My Favorite Moment From Every Mission Impossible Movie

My Favorite Moment From Every Mission Impossible Movie 

I absolutely love the Mission Impossible franchise. Every film has fantastic moments that people talk about afterwards. But what do I think is the best moment from every Mission Impossible movie? Let’s talk about it!

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: The Langley Sequence: You probably could have guessed this was going to be my pick for this film. This is probably the most iconic sequence of the entire franchise, the image of Tom Cruise being lowered down at Langley is iconic. It also helps that they got a great director like Brian De Palma at the helm who does a great job of directing the sequence and finding the tension in all of the moments. He does this so well that a drop of sweat going down Cruise’s face makes you scared. You know what happens to the mission and to him if the drop touches the ground. Very few directors could make the audience fear a drop of threat. Beyond that, having a rat start to bother Jean Reno’s character adds another layer of tension and struggle. This isn’t part of the stunt, but it’s a pretty funny image to have this guy continuously go to the bathroom. Everytime that bit happens it puts a smile on my face. The scene has tension, humor, and it’s iconic so it’s easily the best sequence of the film. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II: Ethan Hunt vs Sean Ambrose: This was a tricky one to pick because I don’t think Mission Impossible II is a very good film, therefore there’s not a lot of moments that stand out to me. But the one I’m going with is the final fight between Hunt and Ambrose. The action is one of the mixed aspects of the film. John Woo brings a lot of his style and influence to the film, but I don’t think that really works in the context of Mission Impossible. But there’s some cool stuff to come from the final fight between Hunt and Ambrose. Both of them are skilled fighters and bring their abilities to the fight. There’s a pretty cool stunt in the film where a knife is inches away from Cruise’s eye. It’s a stunt that nobody talks about but it is one of the most dangerous as he easily could have died from it. The image of it and how it’s shot is quite effective. I don’t think this is one of the franchises’ best scenes but for the quality of Mission Impossible II it’s pretty good.  

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III: Capturing Owen Davian: This is another frustrating one because while I enjoy the film, I don’t think the film has a lot of memorable sequences. But the most memorable and exciting for me would be when Hunt and his team are trying to capture Owen Davian, our villain. It’s one of the best usages of a mask in the Mission Impossible franchise. They find ways to make the scene better by adding tension of the voice box not working so Hunt has to delay talking as Davian. This leads into a fight between Cruise and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Davian) that’s exciting. JJ Abrams brings a lot of fun to the sequences in the film. He knows how to direct them well and to add tension into the mix at just the right moments. It’s one of the better pay sequences of the franchise, not one of the best sequences in general. But as far as the franchise leaning into the spy aspects, Mission Impossible III has a lot of really good sequences. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL: The Burj Kalifa: This might be my favorite sequence of the entire franchise. This is Cruise’s best stunt in the franchise that’s directed the best and brings out the most fear of the stunts. Once again, Brad Bird is able to find all of the thrilling moments whether it’s the glove stops working or the rope to get back isn’t long enough. It’s all of these conflicts that are stacked on top of one another. Even the image of Cruise stepping out and the camera zooming out and we see just how high up he is, it’s absolutely insane. It proves that Cruise is a mad man that’s willing to go the distance to capture these insane stunts to entertain the audience. I wasn’t able to see this movie on the big screen but I wish I would have because seeing this scene on the big screen would be awesome. Beyond that, the other stuff going on in the sequence of Jeremy Renner trying to get the information is very well done. You get some action with Cruise and Renner that’s exciting. This sequence, whether it’s focused on the stunts or the action, is incredible. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION: Plane Hanging: If you saw my ranking of the films you know I love Rogue Nation. I’ve always found the cold open to this film to be one of the best sequences of the franchise. This is the Mission Impossible sequence that I’ve rewatched the most. You have multiple different groups and characters in this sequence. Ethan is trying to get on the plane, Benji on the ground trying to stop the plane, Brandt is overseeing the mission from America, and Luther is in a different country offering tech support. Everybody has a part to play in this sequence, everybody is important in the outcome of the scene. I just love the fact that Rogue Nation starts off with this sequence. Normally the big crazy stunt is saved for the middle or the third act of the film, that’s not the case here it’s at the beginning. After this sequence it gets you pumped and ready for Hunt’s next adventure. It perfectly segways into the opening credits. You get the big exciting stunt and shock value of seeing Cruise hanging onto the side of a plane as it takes off plus some humor and banter amongst the characters. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT: Bathroom Brawl: As far as hand to hand combat, this sequence is the best of the franchise. It can be very brutal at points watching these guys being thrown around a bathroom. It’s also a very long sequence, it’s not short at all. They find ways to put Cruise and Henry Cavill at a disadvantage because the guy they’re fighting is much faster so he’s not as easy to take out. When you can have Cavill be at a disadvantage in a fight you know there’s something with the filmmaking that works. It’s also a very long sequence, it’s not short at all. I think it takes up about 5-10 minutes of the film and every second of it is awesome. You get the iconic shot of Cavill pumping and locking his arms (I’m not sure what you call that), but it’s this great but it’s one of the most memorable shots of the entire franchise. None of the other hand to hand fight scenes in the film compare to this one. This isn’t just the best scene of the film, it’s also one of the best scenes of the franchise. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING: Fiat 500 Chase: I did debate going with the big stunt in the third act of the film, but ultimately I went with the car chase. Almost every Mission Impossible film has a great car chase in it and this might be my favorite of the bunch. It’s not your typical car chase of Cruise and Hayley Atwell being chased in a car. No, they add in this layer of them being handcuffed. Handcuffs provide an obvious disadvantage and challenge because it’s hard to drive in a high speed chase when you only have one hand available. It perfectly shows the comedic dynamic between Cruise and Atwell. There’s so many funny bits in here attempting to figure out how to work the car. It doesn’t help that it’s a small car, not a big one. There’s multiple different factions chasing after Hunt so there’s multiple things going on, all of it makes for a very exciting and thrilling sequence. 

• MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING: Plane Sequence: This might not be the biggest or sequence of the franchise but it’s probably the craziest sequence. If this is the final mission then this is a great stunt and final set piece for the franchise to end on. Every film has that one sequence where we think, how did he film that? This plane sequence I legitimately have ZERO idea how they filmed this. You have Cruise climbing on the outside of a plane, getting from one plane to another plane effortlessly. Obviously, I wasn’t there with Cruise filming this but I felt like I was. That’s how immersive and tension filled this sequence was. I was fearing for my own life just watching this sequence. This sequence is up there with the Burj Khalifa sequence as the best of the franchise, it’s worth the price of admission alone and deserves to be seen on the big screen. I did go back and forth between this and the submarine scene, ultimately I picked the plane sequences but both are fantastic.