Another Mission: Impossible blockbuster. Another death-defying stunt by Tom Cruise. It has become, at this point, a crucial part of the marketing campaign—a behind-the-scenes documentary to prove that yes, Cruise is actually the guy hanging onto the plane, or throwing himself off the cliff, or scaling the side of a sheer glass building. Who needs CGI when we have Tom Cruise?
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh movie in the Mission: Impossible franchise, is projected to earn $90 million stateside in its opening weekend, and $250 million globally. It's an excellent start for a movie that cost a staggering $290 million to make, thanks to delays from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It's become part of the movie's appeal—the filmmakers' insistence on shooting a massive Hollywood tentpole movie, that employed thousands of people, at a time when the theater-going experience was in danger of extinction. This is a movie that demands to be seen on the big screen, and the public has responded accordingly.
We're updating our feature on the Mission: Impossible franchise's best quality—the massive, large-scale missions that anchor each of these movies. The best parts of these missions is when something goes wrong—when random chance or unpredictable human messiness forces the team to improvise on the spot. Here is every mission in the Mission Impossible series, ranked.
27. Retrieve The First Half Of The Entity Key from Ilsa
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
Location: Empty Quarter, United Arab Emirates
Status: Success
One of the more minor missions in the franchise, Ethan braves a sandstorm in Arabian Desert and runs into an old friend. The highlights are the multiple long-distance sniper kills that Ilsa pulls off—a rarity in a franchise that prioritizes its in-your-face action sequences.
26. Retrieve Bogdan And Escape The Prison
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
Location: Moscow, Russia
Status: Success
Damn, pally. It's pretty slick to break out of prison to the sound of Dean Martin crooning "Ain't Life A Kick In The Head." But it's played largely for laughs, and pretty by-the-numbers, at least by Ethan's lofty standards. He's done much better, both before and since this scene. Moving on.
25. Successfully Interrogate Gennady Zoismov
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Movie: Mission: Impossible
Location: Kiev, Ukraine
Status: Success
Paramount Pictures released the first Mission: Impossible film in 1996. Without that context, one could easily rank this mission, which opened the film, in last place. But here's the thing: audiences flipped out when they saw Tom Cruise take off his face mask for the first time. It was a state-of-the-art, iconic visual effect during the mid-'90s, and the studio certainly knew it; they inserted this scene into every trailer.
24. Recruit Professional Thief Nyah Nordoff Hall
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Movie: Mission: Impossible 2
Location: Seville, Spain
Status: Success
This mission is less about lasers and lock, and more about human psychology. Ethan has to gain Nyah Hall's trust and recruit her to the IMF, because she's the ex-girlfriend of the villain, which makes her an excellent mole. Apparently a jewelry robbery, followed by a high-speed car chase, is how two secret agents flirt with one another.
23. Track Grace
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
Location: Rome, Italy; Venice, Italy
Status: Failure
Ethan manages to find Grace, but having her stay in one place, without stealing something that she shouldn't, is another matter entirely. Mission: Impossible deserves credit for making the car chase scenes feel fresh and relevant for every film. In Dead Reckoning, Ethan and Grace race around Rome in a classic Fiat 500 while handcuffed together. But then Ethan manages to lose her again, and when he catches up to her again in Venice, things get even more complicated and morally murky. Cruise finds himself outmatched by both the Entity's AI and by his own emotions, and he loses a crucial team member. Ethan Hunt is at one of his lowest points, and Grace has to make a key decision about her future and the "choice" every prospective IMF agent must make.
22. Track Sean Ambrose At The Races, Determine The Purpose Of Chimera
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Movie: Mission: Impossible 2
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Success
Some of the best missions take place in extremely formal, high-end settings. Not only must Ethan steal something or apprehend someone, but he must also do it cleanly, without the public knowing. This particular mission takes place at a horse race track, and even though both the good guys and the bad guys keep things civilized, there's a palpable sense of claustrophobia to the scene. One errant move and the blood could start spilling.
21. Track And Apprehend The Buyer Of The NOC List
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Movie: Mission: Impossible
Location: Prague, Czech Republic
Status: Failure
There are several failures on this list, but none of them are as complete or as catastrophic as this one. Nearly everyone on Ethan's team winds up dead, and Ethan himself is framed for their murders. Director Brian De Palma (Carrie, Scarface, The Untouchables) put his dark, violent stamp on this film; it's a far cry from what the franchise would eventually become.
20. Secure The Plutonium Cores
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Location: Berlin, Germany
Status: Failure
The opening for Fallout exposes Ethan Hunt's core weakness—his loyalty and love for his team members and his belief that when it comes to the success of the mission, he can have his cake and eat it too. Although this mission failed, it does end with an incredible twist. "Wait, why is Wolf Blitzer reading the manif-oh-my-god it's a mask!" No matter how many times we see this bit, it never gets old, and we still get tricked.
19. Retrieve The Rabbit's Foot
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Movie: Mission: Impossible III
Location: Shanghai, China
Status: Success
Taking a page from Jackie Chan's book, Ethan swings from the peak of a taller building to the top of a shorter building. Then, he slides down the glass roof, gunning down every security guard. Lastly, he base jumps out a window, mid-floor, and parachutes to the busy streets below. Not bad for a day's work.
18. Free Solomon Lane
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Location: Paris, France
Status: Success
The villain of Rogue Nation, who made Ethan feel a rare type of fear, makes a second appearance in Fallout. Only this time, Ethan is trying to break him out of prison, and he's doing it in the heart of the city by attacking a prison convoy. These pressure situations, where Ethan is forced to turn against the very people he's supposed to protect, for their own good, are nail-biting. It adds an additional concern to Ethan's plate: can he accomplish his mission with no collateral damage? Is innocent life negotiable when millions of lives are on the line?
17. Meet With Max To Hand Over NOC List, Apprehend Job
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Movie: Mission: Impossible
Location: Train en route from London, England to Paris, France
Status: Success
Nothing screams "Classic Hollywood" like a fight on a moving train, and the first film's finale does not disappoint. Ethan and his team stake out a train, fight on its roof, and even steer a helicopter through a train tunnel. The franchise would go far bigger in its sequels, but this was an impressive standard to set.
16. Steal And Secure The Syndicate's Ledger From`A Computer Facility
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
Location: Casablanca, Morocco
Status: Failed
The only way to bypass the building's security system is to hack it underwater. And so, Ethan must hold his breath for three minutes, dive underneath the facility, trip the sensors before Benji walks through them, and escape without drowning. Of course, everything goes wrong, and Ethan actually dies in his attempt; he's rescued and revived just in time to go on a vehicular chase.
15. Intercept The Syndicate's Nerve Gas Flight Shipment
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
Location: Minsk, Belarus
Status: Success
The MI filmmakers orchestrate their sequences the old-fashioned way, and that includes dangling Tom Cruise outside a plane that's taking off. The man doesn't need to do his own stunts at this stage in his career, and yet, here he is in Rogue Nation, risking his life, with minimal use of stunt doubles or CGI. One has to admire that level of commitment.
14. Infiltrate Biocyte, Destroy Chimera
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Movie: Mission: Impossible 2
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Failure
This mission concludes, unfortunately, with a standard issue gunfight. But it opens with a beautiful, tense sequence: A freefall cable drop down the vertical atrium of a skyscraper, followed by some silent stealth action. Explosions get all the press, but the best parts of the MI films are the quiet moments, right before Ethan's carefully laid plans go to hell.
13. Intercept The Apostles' Sale, Uncover John Lark
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Location: Paris, France
Status: Success
This mission happens in multiple phases. There's the skydive onto the roof of the night club. There's the actual sale of the plutonium cores. There's the fight scene in full view of the Paris elite. But the centerpiece is the martial arts fight in the bathroom where Ethan and Walker (Henry Cavill) fight the Lark decoy and subsequently try to hide his body. Is there anything cooler than Cavill reloading his arms? We think not.
12. Find Agent Lindsey Farris And Bring Her Home
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Movie: Mission: Impossible III
Location: Outskirts of Berlin, Germany
Status: Failure
Action film heroes rely upon seconds and coincidence. If someone pauses a moment to catch his or her breath, or trips slightly at the wrong time, it could throw everything off, for better or for worse. Usually, these occurrences bend in IMF's favor. But when Hunt and his team rescue Agent Farris, their luck runs out. It was all going so well, from the breach of the building to the helicopter chase scene through the wind generator field. With just three more seconds, they could have avoided catastrophe.
11. Retrieve The Second Half Of The Entity Key
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Status: Failure
Airports are naturally convoluted. So imagine trying to navigate one while stealing something; preventing someone else from stealing the same thing; avoiding trained agents there to arrest you; and decoding the cypher that will defuse a nuclear bomb. There’s a moment at the end, right when Ethan aborts the mission, that he realizes he’s been outclassed, and there’s panic in his eyes. And after six movies of watching this character stare death in the face and emerge with his hair in tact, it’s disconcerting to see him shaken.
10. Unlock The Ledger, Take Down The Syndicate
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
Location: London, England
Status: Success
When Ethan decides that the only way to save the world is to tranquilize the British prime minister and threaten the CIA head with a gun, things are officially out of control. Somehow, though, that was only the beginning. Ethan heads to a restaurant, where his enemy threatens to set off a bomb and kill hundreds of innocent people if Ethan doesn't do as he's told. All the gadgets, physical training, and reflexes in the world couldn't have prepared him for this.
9. Steal the NOC List from CIA Headquarters
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Movie: Mission: Impossible
Location: Langley, Virginia
Status: Success
Alfred Hitchcock said it best: "Always make the audience suffer as much as possible." This heist, where Ethan and his team must infiltrate the CIA headquarters, is an understated thrill ride that provides a fair amount of suffering for the audience. Ethan must enter a secure room and steal classified data without touching the floor, making a sound, or raising the room temperature by a single degree. Usually, action films don't qualify as suspense thrillers, but this one certainly does.
8. Infiltrate The Kremlin And Retrieve Cobalt Files
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
Location: Moscow, Russia
Status: Failure
Spy gadgets are tricky plot devices; if they are too far-fetched, they break the audience's immersion. The primary gadget in this mission, which projects a digital hallway onto an actual hallway, is difficult to take seriously. But it falls (albeit barely) on the side of what's possible, and most viewers found it awesome instead of unbearably silly.
7. Shut Down Soviet Era Satellite And Apprehend Kurt Hendricks
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
Location: Mumbai, India
Status: Success
Director Brad Bird filmed Ghost Protocol's conclusion with particular deftness. Four IMF agents, working on independent, yet related tasks, stop a nuclear missile from hitting San Francisco. The Most Valuable Player of the day is Ethan, who drives his car off a parking lot ledge to reach the 'deactivate' button in time.
6. Identify And Apprehend The Man In Glasses, Protect Austrian Chancellor
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation
Location: Vienna, Austria
Status: Failure
In a clear homage to The Godfather: Part III, Ethan and Benji fight the Syndicate and protect the Austrian Chancellor at the Vienna State Opera House, during a performance of "Turandot." Director Christopher McQuarrie even choreographs the action to ebb and flow with the music. The gadgets are a lot of fun, too; one of the assassins has a sniper rifle modified to look like a bass flute! That's the sort of clever ingenuity these films need more of.
5. Secure Bellpheron And Prevent Chimera Pandemic
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Movie: Mission: Impossible 2
Location: Sydney, Australia
Status: Success
This mission has everything: a stealth sequence, a gun fight, a mask switcheroo, a motorcycle chase, and finally, a kung fu fight to the death. Director John Woo threw everything at the wall, and somehow, it all stuck. It's excessive, ridiculous, and thrilling. In rare cases such as this one, more can be more.
4. Intercept The Sale Of The Entity Key On A Moving Train
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
Location: Innsbruck, Austria
Status: Failure
Wow. Just wow. It's difficult to oversell how extensive and epic Reckoning Part One's final mission is. It has the classic mask gimmick; the team must infiltrate a sale, but they must first knock out the real mediator in order to switch her out. But it turns out that the sale—the entire motivation for the mission in the first place is the least dangerous, least complicated part of it. Gabriel sets the train to top speed and breaks the controls. And what follows is an incredible sequence where a train is slowly careening off a cliff, and Ethan and Grace must climb up the train car to reach safety. It's straight out of the opening of Uncharted 2, except with a Hollywood A-List budget. But of course, the centerpiece is Tom Cruise's motorcycle cliff jump, off a ramp and into a base jump. Cruise needed to train in multiple disciplines to even legally qualify for the stunt. And then when he finally did it, he wasn't happy with the first take, and he performed it five more times. Talk about dedication.
3. Kidnap Owen Davian
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Movie: Mission: Impossible III
Location: Vatican City, Rome
Status: Success
Unless Fallout somehow tops it, Mission: Impossible III is the best overall film in the franchise. It has the dramatic weight of Ethan's family issues, a snappy script, fantastic direction by J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Trek, Lost), and Ethan's greatest villain to date: Owen Davian, a weapons dealer played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Ethan and his team must somehow kidnap Davian while simultaneously convincing the public (and his buyers) that he is dead. Their eventual plan contains the best mask switch sequence in the entire franchise. You can watch a small clip of it above, but you need to see the full sequence to do it justice.
2. Defuse The Nuclear Bombs
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Movie: Mission: Impossible - Fallout
Location: Siachen Glacier
Status: Success
The best mission of Fallout has it all—a dangerous helicopter pursuit, a precarious climb up a cliff, nasty hand-to-hand combat, and two nuclear bombs that need to be deactivated, simultaneously, to ensure that neither explodes. Ethan Hunt and his team cut things down to the last second—they just have to trust blindly that they all did the right things, at the right times, to save the world from nuclear destruction.
1. Intercept Russian Nuclear Launch Codes, Track Marius Wistrom
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Movie: Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Status: Failure
The IMF team learns that Russian nuclear launch codes are being sold at the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai. Ethan decides that the best way to intercede is to meet with both parties separately and simultaneously. For one meeting, team members will impersonate the sellers; and for the other meeting, they'll impersonate the buyers. The team is in way over its head, and the mission fails after a suspenseful car chase through a sandstorm.
But what pushes this mission to a transcendent level of filmmaking is Ethan's climb and wall run on the outside of the Burj Khalifa. And yes, that's actually Tom Cruise, suspended by cables and harnesses, scaling the tallest structure in the world.
It's brilliant, risky work, and that why it's No. 1. With any luck, though, one of the upcoming sequences in Mission: Impossible Fallout will surpass it.
