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Every ‘Mission: Impossible’ Action Sequence Ranked

Tom Cruise returns to action in M:I Fallout, but what is the best action sequence of them all?
Mission Impossible Action Sequences
By  · Published on July 28th, 2018

Train V Helicopter

10. Helicopter Vs Train

Once it is established that Phelps was the mole, the chase begins. Hunt climbs the top of the moving train after Phelps before he can escape into a helicopter. Some movie magic allows Ethan Hunt to attach the escape helicopter onto the moving train and things don’t end well for Phelps as he gets crushed by the helicopter.

The climax of Mission: Impossible raises the stakes pretty high for the series in future installments. It wasn’t enough that Hunt battles the villain on top of a moving train, they added the extra challenge of a helicopter. It is the start of showing just how extra the series always tries to be with the stunts. Think this is crazy enough? Just wait until we add something else.


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9. Hanging on a Jet Plane

Tom Cruise pulls a Tom Cruise.

It doesn’t make much sense for Ethan Hunt to just climb the side of a plane, but there are a lot of things in Mission: Impossible that doesn’t make sense. Every safety precaution was used to make sure Tom Cruise was safe on this stunt, but make no mistake, he was still on the outside of a plane that was in the sky. I mean that is simply crazy and shows that Cruise will do anything for a big stunt.


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8. Solomon Lane Extraction

Ethan Hunt must break terrorist Solomon Lane out of custody as a trade for plutonium.

This is an extended sequence that has a little bit of everything; A car chase, a motorcycle chase, underwater rescue, snipers, and double-crosses. The individual pieces have been done to death in action movies, but as a whole, it is a symphony of destruction. Look past the carnage and you can see a crazy amount of staging and planning for exactly how this is supposed to all unfold.


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7. Parking Garage

The finale of Mission: Impossible 4 finds Ethan Hunt chasing the villain to an incredible Parking Garage.

First of all, this parking garage doesn’t exist yet. It is based on Volkswagen’s Autostadt attraction in Wolfsburg, Germany. Perhaps that makes it more amazing. The action for the finale takes place in a venue the audience has no concept of, but it is fascinating. It is a giant game of keep-away as the villain just tries to hold out long enough for the warhead to explode. Tom Cruise hops into a vehicle and just lets it free-fall to the bottom floor. It is equal parts ridiculous and amazing.


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6. Bridge Rescue

After Cruise has successfully captured arms dealer Owen Davian, Davian decides he has had enough of imprisonment.

Not only does this scene showcase one of the few times that the IMF actually cares about civilian safety, but Cruise has to fight a helicopter! There is some terrific composition going on here as Cruise has to dodge bullets, disable a drone, survive a double-cross. This is where cinematographer Dan Mindel was really able to show off.


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5. Motorcycle Battle

Ambrose is chasing after Hunt after foiling his plans. The destination is to get to Nyah before she succumbs to the effects of the Chimera virus.

For a movie that isn’t too engaging, this motorcycle sequence ends up being the best part of Mission: Impossible 2. Tom Cruise does some extremely ridiculous stunts like riding the side of the motorcycle and the whole sequence ends up with a fistfight on the beach. It is easily the longest and most interesting fight sequences in the franchise. The only downfall is how illogical it is that Ambrose takes about fifteen shots to the head and continues to get up time and time again. Stay down!


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4. Opera House

Ethan Hunt has continued his investigation into the Syndicate and it leads him to the Opera.

Three different shooters, a fantastic destination, and some excellent fight choreography, the Opera House sequence has it all. Ethan Hunt has to fight in the rafters and there is also Rebecca Ferguson’s trademark yellow dress. It is extremely satisfying and M:I 5 never reaches these heights again.


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3. Helicopter Battle

Ethan Hunt chases after John Lark in a helicopter

In a futile attempt to ignore the action that is happening with the other IMF agents, just focusing on the Helicopter Battle in earnest is enough to call it one of the all-time best Mission: Impossible stunts. Tom Cruise prepared for the sequence for over a year and did all of his own flying. Weaving that helicopter just right could not have been easy. How Ethan Hunt even gets to the helicopter is fascinating enough, but then how everything plays out is amazing. It is just another example of how Mission: Impossible always ups the ante when it comes to death-defying stunts.


Mission Large

2. CIA Headquarters Wire Drop

In order to clear his name, Hunt must steal a list that contains the cover aliases for spies around the world. He uses two disavowed IMF agents: Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) to sneak into the CIA headquarters and wire down into a secure vault.

A discussion of Mission: Impossible inevitably goes to this scene. Tom Cruise hanging from a wire and hacking a computer is one of the trademark visuals of the entire franchise and is a sequence that hasn’t aged a day in terms of how tense it can be.


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1. Burj Khalifa Climb

The movie finds some reason for Tom Cruise to climb the world’s tallest building.

The setup of this sequence is everything. Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner struggle to come up with a compelling reason why Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt should climb this building. If that wasn’t crazy enough they give him special climbing gloves to accomplish this feat. In true Mission: Impossible fashion the level is raised once again as one of the climbing gloves fails. Watching this sequence in IMAX was thrilling and it still remains the pivotal action sequence in the entire franchise. Nothing is as scary and compelling time and time again.

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News Writer/Columnist for Film School Rejects. It’s the Pictures Co-host. Bylines Playboy, ZAM, Paste Magazine and more.