All 8 Mission Impossible Movies Ranked

How does Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning compare to the previous films in the Tom Cruise action series? Quite well, as our list of all eight Mission Impossible films ranked will attest.

Going back almost three decades, the Mission Impossible series is, for our money, the most consistent action franchise of all. While some Mission Impossible movies are better than others, none are duds. And when they're great — and Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, is indeed great — they provide as thrilling a time as you'll have at the movies.

Also, we're aware that the films are called Mission: Impossible, not Mission Impossible, but we're leaving out the colons because very few people bother with them while searching the internet. We'll add more about the internet soon, because The Final Reckoning has to say about it.

And now, here are all the Mission Impossible movies ranked (spoilers follow about past movies, but not The Final Reckoning).

Mission Impossible II (2000)

The chemistry between Tom Cruise and Thandiwe Newton (above) in Mission Impossible II is fantastic, and Ethan Hunt's exploding sunglasses provide an unforgettable visual. There's also some outstanding motorcycle stuntwork and mesmerizing rock-climbing sequences shot in Utah with Cruise and a double.

Cruise is known for choosing excellent collaborators, and bringing in Hong Kong action auteur John Woo to direct was an inspired choice.

If we have any complaints about Mission Impossible II, it's that it feels very much of the year 2000 (complete with Limp Bizkit taking a crack at Lalo Schifrin's Mission Impossible theme) — which means it hasn't aged as gracefully as the other Mission Impossible films.

Mission Impossible (1996)

The first film had a lot to prove — why was Tom Cruise reworking a late '60s-early '70s TV show? — but Cruise enlisted some of the most esteemed people in Hollywood to make the film as cinematically pure as possible, including director Brian De Palma, who was better known at the time for genre-bending thrillers than for action, and Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne, as well as the excellent writers David Koepp and Steven Zaillian.

The first Mission Impossible is packed with twists, confusion and complications — all of which became franchise staples — but fell into an elegant, meditative simplicity with a Langley break-in that is simply the best heist sequence ever shot: It's the oft-imitated scene of a black-clad Cruise lowering into a white room.

The Final Reckoning contains a major callback to that scene — and many other Mission Impossible scenes — and includes a very moving exploration of its unexpected consequences.

The supporting cast — including Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vanessa Redgrave — was wonderful. Rhames is the only person, besides Cruise, to appear in every Mission Impossible movie, and Czerny made a surprising reappearance for the latest two films in the franchise.

Mission Impossible III (2006)

Mission Impossible III marked a major step up from the previous two films, thanks in large part to a masterful performances by the late Phillp Seymour Hoffman, who had previously starred with Cruise in a very different kind of film, Paul Thomas Anderson's beautiful 1999 Magnolia.

He plays the truly horrible arms dealer Owen Davian, who forces Hunt to seek out something called The Rabbit's Foot that — in a very cool callback — will turn out to be crucial to Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.

Mission Impossible III opened with the incredibly dramatic introduction of Ethan Hunt's oft-suffering fiancée, nurse Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). It's an emotional, shocking scene, and kicked off the now-ubiquitous screenwriting trend of starting a movie with a bang and then flashing back to the days leading up to it.

Mission Impossible III also introduced the lovable Benji (Simon Pegg), the longest-standing member of Ethan's team besides Luther.

The film is also, for our money, the best movie J.J. Abrams has ever made. We love it.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)

Dropping the roman numerals, Ghost Protocol enlisted the director of Pixar's The Incredibles, Brad Bird, who helped infuse the film with the anything-is-possible energy of the best animation.

When the Impossible Missions Force is blamed for the bombing of the Kremlin, Ethan and his team have to go dark, eschewing the usual resources, as they seek to clear their names and, as always, save the day.

The highlight of the film is an absolutely stunning, hold-your-breath sequence in which Ethan must put his climbing skills to work outside Dubai's then-recently erected Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Wow.

Also Read: All 7 Superman Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

Rogue Nation was the first film in the series to be directed by Cruise's frequent collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie, and the series locked into an irresistible groove when the two synced. McQuarrie, who broke out by writing one of the all-time greatest movie twists in The Usual Suspects, is perfectly attuned with the ever-shifting nature of the Mission Impossible movies.

Rogue Nation also benefits mightily from the other major addition to the franchise, British MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, above with Cruise). She seems, finally, like Ethan's perfect female counterpart, and infuses the Mission Impossible movies with both jolting energy and old Hollywood glamour.

Ilsa is, for our money, the best character in the Mission Impossible films aside from Ethan, which is why we're so dismayed about what happens in the next film on this list.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (2023)

Dead Reckoning has some absolutely incredible moments, most of which pair Ethan with newcomer Grace, a skilled thief played by Hayley Atwell.

Their handcuffed car chase, which unfolds partially in a tiny Fiat 500, is one of the best chase sequences ever filmed, and the magnificent motorcycle jump-to-train derailment sequence that ends the film almost calls for the invention of new adjectives. We also welcomed the return of the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby, above with Cruise).

Our one gripe with Dead Reckoning is its almost dismissive killing off of Ilsa, who is, as we mentioned, our second-favorite character in the franchise. Her death doesn't feel significant enough, and comes at a place in the film where it feels like Ilsa may return — perhaps after faking her own demise with the help of one of those cool masks?

But no, she seems to be just dead. Not the reckoning we wanted.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

We're about to diverge from popular opinion, which holds that Fallout is unquestionably the best Mission Impossible movie. We agree and disagree.

First, yes: As a standalone, Fallout is the best film in the Mission Impossible series. It's a basically perfect movie with astonishing sequences from beginning to end. And Cruise gamely put himself on screen with Superman himself, Henry Cavill, to show that he's not one of those actors who refuses to face off with a younger potential rival.

If you're going to see one Mission Impossible movie, we recommend Fallout.

So why isn't it No. 1 on our list of Mission Impossible movies? Because in the context of the entire series — for the way it ties every other film together, and elevates them all — we prefer...

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025)

Maybe this is sentiment talking. But we love how this film unifies every other Mission Impossible while soaring on its own.

We especially appreciate its thoughtful callbacks to so many characters we love — Final Reckoning's generous handling of a relatively minor character in the first Mission Impossible provides one of the best grace notes of any franchise.

We wish Ilsa and the White Widow were still around, but their absence allows other great characters to step up: Pom Klementieff's Paris and Esai Morales's Gabriel are standouts, but Angela Bassett, Tramell Tillman and Katy M. O'Brian are also captivating.

While the other films in the series are spectacular escapism, Final Reckoning has something truly important to say — and says it with elegance. The AI monstrosity known as The Entity represents not just technology that threatens to displace traditional moviegoing, but also the kind of online discourse that turns neighbors into enemies.

Many times in the film, Ethan and his friends ask people to look past their biases and prejudices and talk to potential enemies as human beings. At one point Cruise just spells it out, as Ethan yells at a brainwashed devotee of the Entity: "You spend too much time on the Internet!"

Final Reckoning takes its time — it's almost three hours long, and seems intent on making things as complicated as possible. But it also takes place for a meditative, prolonged, almost wordless sequence that is pure cinematic bliss.

The film's final action sequence is the best in any Mission Impossible film, but it's also a salute to doing things the old-fashioned way. Cruise dangles from not one but two biplanes — technology from more than a century ago — with the kind of death-defying verve that made Buster Keaton one of the first movie stars.

There's talk that things have changed so for cinema much that Tom Cruise may be one of the last movie stars. We hope not. But with the Mission Impossible movies he cements his reputation as one of the all-time best.

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Main image: Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

All photos from Paramount Pictures.