By Alex Michael
Just over seven days ago I stumbled into a workplace conversation that led me on an epic, albeit not exactly life-changing, journey.
“And he literally just drove straight off a cliff, no second thoughts! I don’t think this guy is going to be done until he’s dead!”
That was the comment that pricked up my ears and, to be fair, conversations like that aren’t too far off some of the things you’ll hear coming from the breaking news and crime desks. But this was a culture convo – colour me intrigued.
Tom Cruise says goodbye to the Mission: Impossible franchise at the Cannes Film Festival.Credit: AP
The dots joined themselves quickly. They had to be talking about the latest Mission: Impossible movie, starring the guy whose midlife ‘crisis’ seems to involve collecting specialist equipment licences like they’re Pokemon cards. Plane, boat, bazooka – you name it, Tom Cruise is qualified to do it. There are eight of these films over almost 30 years but I had not seen even one.
My mission, I was soon informed, “should I choose to accept it”, was to watch all eight of them in one week and report back.
Me being me, I devised a nerdy ratings system to help illustrate my thoughts on the exploits of elite Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise), rating each film out of 10 for the following categories:
Villain: The bad guy.
Team: The elite team of IMF agents Hunt assembles.
Bosses: Hunt’s always got some no-good, button-pushing suit breathing down his neck.
Mask reveals: Having Hunt hide then dramatically reveal his identity is a series hallmark.
Action sequences: Cruise’s stunts get more insane with every passing film.
Impossibility: Just how Impossible is this Mission?
Romance: He never misses on the streets but Hunt is hit-or-miss between the sheets.
Plot: You know what this is, folks.
Cold open: All eight films open with a splashy sequence before the iconic opening credits roll. They range in length from about three minutes to nearly 30.
Equipped with a plan and a lot of snacks, my cinematic journey began. This is what I discovered.
Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in full flight amid the action of the first Mission: Impossible film. Credit: Getty Images
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Villain: 7.5
Team: 5
Bosses: 8
Mask reveals: 5
Action sequences: 6.8
Impossibility: 7.8
Romance: 8
Plot: 7.5
Cold open: 8
Overall: 8.5
The gist: After his entire team is killed on a mission, elite IMF agent Ethan Hunt is suspected of being a mole, and outlawed from the force. Stealing a heavily guarded list of classified individuals holds his key to redemption.
The good: The scene where a wire-suspended Hunt steals the ‘NOC’ list from a computer inside a heavily alarmed, impossible-to-penetrate vault is one of the series’ best. Another huge plus was a lack of romance – this is not strong across the series at all.
The not good: Prosthetics and make-up have come a long way over the past 30 years. The quality and execution of the mask reveals was about as hard to watch as Tom Cruise’s 2005 couch-jumping Oprah interview.
Cruise with Thandiwe Newton in Mission: Impossible 2. It’s set in Australia but that’s the best you can say of it. Credit:
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Villain: 7
Team: 6
Bosses: 5
Mask reveals: 7.8
Action sequences: 5.8
Impossibility: 7
Romance: 2
Plot: 4
Cold open: 5.8
Overall: 6.3
The gist: Hunt travels to Australia to stop the spread of a deadly disease created by a crazy scientist.
The good: This movie has the best mask reveal in the whole series – it’s cheesy and bonkers and impossible. It culminates in the villain being tricked into murdering his own second-in-command. It’s set in Australia …
The not good: I have so many thoughts and so much I could say but, in the interest of brevity, all I will say is: sheesh. Were they trying to tank the franchise? Do not watch!
Cruise amps up the action in Mission: Impossible 3, one of the best in the franchise. Credit:
Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)
Villain: 9.6
Team: 7
Bosses: 7
Mask reveals: 7.4
Action sequences: 7.4
Impossibility: 5
Romance: 7.2
Plot: 8
Cold open: 9.5
Overall: 9.1
The gist: Ethan Hunt has a wife (Michelle Monaghan) and Philip Seymour Hoffman will murder her if he doesn’t get the ‘rabbit’s foot’. What is the rabbit’s foot? Who knows.
The good: It’s perhaps the darkest, most thought-provoking story of the whole bunch and undoubtedly the most focused. The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman absolutely crushed it as the villain; nobody else came close to matching his intensity or believability in the equivalent role for the entire series. As a bonus, this movie was J.J. Abrams’ directorial debut – yeah, that’s right, the guy that saved and then ruined Star Wars all over again.
The not good: This one is great as a standalone bookend to the first trilogy but in many ways feels like it belongs in a different cinematic universe entirely.
Cruise scales the world’s tallest building in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Credit:
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
Villain: 6
Team: 5.2
Bosses: 7.3
Mask reveals: 8.1
Action sequences: 7.8
Impossibility: 7.8
Romance: 7.8
Plot: 6.9
Cold open: 5.8
Overall: 7.5
The gist: Hunt gets framed for blowing up the Kremlin and has to clear his name while also stopping San Francisco from being hit by a nuclear missile.
The good: This one is seen by many as the turning point and I can see why. The campy tone was back, with able character actor Simon Pegg (as Benji Dunn) getting an elevated role, but by far the biggest shift was in the scope and execution of action sequences. Goodbye, indoor data warehouses; hello, epic outdoor action sequences across multiple countries and locales.
The not good: They dramatically cut series regular Luther Stickell’s screen time and copped major backlash for doing so. Hunt’s IMF teammates are forgettable, the romance storylines flounder and characters seem a bit too disposable.
Rebecca Ferguson and Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Credit:
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Villain: 6.8
Team: 7.2
Bosses: 5
Mask reveals: 6.8
Action sequences: 7.5
Impossibility: 7
Romance: 4
Plot: 7.2
Cold open: 8.3
Overall: 7.6
The gist: Hunt and Benji try to expose the existence of a dangerous syndicate of rogue operatives called The Syndicate, led by a former MI6 agent hellbent on world domination.
The good: The action scenes take another enormous leap with director Christopher McQuarrie on board. Think John Wick’s destruction and intensity, but instead of smashing you through an 18th consecutive glass window he’s throwing you through a window … while flying a plane … while defusing a bomb. I was waiting to see when the film industry’s ‘Marvel-ification’ would hit this franchise, and Rogue Nation was it. Mercifully, they took the right stuff. Finally, a commitment to world building and maintaining some consistency by, you know, not killing villains and teammates before we learn their name.
The not good: So the formula was finally in place, and the action was at a breakneck speed, but this one makes the mistake of not knowing whether it’s a buddy comedy or a serious thriller. Simon Pegg is thrust into the Ethan Hunt role for large parts of the film but is never allowed to be anything but a bumbling klutz who needs saving.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout has Cruise clambering once again. Credit:
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Villain: 7.6
Team: 8
Bosses: 7.5
Mask reveals: 6.8
Action sequences: 9.4
Impossibility: 8.5
Romance: 5.9
Plot: 8.6
Cold open: 7.2
Overall: 9.2
The gist: The villain from the last movie, Solomon Lane, remains at large. He is planning to detonate a nuclear weapon that will cut off a third of the world’s water supply.
The good: Superman aka The Witcher aka Henry Cavill plays a boss-turned-secondary-villain who finally gives Hunt an equal physical match. In this one the run times started to blow out (two hours 20 minutes) but there’s a lot less talk, more action.
The not good: I do wish they chose a more compelling villain to be the first one to make it to a second film, and they continue to swing and mostly miss on the themes of romance and Hunt v authority, but really, no complaints!
Cruise gets back on a bike as the action lifts in Dead Reckoning.Credit: Christian Black
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023)
Villain: 7
Team: 7
Bosses: 6.5
Mask reveals: 6
Action sequences: 8
Impossibility: 6.5
Romance: 6.5
Plot: 6.5
Cold open: 7.2
Overall: 7.6
The gist: Hunt has to stop all-seeing, all-knowing AI ‘The Entity’ from blowing up the entire planet.
The good: The action sequences continue to expand in scope and screen time. Cruise’s stunt work is so impressive by this point that McQuarrie can use fewer camera cuts and instead show long, extended takes of Cruise genuinely climbing out of planes and driving off cliffs.
The not good: They really lost me when the run time blew out to three hours. That means everything got extended, for better or for worse. The series’ signature cold open balloons here from three minutes to 30. The action pieces are breathtaking but they’re fewer and farther between and the plot could be the worst yet.
Tom Cruise clings to the wing of a plane in flight.Credit: Paramount Pictures/Skydance
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)
Villain: 7.5
Team: 8.2
Bosses: 7.8
Mask reveals: 6.8
Action scenes: 9
Impossibility: 8
Romance: 6 t
Plot: 7.5
Cold open: 7.5
Overall: 8.1
The gist: Hunt’s final showdown with The Entity and Gabriel, the man trying to control it.
The good: The two core action set-pieces are truly best-in-class for the genre and run for close to 30 minutes uninterrupted. One in a submarine, the other, an epic plane duel. They were playing this like it actually could be the final movie and they really impressed me with how they handled the nostalgic flashbacks and tie-ins.
The not good: All of the issues from Dead Reckoning are alive and well here, too. The new romantic interest, Hayley Atwell, gets almost nothing to work with and they tease the death of beloved characters a tad too much.
Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Screening Room newsletter.