The movies of "Mission: Impossible" ranked from worst to best

Few players have been supported by a single current franchise more than Tom Cruise, and the hype around "Mission Impossible: Fallout" proves that more than two decades after the 1960s espionage show has become a blockbuster, the formula remains as powerful as ever. This helps that the "Mission: Impossible" movies have never really failed – with six films to date, there are no failures in the pack – which makes the challenge of grading them particularly delicate . Nevertheless, there is much to explore by revisiting the different entries in this series, which includes world-class author work and memorable stunts that make it a wonder that Cruise has survived so long. Hoping that he still lives some episodes. In the meantime, our ranking follows:

6. "Mission: Impossible II" (2000)

One way to put in a pin a potentially viable franchise is to do all that John Woo did for his entry into the 2000 series, a mishmash of action movie tropes, rogue viruses to something involving stock options wrong – in short, a big stew boring narrative ideas performed badly. At least there is Thandie Newton, cool as a cucumber and dangerous as any other double-crossing career criminal that the "M: I" movies have attracted attention before getting undone by the time the next movie arrives. She is the most Bond-esque girl among Ethan's love interests, but she's also a really interesting character: a thief turned spy who has a good heart and a better poker face, although all that's put aside to erect in love Ethan, one we will never see again. The film is not entirely devoid of some other merits, of course, and a motorcycle race involving Ethan and Dougray Scott as the devilish Ambrose is a classic Woo (light on doves, though), though would end up being defeated by another "M: I'm still filming" ("Rogue Nation"). The same is true about the film's opening move, which sees Ethan swinging from one to the other. huge rock wall (for … fun?), another sequence of nudity that was very cool at the time, then made fictional by a franchise and crazier, even if it involves doing stunts earlier in comparison (in this case, the Burj Khalifa climb into "Ghost Protocol", still one of the best things to happen in any action movie of the last decade). -KE

5. "Mission: Impossible III" (2006)

Of all commercial writers working today, J.J. Abrams has the rare distinction of launching his feature film career with a blockbuster. The superpower TV producer already had hit shows like "Alias" and "Lost" when he directed "MI: III", and this background shows in one of the tighter entries, intrigues of the franchise – the first to put more effort into the development of Ethan Hunt as a character. The current plot involves MacGuffin nonsense on a device called "The Rabbit's Foot", but it matters much less than Hunt's new Achilles Heel: his wife, Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), whose relevance for Hunt's decision-making continues to reverberate

The final showdown involves intelligent variation on the tense bombshell scenario that had already become a cliché for these films, and no amount of racing Tom Cruise does not give much distinction to the sequences of action. Fortunately, he is not the real star of the show. This distinction belongs to Philip Seymour Hoffman as the arms dealer Owen Davian, always the best villain that these films have offered. Davian is a cold-hearted madman whose relentlessly calm behavior brings a strange realism to a role that could have called a simple cardboard villain; When Hunt balances the character of a plane in a vain attempt to make Davian speak, Hoffman's gaze to the dead eyes in the screaming wind gives the "Mission: Impossible" movies their most indelible image ever since sweat beaded the Cruise front. -EK

4. "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" (2015)

"Rogue Nation" is a standout entry for a main reason: Rebecca Ferguson. The performance of the Swedish actress as MI6's agent Isla Faust gave the franchise an extremely refreshing female voice, a voice that goes with Tom Cruise in terms of kicking and charisma. Magnetic screen. Ferguson was a breath of fresh air five films in the franchise "Mission Impossible", as was the writer-director Christopher McQuarrie. McQuarrie's approach results in the tightest entry into the franchise, which makes "Rogue Nation" a refreshing explosion that does not quite reach the unpredictable sensations of the best movies " Impossible mission". In his hands, "Mission: Impossible" has become more outmoded. McQuarrie replaced Bird's caricature with a more classic approach that recalled everything from Alfred Hitchcock to James Bond. The entrance also gets bonus points for its opera fight scene, which remains one of the best pieces of the franchise. -ZS

3. "Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol" (2011)

Paramount Pictures

J.J. Abrams has brought closer the franchise "Mission: Impossible" of the third installment, but that is Brad Bird who proved once and for all what is a movie "Mission Impossible" with "Ghost Protocol". Bird, the master animator behind "The Iron Giant" and "The Incredibles" made his live film debut on the sequel, and used his animator's brain to transform the already-famous action pieces of the series in true works of art. A hand – to – hand fight between Lea Seydoux and Paula Patton looks like an action ballet, while Tom Cruise 's iconic Burj Khalifa climbing has a building tension that bursts into bursts of energy. adrenaline staccato. Bird's action scenes are their own symphonies, each with a distinct melody and a breathless climax. Bird's film is the franchise "Mission Impossible", a series of exceptionally successful action scenes, and that's the franchise at its best (see "Fallout" below). -ZS

2. "Mission: Impossible" (1996)

This is the picture most closely associated with the first era of the "M: I" franchise: An Ethan Hunt in glasses and glasses, hung a few inches above a floor, is described as "not really suited to be a floor anyway", trying to to hack a computer with massive diskettes. He has all the nerves, the fear and the tension … and then he sweats, a droplet ready to burst on the same floor, alerting everyone of his presence – and he catches it. It's funny and bold and clever, and although relatively small compared to the upcoming pieces, it's still the one that's emblematic of the best of the series.

But, really, it's not even the best movie sequence. The elegant thriller of Brian De Palma opens with the most fun piece to play in any "M: I" movie, a piece of misunderstanding that introduces not only Ethan Hunt, but also his compatriots, including Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez. and then kills them all, in order to dig into a double-crossing story that no matter what series of spy would like to have among its ranks. It will become a familiar story: Ethan, back to the wall, to prove his loyalty to an institution that does not deserve it completely. The film ends with one of those deeply entertaining and highly improbable action pieces that the franchise has perfected as a signature: a race between a train (with Cruise up) and a helicopter (piloted by the main villain Jean Reno) , which makes its way through a tunnel. Sure! It's as fierce as anything the series has made since, and it's paved the way for all the madness ahead. -KE

1. "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" (2018)

Paramount

It does not take long to recognize that "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" is one of the best action movies never done. Some will see the light during the first act HALO jump, when Tom Cruise caps a long, exhilarating catch by jumping from a C-17 to 25,000 feet, the aerial photographer Craig O Brien capturing the waterfall through the 39; IMAX lens attached to his head (your movement, Christopher Nolan). Others could take on the brilliance of the movie during the bareknuckle fight scene that follows in the bathroom of a Parisian nightclub. Henry Cavill has so much punching power that he literally needs to reload his arms, and director Christopher McQuarrie – invoking the best of James Bond while he turns the fight without music on the soundtrack – assures us that we absorb all the blows

But the true genius of the last chapter (and perhaps last) of the long-running saga "Mission: Impossible" is not found in any of the sets defying the life of the film, or in the elegant way that McQuarrie strings them together like perfect little pearls of violence, or even as Angela Bassett unravels a ridiculous line of plutonium stolen with stoic fury worthy of King Lear. "Fallout" is great because it fulfills a promise that his star has made to moviegoers over the last millennium, and – with only a few exceptions – has not stopped since. It's a promise that has made him the last star of its kind, a one-man supernova who has not yet exhausted a time when the public only seems to be interested in it. " to brands. And it's a promise that Tom Cruise finally made loud and clear in the sixth part of the series that he backed for 22 years, and backed him up for at least the seven last: "I will not let you down." ]

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