Mission Impossible Movies in Order: Tom Cruise's Best Stunts Ranked

All Mission: Impossible Movies at a Glance

Mission: Impossible (1996) — Where It All Began

Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible (7.2) is a paranoid, twisty spy thriller that feels more like a 1970s Hitchcock homage than the action juggernaut the franchise would become. The plot involves IMF agent Ethan Hunt being framed for the murder of his team during a mission in Kyiv, forcing him to go rogue to clear his name. The film's two iconic sequences still hold up: the CIA Langley heist (Ethan descending on a wire into a sealed room, not touching the floor, sweat beading on his nose) is one of the most tense scenes in cinema history, and the finale on the TGV train (including the helicopter/tunnel sequence and the Channel Tunnel helicopter chase) is classic De Palma. This is the only film in the franchise where the IMF team is a true ensemble — Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Béart, and Ving Rhames all get meaningful screen time. Jon Voight is a wonderfully slimy villain. It's a slower, smarter film than what followed, but it established the franchise's DNA: masks, impossible missions, and Ethan Hunt never stopping.

Mission: Impossible II (2000) — The John Woo Era

John Woo's Mission: Impossible II (6.1) is the lowest-rated film in the franchise and it's easy to see why. Woo replaced De Palma's tense espionage with his signature Hong Kong style — doves flying in slow motion, dual-wielding pistols, motorcycle chases with spinning kicks, and a villain (Dougray Scott) who chews scenery like it's his last meal. The film has a ridiculous premise: Ethan Hunt must retrieve a deadly virus (Chimera) from a rogue IMF agent who also wants the virus, which is the only cure, or something. It doesn't matter. The mask reveal scene is the most absurd in the entire series — Ethan reveals himself to be the villain, then the villain reveals himself to be Ethan, then Ethan reveals himself to be the villain again. It's nonsense. But the film is saved by its final action sequence: a beach fight/motorcycle chase/car chase/cliffside fight that is pure operatic John Woo brilliance. Thandie Newton is sorely underused as the film's lead female. This is the most 'one man against the world' entry, which doesn't quite fit the team dynamic the franchise later perfected.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) — J.J. Abrams Resets the Tone

J.J. Abrams' Mission: Impossible III (6.9) is the film that saved the franchise. After the excesses of M:I-2, Abrams grounded Ethan Hunt in a real life — giving him a fiancée (Michelle Monaghan), a mentor relationship with Laurence Fishburne's Brassel, and introducing the IMF team dynamic that would define the series going forward. Philip Seymour Hoffman's Owen Davian is the single best villain in the entire franchise — a terrifyingly mundane arms dealer who feels genuinely dangerous. The Vatican raid sequence is the franchise's first truly great team-based heist, and the bridge attack (where Davian is extracted by helicopter in a sequence that feels ripped from Black Hawk Down) is brutal and shocking. The film also gives Ethan Hunt emotional stakes — the scene where Davian threatens Ethan's wife is genuinely uncomfortable, a far cry from the quippy Bond villains of earlier entries. Abrams proved the franchise could be both personal and spectacular, setting the stage for the Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie era.

The Golden Era: Ghost Protocol Through Fallout (2011–2018)

The franchise reached its creative peak across four films from 2011 to 2018. Ghost Protocol (7.4) turned Ethan Hunt into a true global superstar and introduced the franchise's most famous stunt: Tom Cruise climbing the outside of the Burj Khalifa (the world's tallest building) with nothing but suction cups and a safety line that was digitally removed in post-production. It's the purest, most thrilling action set piece in any Mission film — simple, terrifying, and real. Brad Bird's direction is precise and kinetic. Rogue Nation (7.4) introduced Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust — the franchise's best character who isn't Ethan Hunt — and gave us the Vienna Opera House sequence (an opera singer performing Puccini while assassins hunt Hunt). The underwater vault sequence is pure tension. Then comes Fallout (7.7), the highest-rated film in the franchise — a relentless, perfectly-constructed action masterpiece that sees every thread from the previous films converge. The HALO jump sequence (Cruise jumped from 25,000 feet 106 times for real), the Paris motorcycle chase, the bathroom fight (one of the best hand-to-hand fights in action cinema), and the helicopter chase through the Himalayas combine to make the greatest pure action film of the 21st century.

Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and The Final Reckoning (2025)

Dead Reckoning Part One (7.6) kicked off the two-part finale with a focus on artificial intelligence (the 'Entity') as the new global threat — a surprisingly prescient villain for a franchise that usually deals in nuclear weapons and terrorist cells. The Rome car chase (a tiny Fiat 500 being chased through the Spanish Steps by a massive beast of a car) is physically comedic in the best way, and the train crash finale is spectacular. Hayley Atwell's Grace is a fantastic addition as a thief caught up in the madness. The Final Reckoning (7.2) released in May 2025 and wraps up Ethan Hunt's story — though the ending is ambiguous enough to allow for future films. The submarine sequence and the final confrontation with the Entity are set pieces that rival anything in the franchise. The IMDb rating of 7.2 is the lowest since M:I-3, which reflects some criticism of the two-part structure and the somewhat rushed resolution of the Entity storyline. Nonetheless, the McQuarrie era remains the most consistent run of action filmmaking in Hollywood history.

Tom Cruise's Best Stunts — Ranked

• The Burj Khalifa Climb (Ghost Protocol) — The most famous movie stunt of the 21st century. Cruise scaled 1,700 feet up the world's tallest building with no CGI. The single greatest practical stunt ever filmed.
• The HALO Jump (Fallout) — 106 jumps from 25,000 feet to nail a single sequence. Cruise broke his ankle on the last jump but kept running in character. The sequence where he crashes through a window into a moving car is unreal.
• The Motorcycle Ramp Jump (The Final Reckoning) — Cruise rode a motorcycle off a 430-foot cliff in Norway, then base-jumped down. Over 500 jumps were required to film the full sequence.
• The Helicopter Chase (Fallout) — Cruise earned his helicopter pilot's license over 14 months of training specifically so he could fly the helicopter chase sequence himself, weaving through the Himalayan valleys.
• Handcuffed Car Chase (Dead Reckoning Part One) — Cruise drove a Fiat 500 through Rome while handcuffed to the steering wheel, with no cuts, no CGI, and no stunt driver.
• The Train Hang (Mission: Impossible) — In the original film, Cruise hangs inches from a helicopter blade inside the Channel Tunnel. The classic that started the 'Cruise does his own stunts' legend.
• The Rope Swing (Rogue Nation) — Cruise clung to the side of an Airbus A400M cargo plane as it took off, with nothing but a thin rope holding him. One take, one day of filming, completely insane.
• The Underwater Breath Hold (Rogue Nation) — Cruise held his breath for 6 minutes underwater for the vault sequence. He trained with a freediving champion for months.

Where to Stream Mission: Impossible in 2026

All eight Mission: Impossible films are available to stream on Paramount+ in the US, which is the essential subscription for any MI fan at $7.99/month (with ads) or $12.99/month (ad-free). Most of the films also stream on Prime Video with a Paramount+ add-on subscription. The first six films are also available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Vudu, and YouTube for $3.99–$5.99 each. The Final Reckoning is still in its theatrical window as of May 2025 and will arrive on Paramount+ approximately 90 days after its premiere. The franchise's streaming rights occasionally rotate to Netflix in some international markets, but in the US, Paramount+ is the exclusive home. The entire 8-film collection is also available on 4K Blu-ray for physical media collectors, and the 4K transfers (especially Fallout and Dead Reckoning) are reference-quality.