27-05-2025
Every Mission: Impossible, ranked: Is Final Reckoning No. 1?
Every Mission: Impossible, ranked: Is Final Reckoning No. 1?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rank the Mission: Impossible movies. Unlike the long-running series, this mission feels actually impossible as they're almost all pretty incredible. The series has spanned just shy of 30 years with Mission: Impossible releasing in 1996. Since then, Tom Cruise has scaled cliffs, flown helicopters, ridden motorcycles off of cliffs, taken off a handful of masks and more.
With the newest (and seemingly final) Ethan Hunt-led Mission: Impossible having hit theaters May 23 with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, now seemed like the perfect time to make a valiant attempt at a ranking.
Let's get to it.
8. Mission: Impossible II
It's wild that a cast that includes Anthony Hopkins and Thandiwe Newton could be this low, but it's just not a good movie. There are some iconic moments — both good and bad — in this movie, including the Tom Cruise scaling a rock face at Dead Horse Point State Park (good) and what can only be described as motorcycle jousting (bad). There are just far too many weird zooms and the plot lacks for this movie to be any higher in a franchise full of bangers. Oh, and that haircut is so bad, Ethan.
7. Mission: Impossible III
After seeing The Final Reckoning, the plot of M:I III is more important than initially thought. Philip Seymour Hoffman is incredible, and Michelle Monaghan is at peak charming as Hunt's wife. Throw in Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and you've got yourself quite the cast. Plus, we meet our wonderful Benji for the first time. Not a perfect movie, but doesn't have to be.
6. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
Kremlin explosions, Burj Khalifa climbing, JEREMY RENNER!? This movie is fantastic, but there might be one too many set pieces. Going from the incredible Burj Khalifa stunt to a chase to another party with an intense Benji-directed side mission involving large magnets to the car park/radio station scene to stop the nuclear weapon is just A LOT. Still incredible.
5. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
This is less an indictment on the newest movie and more a commentary on just how strong the franchise is. Final Reckoning has some of the — if not the most — breathtaking stunts of the entire series, but my only complaint is at times the stunts are so wild that instead of thinking, "Wow, how will Ethan Hunt get out of this?" you're instead thinking "Oh my goodness, Tom Cruise is unreal." It's not a bad thing!
Overall, there are some clunky moments in the new one as they try and recap things from Dead Reckoning and across 30 years of Mission: Impossible, but it has so much heart and emotion that true fans will still love it. Angela Bassett, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham and Nick Offerman are fantastic.
4. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning is just a cool movie. There are so many electric scenes, starting with the opening airport and running through the unbelievable train sequence. We get newcomers like Shea Whigham, Pom Klementieff and Greg Tarzan Davis, return faces like Angela Bassett, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby, and dial the stunts up to 11.
3. Mission: Impossible
The original Mission: Impossible is the one true spy thriller in the bunch, with suspense, intrigue, back-stabbing and more. Jon Voight is incredible, and more things should be set in Prague. The vault infiltration is still one of the coolest moments in the franchise, and I love William Donloe making his triumphant return.
2. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
Welcome, Rebecca Ferguson. Rogue Nation has one of my most anxiety-inducing stunts with the stressful underwater card swap, and it includes a high-speed motorcycle chase, Ethan hanging off a plane and the most incredible set piece at the Vienna opera. It's just a truly wonderful spy-action movie.
1. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
The scale of Fallout just feels so immense. It hits the ground running and doesn't let up, plus we get the introduction of Angela Bassett (always a win) and Henry Cavill reloads his biceps in a fight. Ethan Hunt takes part in a helicopter chase — his costars thought he may have died at one point — and we have a good, old-fashioned dual bomb diffusing. Rogue Nation into Fallout is an utterly incredible back-to-back action run.
