29 years ago the Mission: Impossible film franchise began. The original Mission: Impossible was not only the first film produced by Tom Cruise, but it was also the real start of his career as an action star. He had starred in films like Top Gun and Days of Thunder, but nothing as physically demanding as Mission. Cruise himself probably never imagined the franchise would not only still be going strong almost 30 years later, but that it would have evolved into the go to action franchise for practical stunts and epic action scenes. Ranking the M:I films is not only difficult for me as I enjoy them all (even M:I2) so much, but it’s not nearly as interesting as ranking individual aspects of the M:I formula. To start with I’ve ranked all the climaxes for the M:I series, from the train sequence in the original all the way to the bi-plane stunts of the newly released Final Reckoning. Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more Mission rankings.
8 – Mission Impossible 3 (2006)
Ethan’s new bride Julia is being held somewhere in Shanghai. After breaking out of captivity, Ethan runs through the streets of Shanghai to find Julia’s location before Owen Davian can reach her. This is no knock against the final sequence of Mission Impossible 3 to rank it the lowest, as it would still blow away the majority of action films in terms of tension and excitement. In fact, when it comes to pure tension, I feel this actually tops a few of the others on the list. If you ever want to see how much acting skill can benefit an action scene, watch how Tom Cruise builds the desperation of the situation. What makes this more impressive is that the major weapon of the story, The Rabbit’s Foot, barely factors into this finale. Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves so much credit for playing such a terrifying villain while barely being involved in the action. Other than a few moments of fight between Davian and Ethan, this climax is almost entirely focused on finding Julia, and then stopping the explosive charge that’s inside Ethan’s head. Again, the acting skill that Tom Cruise brings to this moment where he’s seconds away from dying but still has to prepare Julia to defend herself and bring him back to life can only be described as frantic composure. I don’t even necessarily think the lower stakes hurt the sequence. What sets this one apart from all the others is the lack of involvement from the rest of the IMF team. The only hero character other than Ethan that plays any part is Benji, and at this point in the series he’s been known to the audience for 2 scenes. While this is Ethan’s sequence, in the end what really sets it apart is that the least equipped character, Julia, is the one who gets the big moment in the end. It’s a phenomenal climax that only suffers in comparison to the others in the series.
7 – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025)
As Benji, Grace and the extended team work inside the Doomsday vault, Ethan chases down Gabriel to recover the poison pill software to take down The Entity. I want to start by bringing up the positives, which as always are the stunts. The biplane footage not only includes some of the craziest practical flying footage ever captured on film, but the shots of Cruise dangling from from the wing might be the most terrifying film the series has featured outside of the Burj Khalifa scene in Ghost Protocol. For a movie that by design needed to be very dark and at times bleak, it was a treat to have a bright and colourful final action scene that really showcases the scenery they’re flying above. The final moments of the climax, on both Ethan’s side and the rest of the team in the vault, genuinely left me guessing whether anyone would come out of it. It was brilliantly edited to build on the suspense, and create a feeling of doubt on the outcome. The negatives ultimately come down to the fact that both parts of the climax play very similarly to the climax from Fallout. Ethan hangs from a flying vehicle over an incredible landscape, has to take over and battle the villains vehicle, and fights to recover a device that will allow the rest of the team to shut down the threat. The rest of the team all have to play a specific part with perfect timing to accomplish their mission. Final Reckoning is an unbelievably satisfying finale that’s only downfall is they’ve already been there and done something extremely similar.
6 – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2010)
Ethan attempts to recover the launch device from Hendricks in a moving automated parking garage in Mumbai. The IMF team attempts to restore communications to the satellite from a relay station. Ghost Protocol is easily my favourite M:I film. Everyone knows and loves the climbing sequence of the Burj Khalifa from the midway point of the film. It’s probably the most iconic M:I action sequence of all, and arguably one of the most famous action sequences in history. When you set something that spectacular half way into the film, its a foregone conclusion that the climax will disappoint on some level. Just to be clear though, the action itself is still exciting. The fight scene is hard hitting with a lot of jumping and falling from heights. The issue is only that you don’t leave thinking about how it ended since there were more spectacular scenes earlier on. Ethan gets the majority of the action in the crazy parking garage sequence, but this was the first time in the franchise that all team members were also given something to do in the end. The character arcs for Brandt and Carter are probably more important than Ethan’s in the story, so it was important that they not only have something to do, but that the payoff for their characters was satisfying. Everything works well in the Mumbai climax, but the fact is The Burj Khalifa climb and even the Kremlin heist from earlier are much more memorable in comparison.
5- Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Ethan is forced to deliver the accounts numbers to Solomon Lane and the Syndicate as Benji has a bomb strapped to his chest in a busy public setting. The IMF team puts together a trap to try and capture Solomon Lane. Just like I said with the climax for M:I3, this is still an incredible sequence despite being ranked a bit lower. Rogue Nation famously underwent extensive reshoots in the middle of production where they had to shut down for a few weeks to rework the climax. Christopher McQuarrie later confirmed that they originally had a much more action heavy climax planned, but thought it needed to be smaller in scale and more intimately set. I love that this decision was made, because what really works with the end of Rogue Nation is that it’s different from your typical action heavy climax. Simon Pegg gets to show a lot of dramatic range. The entire purpose of Benji’s character was to be the innocent of the team, so there was no better choice of character to be in jeopardy than him. The other team members all get to play their part as the scene moves into the chase through the streets of London. It’s the table scene where Ethan has to exchange the account numbers for Benji’s life, and the final capture of Lane that make this as memorable as it is. McQuarrie and Cruise made the right choice to throw in some classic Mission: Impossible mind twists to surprise the audience. This is by far the calmest M:I climax, but it more than makes up for it thanks to the strength of Solomon Lane as a character, and Sean Harris’ performance that makes me so invested in the threat of the climax.
4 – Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Ethan breaks into Ambrose’s hideout to recover the Chimera virus and Bellerophon cure and begins a motorcycle chase through Sydney to deliver the cure to Nyah before she succumbs to the virus. There’s almost no debate that M:I2 is the weakest film in the series. Even when you accept all of the flaws I believe it still stands as an incredible John Woo action film. The climax itself is almost good enough to make you forget all the other flaws that are present. John Woo may have already been considered the World’s greatest living action director from his days making Hong Kong classics such as Hard Boiled, The Killer and A Better Tomorrow series, and as a huge fan of his Hong Kong work, I can say the climax of M:I2 stands up there as some of the great action sequences he has ever filmed. The motorocycle chase alone could save an even worse film, but to top it off you have probably the best hand to hand fight scene in the franchise to follow between Ethan and Ambrose. As far as the story and stakes go, there’s nothing you haven’t seen a million times in other similar action and spy films. It’s the quality of action and stunts that really blow your mind in the final 20 minutes.
3- Mission: Impossible (1996)
Ethan and the disavowed IMF team try to catch both Max and Job as the NOC list exchange takes place on a high speed train. Ethan uses some classic M:I trickery to discover the identity of Job before chasing him onto the roof of a bullet train. Of all the Mission films the 1996 original has by far the shortest final action sequence. The action part on top of the train is only a few minutes, but the climax itself as a whole really starts much earlier inside the train as the NOC list exchange occurs. What Brian DePalma brought more than any other director in the franchise were the mind games used to move the plot forward. The audience only has half of an idea of what is going on, and what each character’s purpose is. Slowly things are revealed to make you rethink exactly what is going on and who is playing who. Without giving everything away, the revelation of Job’s identity was more or less revealed prior to this, but still many other character’s allegiances are left up in the air. While the action portion on top of the train may be brief, it’s still an incredible action sequence thanks to the incredibly high speed winds. DePalma and crew really capture the speed and physics of the train. And the one big shot of the jump from helicopter to the train is so iconic that it even made it into the trailers for the film months before it ever came out.
2 – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
In a medical camp in Kashmir the IMF team split up to disarm a nuclear warhead and capture Solomon Lane, while Ethan chases down the detonator in a helicopter chase over the mountains. Christopher McQuarrie acknowledged that most of the earlier M:I films always had their biggest action sequence near the midpoint point, so he figured it was about time to save the biggest and best sequence for last. Fallout’s climax is probably one of the main reasons many fans consider it the best film in the series. The stunt work is some of the most insane that have ever been filmed, with Cruise hanging from a moving helicopter as it rises to a high altitude over the mountains. The helicopter sequence is enhanced by stunning visuals of the mountains. The somewhat surprising villain twist also adds to the tension of the showdown on the cliff. Much like Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation did before this, all the supporting characters are also given their moments in the finale. I feel Fallout does a much better job at creating their importance. The re-introduction of Julia adds so much to the disarming, and having two films to build up Ilsa’s storyline with Solomon Lane made her showdown with him one of the highlights of the series. I should know at this point that everything will somehow work out in the end, but somehow the final moments as the clock ticks down gave me real doubts as to how the mission would be accomplished. The way McQuarrie filmed and edited the final moments creates so much edge of your seat suspense.
1 – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023)
Much like what was done in Fallout, McQuarrie and Cruise really went all out to make sure the climax was the biggest and most memorable part of the film. We had already scene a train sequence in the original M:I, but this one played completely differently, although there are some fun throwbacks to the 96 original with a slow moving data transfer playing a part, as well as Kittridge’s presence. Every M:I film has that one insane stunt that the marketing is built around, and in the case of Dead Reckoning it was the motorcycle jump off the cliff. What impresses me the most with the climax to Dead Reckoning is this stunt more or less kicks off the climax, and somehow it gets more entertaining and more memorable even after that one big stunt is over. From Ghost Protocol to The Final Reckoning, the formula of Ethan does his things while the rest of the team work together on a smaller mission has been consistent. However, Dead Reckoning stands out as they kind of break this formula up a little. Luther is written out brilliantly to do his own thing before the climax even starts. Benji interacts with Ethan for the first half of the climax as Grace is doing her own things, and the Grace and Ethan come together near the end. So everyone gets their own part to play, but this time it doesn’t all have to play at once. I also can’t give enough credit to Hayley Atwell and what she brings to the action. It’s too common to have every character in any action film be flawless superheroes. What has been lost lately in general are relatable characters that can stand in for the audience. Grace shows her nerves. She shows her fear, and that add so much to the action. The moment where her and Ethan are standing on a narrow platform from a hanging train car, and he asks her “Do you trust me?” and Grace shakes her head and answers with sincerity “No” sums up everything that works about her character. This was filmed, promoted and released as Dead Reckoning Part 1, so the thought I always had going in is that we would have an unresolved climax left on a cliffhanger. That turned out to be only partly true. I appreciate how Dead Reckoning has its own conclusive ending, while still leaving the story and threat open for the next part. And once you see The Final Reckoning you realize how much more conclusive the ending of Dead Reckoning really was. From the fight scene on top of the train, to the incredible performance of Vanessa Kirby playing Hayley Atwell playing Vanessa Kirby, to the literal cliffhanger final action pieces, this is as close to a perfect action climax as you can get.
Check back to this site soon as I will next rank another individual aspect of the Mission: Impossible series.
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