Impossible’ Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

Rightly the chapter in this series with the lowest Tomatometer score (a generous 57% fresh), this follow-up to the original “Mission: Impossible” overcompensated for criticisms that its predecessor was too complicated by telling a story that is just plain dumb. Perhaps emboldened by the silliness of his (fun) previous Hollywood movies “Broken Arrow” and “Face/Off,” director John Woo leans heavily into his visual playbook to create a film full of balletic imagery trying to disguise absolutely preposterous storytelling and action choreography. But most of the story boils down to a fight over a girl (a hard-working Thandiwe Newton). Villain Dougray Scott, looking like an artist’s rendering of a genetic splicing of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, isn’t up to the task of intimidating Tom Cruise — an insult added to the injury of losing out on playing Wolverine in “X-Men” as a result of taking the role.

As a set up to what’s meant to be the coup de grace for the series, “Dead Reckoning” is unfortunately a bit of a slog, even if it replicates with great energy and dexterity the elements that have made earlier chapters so entertaining. Particularly because the film only ever addresses Ethan Hunt’s origin story obliquely but also because of the villain’s penchant for tiresome self-seriousness, Gabriel (Esai Morales) is a fairly underwhelming final boss, necessary though he may be since his counterpart — the Entity, a rogue AI — is an oscillating electronic eyeball. Putting new recruit Grace (Hayley Atwell) through her own reluctant hero’s journey takes too long — almost to the point of exasperation. But then again the whole film is kind of like that: the Rome car chase, the Venice fight, the build to Ethan’s mountain jump, even the number of cars they have to climb through after stopping a runaway train — each sequence takes one or two more beats than feels necessary. Also, revealing the Sevastapol in the first scene (rather than where it belongs, in the first scene of “The Final Reckoning”) means that Ethan spends the whole movie chasing after something viewers already know about, marking the first time in franchise history where it feels like the audience is ahead of the characters.

Latter-day assessments that characterize this J.J. Abrams film as a glorified episode of his TV series “Alias” aren’t completely off base, but the future “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” fan-disappointer manages something more sly and nuanced with this franchise’s mythology than he does later in his career: Abrams dismantles and deconstructs its core iconography, from a malfunctioning mask-maker to the multiple times Ethan Hunt fails to do his job or save the lives of those closest to him. An absolutely ruthless Philip Seymour Hoffman remains one of the best adversaries Cruise faces in the series, and as much as Abrams likes to cute-ify Ethan Hunt’s life in between missions, he creates the super spy’s purest civilian relationship with Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan), which elevates every subsequent film from (basically) a James Bond riff to a saga with meaningful emotional connections — and stakes.

The conclusion to Ethan Hunt’s story is already dividing audiences — a debate that undoubtedly will continue as the world moves forward without his essential but frequently disavowed brand of heroism. In the years to come, what will carry more weight with viewers? The first half of this film, chock-full of endless, wildly overserious exposition? Or the back half, featuring two of the most thrilling set pieces in the history of the franchise (and arguably cinema itself)? The film’s derring-do is enough that the tedium of the build-up to it kind of washes away. Certainly, the entire ensemble’s relentless determination to characterize Ethan Hunt as the only man on Earth with the right moral compass to defeat the Entity fails to yield new insights about him, them or the world they inhabit. It feels especially repetitive since the previous chapter already overexplained the challenges the IMF faces, and the stakes if they fail. But with its climactic piggybacking of a (literally) slow-rolling hunt through a wrecked submarine back-to-back with an aerial fight so urgent and visceral that it feels, well, impossible to believe it’s real, “The Final Reckoning” sticks the landing and then some.

Making his own live-action feature debut, Pixar stalwart Brad Bird translates Abrams’ snarky wit as an ironic counterpoint to tension-relieving humanity, with the series’ biggest action canvas yet. Introducing Jeremy Renner as a “no, we promise he was never supposed to be a replacement” co-star for Tom Cruise, the film’s success revitalized “Mission: Impossible” at the time, eliminating the need to even consider swapping out (or letting free) its tireless star. But as a high-stakes tentpole film with a well-modulated sense of humor about itself (“Mission accomplished!” triumphantly — if mistakenly — shouts Ethan at one point), “Ghost Protocol” firmly and permanently roots the series in the realm of adult entertainment by finding a perfect balance between briskness and nail-biting intensity — something that the best subsequent installments not only carried forward, but further deepened.

Though it looks almost quaint in comparison to the ambitious, muscular chapters that followed, O.G. auteur-turned-crowd pleaser Brian De Palma delivers a franchise-starter that codifies all of the essential ingredients needed for a “Mission: Impossible” film (with proportions to be determined by each subsequent director). The vault heist remains an all-time gold standard for action set pieces (here or elsewhere), and it’s where Cruise first really began to hone the smoldering, delicately-cheeky intensity that has made him an A-list mainstay for decades. Those old enough may remember David Koepp and Robert Towne’s script absolutely bewildering audiences at the time of its release, but in retrospect not only was it deceptively — and delightfully — complex, but ultimately a template for intriguing misdirection that, like so many other elements in the film, has become a franchise hallmark.

An oversized version of its predecessor “Rogue Nation,” “Fallout” gives you the sense that Christopher McQuarrie had not only gotten his sea legs beneath him, but started running with the speed of Ethan Hunt. Bringing back Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) as a frenemy yet again feels just a bit like the filmmaker walking back what he previously accomplished just to keep her around as a simultaneous screen magnet and plot device, not that anyone minds because Ferguson is just as good here as before. But Henry Cavill absolutely lights up the film as August Walker, a double operative who thrillingly — and unambiguously — hates Ethan on sight, resulting in a friction that overshadows the elaborate machinations of the terrorist groups he leads. Meanwhile, the set pieces are unilaterally great here, from the HALO jump to the nightclub fight to the breakout of Solomon Lane to the helicopter chase that wraps the film. But after the tightly-plotted perfection of “Rogue Nation,” the freedom the filmmakers indulge here leaves audiences feeling like they’ve just eaten an especially rich meal: satisfying but just a tiny bit overstuffed.

The apotheosis of Tom Cruise’s collaboration on the franchise with any of its directors, Christopher McQuarrie’s “Rogue Nation” delivers massive (and in one case literally) operatic set pieces in a story that operates with Swiss-clock precision. Introduced unforgettably in this film, Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust remains the second-best character ever created for “Mission: Impossible,” and her role creates a thrilling dynamic that gives Ethan an adversary who’s also a friend, both to complicate the plot and enhance its emotionality. In an “embarrassment of riches” quandary, it’s a toss-up whether the opening plane sequence, the opera assassination, the underwater vault or the motorcycle chase is the best sequence in the film. But McQuarrie’s seemingly inexhaustible creativity strengthens all of the characters and supercharges the world they operate in, turning a film series into a bona fide saga.