The first handful of Mission: Impossible movies were generic spy thrillers, but ever since Tom Cruise scaled the side of the tallest building in the world for Ghost Protocol, the franchise’s entries have been must-sees for action fans. It’s now an exercise in one-upmanship – like the Fast & Furious franchise, but with more practical effects and less CGI.
From hanging off of a plane as it took off in Rogue Nation to hanging off of a helicopter as it took off in Fallout, Cruise has continued to top his own daring stunt work since nailing the Burj Khalifa set piece.
10 The Motorcycle Chase (Mission: Impossible II)
While John Woo’s The Killer, Hard Boiled, and A Better Tomorrow established him as one of the greatest action filmmakers in the world, he had a tough time breaking into Hollywood.
Woo was let down by the weak script of Mission: Impossible II, but he did helm one spectacular sequence in the 2000 sequel: a motorcycle chase.
9 The Bridge Ambush (Mission: Impossible III)
J.J. Abrams’ directorial debut Mission: Impossible III falls into a lot of the regular pitfalls of the filmmaker’s work, but Philip Seymour Hoffman gives an unforgettable performance as the threequel’s sinister villain, Owen Davian.
In one particularly thrilling set piece, Hunt and his team are trying to bring Davian to prison, but get ambushed by some of his henchmen in a fighter jet.
8 The HALO Jump (Fallout)
When they’re sent to infiltrate a nightclub party in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, instead of just going through the front door, Hunt and Walker parachute onto the roof from a plane.
Tom Cruise did this death-defying stunt at 25,000 feet and performed it a whopping 106 times before the crew had the shots they needed to stitch together the dizzying sequence that appears in the movie.
7 The Prison Break (Ghost Protocol)
In the opening action scene of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Ethan Hunt is mid-mission. He’s gotten himself locked in a Moscow prison for the purposes of springing an inmate named Bogdan, who could provide IMF with information about the mysterious villain pursuing them, “Cobalt.”
With Benji controlling all the locks in the prison, Hunt stages a full-scale riot to allow himself to escape with Bogdan undetected. This scene gets the movie off to an awesome start.
6 The Paris Chase (Fallout)
When Hunt and Walker go undercover with an attack on Solomon Lane’s police convoy, they try to prevent their cohorts from killing any cops by ramming Lane’s transport into water and leading law enforcement on a chase across Paris.
They escape on motorcycles, but Hunt’s won’t start. He tells Walker he’ll meet him at the rendezvous point and takes the cops on a wild goose chase. In one particularly spectacular moment, he races into traffic around the Arc de Triomphe.
5 The Langley Heist (Mission: Impossible)
The most recent Mission: Impossible movies have made Brian De Palma’s mid-‘90s original look tame in comparison, but there is one iconic set piece from that movie that still ranks alongside the best post-Ghost Protocol sequences.
Tom Cruise hanging from the ceiling, inches away from the ground, during the Langley heist, is one of the most recognizable images ever put on the big screen. This sequence also brilliantly uses John Truby’s “fake ally” concept to escalate the tension.
4 The Kremlin Explosion (Ghost Protocol)
Most Mission: Impossible movies have a scene in which Ethan Hunt and his cohorts have to infiltrate a secure government building in disguise. Ghost Protocol has possibly the IMF team’s most daring infiltration yet: the Kremlin.
The mission goes off without a hitch as Ethan and Benji successfully make it into the Kremlin, but things take an unexpected turn when the entire building explodes.
3 The Bathroom Fight (Fallout)
At a nightclub party, Hunt and Walker find a man that they believe to be John Lark, the extremist they’re looking for, and knock him out in the restroom and use their tech to figure out his identity. However, he comes to and attacks them.
This leads to an intense, beautifully choreographed fight across the bathroom that sees sinks getting smashed, walls getting destroyed, and Henry Cavill reloading his biceps.
2 Hanging Onto A Plane As It Takes Off (Rogue Nation)
Christopher McQuarrie was faced with the challenge of following up Ghost Protocol’s dazzling Burj Khalifa sequence when he was tapped to direct Rogue Nation. In the opening scene, a plane containing cargo that IMF needs is about to take off and Ethan Hunt climbs onto the plane and tries to get in. Unfortunately, Benji can’t open the door in time.
So, Ethan is still hanging off the side of the plane when it takes off. The only problem with this scene is that it’s bigger than anything else in the rest of the movie, so Rogue Nation peaks before the opening credits have rolled.
1 Scaling The Burj Khalifa (Ghost Protocol)
Easily the most thrilling set piece in the Mission: Impossible franchise is the one that ensured each subsequent sequel would be a must-see action movie. Brad Bird set a very high bar for the franchise’s action when he helmed the Burj Khalifa sequence.
Benji gives Ethan a pair of gloves that will stick to the façade of the skyscraper, then sends him out to climb up a few floors. In addition to breathtaking high-altitude cinematography, the scene raises the stakes when one of Ethan’s gloves breaks.
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