All the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies, ranked
For nearly three decades, Tom Cruise has been leading the Impossible Mission Force, but that chapter is coming to a close this week with Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. There may be Mission: Impossible movies in the future, but Cruise swears it's his last ride as Ethan Hunt.
Cruise originated the role in 1996's Mission: Impossible movie, which was based on the 1960s TV series of the same name. That first film had more overt ties to the show, but as the cinematic series continued, the films gradually became their own thing. Now, the franchise is synonymous with some of the best action movies ever made.
But not every Mission: Impossible film is created equal. To celebrate the end of an era, we’re ranking the first seven Mission: Impossible movies, from worst to best.
READ: ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ instant Oscar predictions
7. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
In theory, recruiting Hong Kong action legend John Woo to direct the sequel to Mission: Impossible should have been a slam dunk. And yet this is the most lifeless movie in the franchise. Some of the action scenes still look good, but it’s inferior compared to the films that came before and after.
There is a historical side note from this film that had wide implications for the era of superhero movies. Because Dougray Scott was injured while filming his scenes as the villainous Sean Ambrose, he had to drop out of the first X-Men movie. Hugh Jackman took over his role as Wolverine and ushered in the era of superhero cinema.
6. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
J.J. Abrams was just beginning his transition to helming feature films when he took on Mission: Impossible III. Abrams got the gig largely on the strength of his work on Alias, which is still a fantastic show. The third entry may not be the best M:I movie, but it’s still pretty good and it has a fantastic villain in the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, who played Owen Davian.
In retrospect, Mission: Impossible III contributed much to the franchise, including the introduction of Simon Pegg as Benjamin "Benji" Dunn, as well as Ethan Hunt’s fiancée, Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), who finds herself thrust into his world of danger. Julia’s scenes with Ethan near the end of the story make the film feel complete, and the franchise could have ended here.
5. Mission: Impossible (1996)
Brian De Palma kicked off the film franchise in 1996 with the first Mission: Impossible, and that movie was more of a spy thriller than the action extravaganza that the later films became. Ethan Hunt was introduced as a young agent who was betrayed by someone in the Impossible Mission Force, and he went rogue for the first — but definitely not the last! — time
Fans of the television show were enraged by the film’s depiction of Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), one of the main characters in the series who made some very out-of-character choices in this story. Now, it has been so long since the Mission: Impossible TV series was on the air that few even remember that bit of trivia about his character.
4. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)
If the last four Mission: Impossible movies hadn’t been made, then Ghost Protocol would have easily been the best installment. Now, it’s the bridge between what the franchise was and what it became under later directors. The Incredibles’ director Brad Bird made his live-action theatrical debut with this film, and he did a stellar job of upping the stakes for Ethan and his crew.
This is the one film in the franchise in which Ving Rhames only has a minor role as Ethan’s longtime friend Luther Stickell. Michelle Monaghan also returned to quietly wrap up Julia’s story while leaving Ethan free to keep saving the world every four to five years.
3. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2016)
There were some kick-ass women in the earlier Mission: Impossible movies, but they weren’t Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Even Ethan can barely believe what Ilsa pulls off in Rogue Nation, the film that made Ferguson a star in this country. Ilsa is an MI6 agent deep undercover with Ethan’s latest adversaries, the Syndicate. And she more than holds her own while fighting alongside him.
After cowriting Ghost Protocol, Christopher McQuarrie took over the director’s chair for this installment and the three that came after it. Between Cruise and McQuarrie’s contributions, the Mission: Impossible films elevated their game and became one of the top action franchises. And it all started here.
2. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (2021)
This may be the No. 2 movie on this list, but it’s a very close call between Dead Reckoning and the film that took the top spot. For the first part of Cruise’s final storyline, Ethan and his friends take on the Entity, a sentient A.I. that already influences the world around them.
The Entity may not have a physical presence in this film beyond its agent, Gabriel Martinelli (Esai Morales), but it manages to hurt Ethan’s team like no other villain in the series. Hayley Atwell is fantastic in her first appearance as Grace, a world-class thief who initially makes Ethan’s life a lot more difficult. The story seemed to be setting up Grace to become the new leading lady of the franchise, and Atwell did a terrific job of living up to that.
1. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)
Mission: Impossible — Fallout’s greatest strength is that it finally gave Ethan a true adversary: CIA assassin August Walker (Henry Cavill). The pair briefly work together in this movie, but it was always going to come down to an epic fight between them.
The action in Fallout keeps scaling up until the final minutes are juggling scenes between Ethan’s team desperately trying to defuse some bombs while he has a duel to the death with Walker in the sky. The spectacle is simply spectacular, and the filmmakers made the right decision by bringing Ilsa back firmly as an ally to Ethan while hinting that their connection could go deeper. It’s an incredibly satisfying action movie, and The Final Reckoning will have its hands full trying to top it.