'Mission: Impossible' Is the Best Action Franchise, Here's Why

Tom Cruise's 'Mission' films may be the best action movies, ever.

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Complex Original

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This weekend, ubiquitous veteran Tom Cruise is coming through with another Mission: Impossible movie. It's only the fifth one, even though the franchise itself is now 19 years old. And it's pretty great. Watching Tom hang off a plane (because I guess, he really has nothing else to do these days) I had a realization: Mission: Impossible, as anchored by Tom Cruise for two decades now, is on the lowest of keys, the best action franchise of all time. It's empirical, really. Five films, no duds, and a shit load of fun. The closest the series ever comes to falling off is at the midway point, which saw Cruise's Ethan Hunt trade in climbing mountains and covert European jet-setting for married life. It's kind of like when Future was thisclose to settling down with Ciara and made Honest. It's a fine effort, but it's not him at his best, you know?

Thankfully, the films that have followed Mission: Impossible III have shit back on a 56 Nights, Dirty Sprite 2 level, back to the basics, with everything that made these movies fun to begin with: insane, acrobatic stunts, inventive heists, secret agents who seem to have an endless supply of other people's faces as masks, and once again, Tom Cruise not giving a single fuck about his life. The quality percentage of this series is just unfuckwithable. And Tom says there's a sixth already on the way? Long live Ethan Hunt. Now, allow me to convince you that this small little series that only pops up every half-decade or so is actually the best of its genre.

A wide range of rotating directors bring new flavor to each film.

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One word: longevity.

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The tone is perfect.

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Tom Cruise's stunt game is unparalleled.

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The worst film in the series is still kinda fire.

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