From scaling mountains and skyscrapers to hanging off planes and jumping between trains, Dan Mecca ranks the best action sequences from the Mission: Impossible franchise.
The set pieces in the Mission: Impossible series are already the stuff of legend, and the franchise isn’t even finished yet (though this latest film may be it). Name a Mission: Impossible movie, and another fan could identify it with the stunt: “Oh, that’s the one where he hangs on the side of the plane.” That’s cinematic staying power. As the films have gone on, the scope and scale of each sequence has grown to match the expectation of an eager fan base.
Star Tom Cruise is very open about his willingness to suffer for our entertainment. He’s been called the “Buster Keaton of this generation,” the savior of the theatrical experience and the living manifestation of the American blockbuster. Below, we highlight the best set piece from each Mission: Impossible film. The premise is simple: which sequence has stuck with us the most over the years. Other considerations include the degree of difficulty, perceived danger and sheer imagination. To make things more difficult, we ranked each of these set pieces to determine, out of all eight films, which one is ultimately the greatest.
You can be sure, at the center of each is Cruise, sacrificing himself at the mercy of the moviegoer. “Truly grateful to live in a time where Tom Cruise will continuously flirt with death for our entertainment,” Gothincolour writes, encapsulating the appreciation we all share.
Before we explain our choice, let’s acknowledge that Maggie Q’s red dress during the Vatican heist is perhaps a superior set piece all by itself. Mission: Impossible III is the most modest entry in the series, and its defining set piece reflects as much. It’s also a scene that is cloaked in failure. In this sequence, Ethan Hunt loses. Philip Seymour Hoffman’s villain gets away with relative ease. And yet, the elegance of the scene cannot be overstated. There’s the score, the pacing and the way Ving Rhames shouts, “Ethan, there’s a G36 in the truck!”
J.J. Abrams had established himself as an ace at building what he would deem a “mystery box” on television: “What you think you’re getting, then what you’re really getting.” The bridge scene is a beautiful mystery box. Just as we get our bearings on where our characters are, which vehicle they are in, etc., there’s an explosion. As Ethan recovers from the blast, a helicopter with ominous soldiers appears. Our hero, in this moment, is more human than we’ve ever seen him before (save maybe this film’s opening). Xan writes that “Tom Cruise is incredible in this, seeing Ethan Hunt so vulnerable and emotional is just something else.”
This one is a bit more difficult. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was only released in 2023, so the staying power of each set piece has yet to cement itself over time. Common sense would dictate the motorcycle jump, but our money is on the train hop in the third act. It’s so much more than one big stunt that pays off with a pretty good joke. The finale—in which Ethan and Grace (Hayley Atwell) must crawl and leap through train car after train car as they tumble off the edge of a cliff—is a top-notch exercise in sustained suspense. A slow, silly crescendo towards doom.
Josh points out, “[The] slapstick derailment sequence [is] just completely impeccable, filled with the kinds of visual economy, technical glee and ridiculous physicality that would make James Cameron proud. Totally earns literally dangling a grand piano over Ethan’s head.” The gradual dread of the sequence recalls something Harold Lloyd would construct in one of his hits from the 1920s. Khoi contextualizes these action sequences within the larger tapestry of cinema, writing, “Every car chase or fight scene or crazy train sequence is in dialogue with the history of action filmmaking, upping the ante and trying to create an unabashed spectacle of kinetic motion and humor and narrative momentum.”
A less obvious set piece, but a mighty impressive one. Here we have the first stunt in the series that feels like a capital “S” Stunt—the immediate, definitive delivery on the promise of bigger and better in this first sequel. Yes, it is really Tom, climbing up a rock face with only wires (digitally removed) to aid him. The flirty, iconic hair-in-the-face close-up is an indicator of what’s to come from the legendarily kinetic director John Woo. This one is more colorful, more silly and more sexy. Matt gets it: “Sexy rock climbing, doves, flames, doves in flames, motorbike duels, flying Street Fighter kicks, and all to a Hans Zimmer score. It’s stylish—and honestly, I think it’s aged well.”
There is an argument to be made that Cruise never looked better than the way he looked climbing Dead Horse Point. This is the Roger Moore James Bond movie of the Mission franchise, and it’s better than any of the Roger Moore James Bond movies. By the finale of this set piece, we are given Oakley sunglasses that explode and prime Limp Bizkit’s cover of Lalo Schifrin’s theme. This opening also gave us Mission: Improbable, which cannot be a bad thing: “Why is Tom Cruise?”
This one is obvious. While there have been bigger and better stunts in the sequels, there has not been a more culturally indelible moment in the history of the franchise than this sequence. Leslie Nielsen spoofed it, for Christ’s sake! The wide shot of Cruise holding his whole body horizontal an inch above the bright white, alarm-triggered floor has seeped into the annals of cinema and beyond. What’s more, it’s an incredibly impressive physical feat that foreshadows the dedication that the actor would display throughout the next three decades of impossible missions.
The extended heist is also exceptionally tense and well-paced, courtesy of master filmmaker Brian De Palma. David writes, “My favorite part, as with most people, is the CIA sequence—it’s a nearly perfect construction, a fluid masterclass on how to build up and present a heist in the most tense, entertaining way possible.” Legendary production designer Norman Reynolds deserves a lot of credit for his design of the vault. Its look is arguably as iconic as the stunt itself. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we get maybe the greatest split diopter shot of De Palma’s career. As Louis astutely observes, “The split diopter shot of Jean Reno and a rat.”
“Christopher McQuarrie knew exactly what was needed in these films and it shows,” observes Damo. This wonderful opening sequence speaks to the confidence with which the director took over the reins of this successful enterprise. He dresses Cruise in a suit made to honor Cary Grant from North by Northwest and starts the scene in a moment of uncertainty. Jeremy Renner’s Brandt verbalizes it with the funny line read, “This isn’t going very well.” To complete this faltering mission, Ethan must reappear like an angel and do that which cannot be done.
Here is where I’ll it to some naivety: I honestly didn’t really know that a human being could do this. I assumed if one tried to hang on the outside of a huge cargo plane, one would just… die. This scene is simple, it’s consistently funny (Benji opening the wrong door, iconic), and it’s quick. There is also the perfect placement of the camera on the rig attached to the plane. This may read as obvious, but it’s the kind of detail that makes or breaks a stunt like this. From the angle chosen, we see everything clearly, and are given permission to marvel at the sheer boldness of the act.
There is the obvious criticism that the bi-plane duel in the final act of The Final Reckoning copies the helicopter sequence from Fallout, and that’s a fair observation. In point of fact, it more directly pays homage to the incredible stunt in the middle of The Great Waldo Pepper, but no matter. The climatic scene in Final Reckoning elevates what’s come before in Mission in pretty clear ways. The stunts are more daring, the stakes are more dire, the editing is more energetic and the final beat just as satisfying. It’s the culmination of three decades of incredible moments.
Jeff emphasizes, “The Final Reckoning’s back half of sustained nail-biting is some of the most breathtaking ‘how did they do that’ action you’ll ever see.” The final 90 minutes are a lesson in sustained suspense despite a predestined ending. We know Hunt will save the world, as he has so many times before. And yet, director Christopher McQuarrie and his team convince us—just for a second—that maybe this time he will fail. The idea that movies are magic is something of an antiquated notion. The bi-plane duel, along with much of The Final Reckoning, briefly revives that sort of wonder.
“Love how Ethan’s big plan to get the detonator from Walker is to ram the helicopter Walker is in with another helicopter,” Olivia quips. This set piece is the kind of thing you would imagine a creative five-year old constructing with his toy helicopters in his bedroom. It’s unwieldy, it’s audacious and it does not belong in any real world we occupy. And yet, the scene exists, filmed in New Zealand to a shockingly practical degree. Before the chase even begins, Ethan plummets from the bottom of one of the helicopters to the payload below. Allard writes, “That helicopter chase scene. Pure adrenaline. I was on the edge of my seat the entire third act.”
The phrase “edge of my seat” is overused, but it fits perfectly here. As Ethan tilts and shakes his chopper closer and closer to the chopper that holds both villain August Walker (Henry Cavill) and the crucial detonator, we moviegoers lean forward, hoping against hope that we are not let down. We never lean back again. Fallout as a whole takes on a sort of mythological quality in its sheer size and scope. This helicopter chase elevates Ethan Hunt into some kind of impossible, supreme being that can only exist in our imagination. And on the silver screen.
“The Burj Khalifa sequence takes the cake for the best scene in these movies so far,” Wyatt proclaims. Not only the best scene in these movies but probably the best stunt of this millennium. Hunt stands atop the tallest building in the world, then scales down it, runs across it and leaps from it to get back inside of it. There may be no scene that better defines the “impossible” part of Mission: Impossible. Directed by Brad Bird with the chaotic instincts of an artist sculpted by animation, Cruise engineers his movie star comeback. If Mission: Impossible II is the James Bond movie of the series, Ghost Protocol is the Looney Tunes episode. It’s ridiculous that it’s even real.
James articulates my exact emotions while watching it in the theater back in 2011: “Legit could not breathe as Ethan scaled the Burj Khalifa. Said out loud ‘there’s no way’ when he tossed one of the gloves aside. Had to rewind when he attempted to swing back inside and bonked his head because I simply couldn’t believe my eyes.” And then there’s the comedy of this set piece. It’s maybe the funniest scene in the franchise. No shit.
‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ is in theaters now from Paramount Pictures.
