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As we await Tom Cruise’s return in Digger, here’s our list of all eight Mission: Impossible movies ranked.
Going back almost three decades, the Mission: Impossible series is, for our money, the most consistent action franchise of all. While some Mission: Impossible movies are better than others, none are duds. And when they’re great, they provide as thrilling a time as you’ll have at the movies.
And now, here are all the Mission Impossible movies ranked.
Mission: Impossible II (2000)
The chemistry between Tom Cruise and Thandiwe Newton (above) in Mission Impossible II is fantastic, and Ethan Hunt’s exploding sunglasses provide an unforgettable visual. There’s also some outstanding motorcycle stuntwork and mesmerizing rock-climbing sequences shot in Utah with Cruise and a double.
Cruise is known for choosing excellent collaborators, and bringing in Hong Kong action auteur John Woo to direct was an inspired choice.
If we have any complaints about Mission Impossible II, it’s that it feels very much of the year 2000 (complete with Limp Bizkit taking a crack at Lalo Schifrin’s Mission Impossible theme) — which means it hasn’t aged as gracefully as the other Mission Impossible films.
Mission: Impossible (1996)
The first film had a lot to prove — why was Tom Cruise reworking a late ’60s-early ’70s TV show? — but Cruise enlisted some of the most esteemed people in Hollywood to make the film as cinematically pure as possible, including director Brian De Palma, who was better known at the time for genre-bending thrillers than for action, and Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne, as well as the excellent writers David Koepp and Steven Zaillian.
The first Mission: Impossible is packed with twists, confusion and complications — all of which became franchise staples — but fell into an elegant, meditative simplicity with a Langley break-in that is simply the best heist sequence ever shot: It’s the oft-imitated scene of a black-clad Cruise lowering into a white room.
The supporting cast — including Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vanessa Redgrave — was wonderful. Rhames is the only person, besides Cruise, to appear in every Mission: Impossible movie, and Czerny made a surprising reappearance for the latest two films in the franchise.
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Mission: Impossible III marked a major step up from the previous two films, thanks in large part to a masterful performances by the late Phillp Seymour Hoffman, who had previously starred with Cruise in a very different kind of film, Paul Thomas Anderson’s beautiful 1999 Magnolia.
Hoffman played the truly horrible arms dealer Owen Davian, who forces Hunt to seek out something called The Rabbit’s Foot that — in a very cool callback — will turn out to be crucial to Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning.
Mission: Impossible III opened with the incredibly dramatic introduction of Ethan Hunt’s oft-suffering fiancée, nurse Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). It’s an emotional, shocking scene, and kicked off the now-ubiquitous screenwriting trend of starting a movie with a bang and then flashing back to the days leading up to it.
Mission: Impossible III also introduced the lovable Benji (Simon Pegg), the longest-standing member of Ethan’s team besides Luther.
The film is also, for our money, the best movie J.J. Abrams has ever made. We love it.
Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (2025)
We love how this film unifies every other Mission: Impossible while soaring on its own.
We especially appreciate its thoughtful callbacks to so many characters we love — Final Reckoning‘s generous handling of a relatively minor character in the first Mission: Impossible provides one of the best grace notes of any franchise.
We also appreciate that this is an action movie with a lot on its mind. The AI monstrosity known as The Entity represents not just technology that threatens to displace traditional moviegoing, but also the kind of online discourse that turns neighbors into enemies.
Many times in the film, Ethan and his friends ask people to look past their biases and prejudices and talk to potential enemies as human beings. At one point Cruise just spells it out, as Ethan yells at a brainwashed devotee of the Entity: “You spend too much time on the Internet!”
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)
Dropping the roman numerals, Ghost Protocol enlisted the director of Pixar’s The Incredibles, Brad Bird, who helped infuse the film with the anything-is-possible energy of the best animation.
When the Impossible Missions Force is blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin, Ethan and his team have to go dark, eschewing the usual resources, as they seek to clear their names and, as always, save the day.
The highlight of the film is an absolutely stunning, hold-your-breath sequence in which Ethan must put his climbing skills to work outside Dubai’s then-recently erected Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Wow.
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (2023)
Dead Reckoning has some absolutely incredible moments, most of which pair Ethan with newcomer Grace, a skilled thief played by Hayley Atwell.
Their handcuffed car chase, which unfolds partially in a tiny Fiat 500, is one of the best chase sequences ever filmed, and the magnificent motorcycle jump-to-train derailment sequence that ends the film almost calls for the invention of new adjectives. We also welcomed the return of the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby, above with Cruise).
Our one gripe with Dead Reckoning is its almost dismissive killing of a character who is introduced in the next film on our list.
Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)
Rogue Nation was the first film in the series to be directed by Cruise’s frequent collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie, and the series locked into an irresistible groove when the two synced. McQuarrie, who broke out by writing one of the all-time greatest movie twists in The Usual Suspects, is perfectly attuned with the ever-shifting nature of the Mission: Impossible movies.
Rogue Nation also benefits mightily from the other major addition to the franchise, British MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, above with Cruise). She seems, finally, like Ethan’s perfect female counterpart, and infuses the Mission: Impossible movies with both jolting energy and old Hollywood glamour.
Ilsa is, for our money, the best character in the Mission: Impossible films aside from Ethan, which is why we’re so dismayed about what happened to her in Dead Reckoning.
Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)
Fallout is a basically perfect movie, with astonishing sequences from beginning to end. And Cruise gamely put himself on screen with Superman himself, Henry Cavill, to show that he’s not one of those actors who refuses to face off with a younger potential rival.
If you’re going to see one Mission: Impossible movie, we recommend Fallout.
Also, if you liked this list, you might also like this this video of Rad ’80s Movies Only Cool Kids Remember.
All of the Mission: Impossible movies ranked here are available on demand and disc.
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All photos from Paramount Pictures.
