actually happened in his John Woo flick. There's Thandie Newton, Dougray Scott, Brendan Gleeson, a killer virus, a wild motorcycle fight and a lot of slow-motion. Also, Anthony Hopkins is in it!
6. Mission: Impossible 3
The late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman stole the show in the third installment in the franchise, but that's not enough to salvage J.J. Abrams' simply mediocre flick for the franchise's standards. On a positive note, we get our first look at Simon Pegg's Benji in this movie, and he has since gone on to become a crucial part of Ethan Hunt's IMF team.
5. Mission: Impossible
In most cases, the original is the best. In the case of Mission: Impossible, the franchise has outgrown the original (and for the better). Though it's still fun to reminisce and go back and see the original film that started it all, the first film is simply not nearly as thrilling as what came after. Of course, the CIA heist scene remains an all-timer.
4. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
Tom Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa will forever be iconic, and this film feels like when the franchise began taking a turn for the better. Jeremy Renner's Brandt also seemingly was set to become a major part of the franchise after his first appearance in this one, but he has since only appeared in one more film because of Avengers conflicts.
3. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
This was when the franchise began making sense to me. Prior to Rogue Nation, I probably saw the first film and parts of Ghost Protocol. But this film was exhilarating enough to spark a watch-through of all of the films after watching it. This was the first film with Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust and the beginning of Sean Harris' Solomon Lane storyline, which spanned two movies.
2. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
The latest film nearly reaches the top of the franchise but falls just short of Fallout. For one, the film is slightly bloated with exposition, and its second act suffers a bit from its pacing. At this point in the series, you're waiting on the next big stunt more than the dialogue, so hopefully the next film doubles down on the former. However, we should thank Dead Reckoning Part One for introducing Hayley Atwell's Grace and giving us Pom Klementieff's best performance to date as the assassin Paris. Also, the threat of AI was perfect for Ethan Hunt and Co. as Cruise has always defied every algorithm in the book. Finally, Kittridge (Henry Czerny) is back!
Dead Reckoning Part One is in theaters now.
1. Mission: Impossible — Fallout
Nothing tops Henry Cavill reloading his biceps. Jokes aside, the fight sequences in Fallout are the best in the entire franchise. Phenomenally paced and well-edited, Fallout may be the best entry point for those just looking to get into the Mission: Impossible franchise.
