"Mission: Impossible" Ranked

After nearly 30 years, the iconic action series Mission: Impossible took its (most likely but not guaranteed) final bow. One of the most successful franchises in Hollywood, Mission: Impossible began as a sleek, stylish thriller but soon became a quintessential franchise for death-defying stunts, complex espionage, and a star vehicle for the ultimate movie star, Tom Cruise. With the close of Final Reckoning, it’s time for me to personally rank all 8 of Ethan Hunt’s impossible outings.

#8.  Mission: Impossible III (2006) dir. J. J. Abrams

Mission: Impossible III is one of the most confounding entries in the series because it’s undeniably the worst one, however it provides the narrative crutch that defines the series for the next five films. Ethan Hunt’s character, which began as a blank everyman, is given proper emotional stakes in the form of his wife. These human traits are essential to the overarching narrative of MI and the series owes much of its success to the ideas presented in this film. However, the third installment is a mess. The action is good, but the pacing is glacial. The tonal whiplash between sequences is both jarring and incomprehensible, making the film progress in a clunky and frustrating manner. While III’s highs are astronomically high, the film never quite reaches the sum of its parts, forever reeking of squandered opportunity. Luckily, this would be swiftly rectified in the next installment.

#7. Mission: Impossible II (2000) dir. John Woo

While MI:2 isn’t the worst in the series, it’s definitely the least essential. It’s the sophomore slump of the series, expanding on the framework of the first film with a slew of new ideas, very few of which work, and even fewer of which remained in the series. Director, John Woo’s hyper stylized action occasionally compliments the narrative of MI:2, but largely feels out of place. It possesses a few euphoric highs in the form of some wild set pieces, but they battle through a sea of monotonous exposition, weak dialogue, and a plot that fizzles out rather than ramps up. Still, it’s hard to hate what could be considered the awkward teen years of Hollywood’s best action franchise.

#6. Mission: Impossible (1996) dir. Brian De Palma

It’s not often that the first film in a series falls so low in the final ranking, but when your series matures like Mission: Impossible, it’s not too surprising. However, the first MI isn’t exactly a great film. Of course, it has its iconic moments – that scene of Tom Cruise suspended by a rope, inches from the ground is the type of scene that most directors can only dream of – but it struggles to place those pieces together in a satisfying way. The plot is completely incoherent, yet the film places all of its bets on the storytelling. The twists and turns that are built up as jaw-dropping reveals come across as distracting, making the viewers struggle to remember who betrayed who instead of paying attention to the scene in front of them. MI as a franchise is interesting to break into sections, and MI:1 is reminiscent of the franchise’s growing pains. It’s a film that requires a lot more polish and a lot more experience, but even with its flaws, it’s not difficult to find the diamond in the rough.

#5. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) dir. Brad Bird

After 3 films of middling quality, director Brad Bird finally gave MI its spark. Ghost Protocol brings a never-before-seen element to MI that proved to be the lifeblood of the series: consistency. It starts with a burst of energy, and carefully maintains that intensity until its final moments. Ghost Protocol also takes complete advantage of MI’s globetrotting narrative, maintaining the exciting action of previous installments but enlarged to a massive global scale. What could possibly top that Burj Khalifa climb? This is where Mission Impossible began to earn the title of the ultimate franchise, and Tom Cruise as the ultimate movie star.

#4. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) dir. Christopher McQuarrie

Rogue Nation is probably the most generic of the franchise, but that’s not entirely a negative thing. Building off of Brad Bird, the new permanent franchise director, Cristopher McQuarrie, continued to sand off the rough edges into the perfect balance of action and story. Technically, there’s nothing in Rogue Nation that we haven’t seen before, but for the first time it’s only the good parts and none of the fluff. It lacks a bit of the bite that other entries have, but it makes up for it with lean and effective storytelling. This is the last MI film to feel like the product of stylistic shifts and changes, and from here on out, it’s nothing but near perfection.

#3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023) dir. Christopher McQuarrie

Part One of Mission Impossible’s double-pronged sendoff brings with it the highest stakes the series has seen yet. The socially prescient threat of AI serves as the antagonist in the form of the Entity, a rogue intelligence that seeks to end the world. It’s definitely one of the corniest MI films, but I mean that entirely as a compliment. It aims to be the ultimate action experience, and it does so by balancing grit and realism with unbound ridiculousness and fun. It’s another example of McQuarrie perfectly understanding how to plot an action movie. The film culminates in a train sequence that could be argued to be the best scene of the series. It sets up a climactic end while also feeling like a succinct send off for the series in its own lighthearted way.

#2.  Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) dir. Christopher McQuarrie

The Final Reckoning has only been out for a few weeks, but I feel confident in calling it one of the best in the series. It’s not perfect, in fact it may be the most uneven since MI:3. The first hour is bizarrely edited, trying to cram exposition from Dead Reckoning and emotional stakes from 30 years of films into a clean first act. But after that first hour, it has easily the most insane stunt work the franchise has ever seen. For two hours, The Final Reckoning is a blaring countdown clock, I never had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, but thanks to the well done set up of Dead Reckoning, a break wasn’t needed. It’s the ultimate adrenaline rush of an action film with set pieces that utilize every technological advancement the series has tested out so far. It’s not perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s everything great and everything essential about Mission Impossible distilled into one massive package, bumps and scratches included.

#1. Mission Impossible – Fallout (2018) dir. Christopher McQuarrie

I would not call it a stretch to label Fallout as a perfect modern action film. It builds on the franchise as not just a good entry, but a culmination of all that MI has done for the genre. Fallout can be cut up and dissected in 50 different ways and each one would reveal a unique storytelling mechanism. It moves like clockwork, each passing second sending reverberations through the succinct machine of the story. The heart, the thrills, and the story are balanced with surgical precision and bolstered by a cast who had finally finished developing their characters from fun pieces of a puzzle into living and breathing humans. There are good franchise films, and there are films so good that the rest of the franchise merely feels like its prologue and epilogue. You can guess which one Fallout is.