Mission: Impossible countdown — All 7 Tom Cruise-starrers ranked till Dead Reckoning Part One

At 61, Tom Cruise sure seems to be getting younger. At least, the stuntwork in his new Mission Impossible film would say so. Dead Reckoning Part One, seventh in the M:I line of films, reiterates the superstar’s status as one of the hottest action heroes in the world despite his years. He has delivered to fans exactly what they’ll come for, in a sequel that lives up to the franchise’s billing as epic entertainment. If outrageous is the buzzword for the M:I films, Cruise as Agent Ethan Hunt has done it all, from scaling the Burj Khalifa to holding his breath underwater for over five minutes to dangling from airborne planes. In his latest adventure, Hunt drives a motorbike off an imposing cliff into a free fall before bailing himself midair with a parachute. Not surprisingly, Hunt is a big hit with his employers, the IMF — or Impossible Missions Force. The impossibility of stunts in M:I films is perhaps only matched by the aplomb with which characters routinely engage in the hallmark mask disguise trick. When Brian De Palma directed Tom Cruise in the first Mission: Impossible film of 1996, the duo ended up redefining the Hollywood spy thriller beyond the James Bond template. Technology changed, and floppy discs occupying pride of place in the first film have given way to Artificial Intelligence (AI) lending thematic core to the new film. The franchise has come a long way since the first film, derived from a 1966 television series of the same name and its 1988 sequel series. What hasn’t changed over 27 years is the M:I secret sauce that makes the outrageously impossible seem delectable in each new film. Which makes ranking these films a tough deal because, strictly as action entertainers, there is no bad M:I film. All these films could be your number one or number seven depending on which generation of audience you belong to, or which set-piece action amazed you the most. Here’s our ranking of the seven M:I films so far, arranged in the form of a reverse countdown: 7 - Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

John Woo stepped in to direct M:I-2 , and the outcome was a film bursting with the filmmaker’s trademark over-the-top stunts. The idea was in sync with the action extravaganza the franchise is known for, though Woo’s focus on elaborate stunts made Tom Cruise’s IMF agent Ethan Hunt more of an action hero than a superspy. Robert Towne’s screenplay sees Hunt collaborating with a gutsy thief named Nyah (Thandie Newton) to obtain the man-made Chimera virus. The virus has the potential to unleash a global pandemic and is in the custody of a rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who is Nyah’s ex-lover. The plot would seem relevant in the time of Covid, and Woo ensured a high-octane fun package. However, most fans felt the film had a weak climax that let down an intriguing premise. Certain key characters needed better writing, too, especially Scott’s arch villain Ambrose. 6 - Mission: Impossible III (2006)

The lowest-grossing of all films in the series (not counting the just-released Dead Reckoning — Part One), M:i:III is, in retrospect, best recalled for late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s role as the elusive and ruthless arms dealer Owen Davian. Directed by Hollywood biggie JJ Abrams, the film is surprisingly low-key compared to the rest of the series, though Abrams does add a touch of melodrama with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, in between saving the world, finding time to romance, and subsequently wed, Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). Bearing faint thematic resemblance with its predecessor, the storyline of the film (by Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci) sees Hunt fighting against time to prevent the mysterious Rabbit’s Foot, said to be a biological weapon that could destroy the world, from falling in Davian’s hands. MI:III was an all-out entertainer, but a predictable set-piece collage. Ultimately, the film contributed nothing new to the franchise. 5 - Mission: Impossible (1996)

It looks technically dated today, even tacky in parts, as a spy thriller. But this was the one that started it all. Tom Cruise and director Brian De Palma would perhaps have no way of knowing it 27 years ago, but Mission: Impossible ended up more than just another hit spy thriller in Hollywood. The film would reorganise espionage tropes such as double cross, deceit and betrayals, besides reinventing fast-paced action drama and spiffy use of special effects. It set the ball rolling on a franchise that is today counted as a yardstick on how to reinvent franchises. Screenwriters David Koepp and Robert Towne introduced Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt, who is out to clear his name after being framed for the murder of several members of his top-secret team. Cruise’s highlight stunt in the film saw him dive into a maximum security CIA vault harnessed by a thin steel wire. The set-piece remains one of the most copied action scenes in film history. 4 - Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)

By 2015, Tom Cruise had starred in and acted as a producer in all M:I films released till then and he roped in frequent collaborator Christopher McQuarrie as screenwriter and director for the fifth release, Rogue Nation. McQuarrie had already directed Cruise in Jack Reacher (2012), and written Valkyrie (2008) and Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) for the actor. With Rogue Nation, the writer-filmmaker’s focus was clearly on creating more spectacular set-pieces for the franchise’s talismanic hero, and the film hits a suspense high with an assassination attempt sequence in a Vienna opera house involving Cruise as Ethan Hunt and Rebecca Ferguson’s undercover MI6 agent, Ilsa Faust. Rogue Nation has some of the most daredevil stunts you’ve seen in the franchise and, though too generic in parts, the film is structured to keep fans happy. The story centres on the rise of The Syndicate, a network of rogue government agents from around the world who aim at launching a series of terrorist strikes. Hunt and his trusted team must thwart The Syndicate. The film, like its predecessor Ghost Protocol, continued the idea of creating more defined roles for the franchise prop cast — particularly Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames. While Ferguson sizzled in high-voltage action mode, Sean Harris as villain Solomon Lane, an ex-MI6 agent and leader of The Syndicate, was impressive, too. 3 - Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)

One of the franchise’s most engaging adventures, Ghost Protocol also has the one set-piece featuring Tom Cruise that eclipses all others. The sequence where Hunt scales Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world, stands out in Hollywood action history. It is a stunt that pins Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as an action hero par comparison. The sequence is woven into the script (by director Christopher McQuarrie along with Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec) when the adventure takes Hunt to Dubai, as part of his efforts to recover classified Russian nuclear launch codes from a terrorist named Kurt Hendricks, codenamed Cobalt (Michael Nyquist). Hendricks plans to use the codes to nuke the United States. The film marked the live action debut of director Brad Bird, who was till then known as maker of animated hits such as Ratatouille and The Incredibles. Ghost Protocol pushed the envelope on M:I tropes, buoying a familiar plot with innovative storytelling, action and VFX wizardry. Indian fans loved watching Anil Kapoor in a cameo. 2 - Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Strictly, the two parts of _Dead Reckoning_ ought to be assessed together as one film. But while we wait for the latest sequel’s storyline to find a follow-up in Dead Reckoning Part Two in June next year, there are several reasons why Part One merits a position on its own, among the top two MI films so far. The film’s biggest success lies in the fact that it does a fine job with the climax, inducing curiosity over how Ethan Hunt’s saga will finally wrap up in Part Two. Director Christopher McQuarrie, returning with an M:I film for the third time, has by now mastered the trick of setting up a Tom Cruise-compatible package that entertains. He sticks to formula but doesn’t get repetitive. In McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen’s storyline, Cruise as Hunt and his IMF team must locate a dangerous weapon that could wipe out humanity if it falls in the wrong hands. The plot finds topicality in AI that is smart enough to escape human control and Russian submarines experimenting with stealth capabilities. At the same time, Dead Reckoning Part One reloads the signature set-pieces, with the highlight motorbike stunt, high-speed train action, threat of nuclear explosives and a mysterious assassin gunning for Ethan Hunt. The film is good fun all the way, although at around 163 minutes they could have kept the runtime tighter. 1 - Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)

The one that has managed to get the signature mix closest to perfection so far. If non-stop adrenaline rush is the name of the game in M:I films, Fallout makes every second of its 147-odd minutes count. Rather than bank overtly on VFX, Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie chose to incorporate imaginatively choreographed old-school set-pieces to heighten the action drama. Served with a dash of humour, regular action sequences such as a nightclub bathroom brawl or a chase down London roads created maximum impact. Fallout is a fast-paced entertainer that creates ample space for plot and character development. In the film, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must stop a terrorist outfit called The Apostles, led by the mysterious John Lark, from launching simultaneous nuclear strikes on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca. Among the highlights is Henry Cavill’s as CIA hitman August Walker. Cavill matches Cruise’s charisma punch for punch, rendering extra sheen to the film’s larger-than-life thrills. Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture.