Though delayed, Mission: Impossible 7 is currently in production, and if it follows suit with the rest of the series, it’s going to outdo the previous movies in terms of spectacle and stunts. While fans try to imagine how Tom Cruise can possibly outdo the HALO jump and helicopter chase sequence in Fallout, it’s the perfect time to look back at the epic series - the good and the bad.
The Mission: Impossible series is full of such substantial blockbuster movies, as it’s one of the few franchises dedicated to epic practical stunt work, forgoing the easy way out with CGI. But that isn’t enough to keep cinephiles from having criticisms about the movie. Between claiming that the action was overindulgent, arguing it isn’t as good as certain other spy movies, and straight-up calling the films boring, the Mission: Impossible hot takes on Reddit are few and far between, but still exist nonetheless.
Mission: Impossible III Is The Best Of The Series
J.J. Abrams saved the Mission: Impossible series with the third movie by making it darker and more intense. Redditor user Bocboda goes as far as to call it their “favorite of the series,” citing the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance as Davian, the movie's villain, as the reason it’s the best.
While Hoffman is brilliantly menacing in the role and it feels like there are actually stakes for the first time in the series, it doesn’t touch the quality of the sequels. Though it did put the series back on track, all the movies that followed massively upped the ante in terms of stunts and spectacle, and the movies connect with one another instead of being entirely different storylines.
The Action Scenes Are Overindulgent And Sensationalist
The stunts are the series’ bread and butter, as the reason why each consecutive movie makes more and more money at the box office is because audiences want to see what death-defying stunt Tom Cruise is going to put himself through next. But a Redditor Joseabose believes that the action scenes are overrated and “sensationalist.”
However, the reason why it’s so great and not sensationalist is because Cruise actually performs the stunts, and there’s a record of injuries to show for it. Unlike the Fast & Furious series, which uses wads of CGI to depict cars gliding through the sky, everything in Mission: Impossible is real, and the authenticity of the stunts is why Mission: Impossible is better than Fast and Furious.
The Series Is Better Than James Bond
Along with the Fast and Furious series, fans love to compare the Mission: Impossible series to James Bond too. Generally, the 007 series has the edge, not just because of how long-standing it is, but because the character is iconic, and all the Bond movies differ so much in tone too.
But there’s a deleted Reddit user who believes that Mission: Impossible is the best series of the two, claiming that Hunt “has more depth.” Even though it’s a fair opinion to have, the post states it’s because Ethan hunt is more realistic than James Bond, which couldn’t be further from the truth, as the two spies are just as unrealistic as each other.
Rogue Nation Was 10x Worse Than Spectre
On the complete flip side of fans preferring Ethan Hunt to James Bond, another deleted user argues that Rogue Nation is “10x worse than Spectre.” Clearly a massive James Bond fan, the user argues that when there isn’t any action in Rogue Nation, the movie is too boring and that the epic scene in the opera house in Vienna is ripping off Quantum of Solace.
But what’s even more interesting is that instead of saying Mission: Impossible 2 or one of the more inferior movies in the series, the user compares arguably the best Mission: Impossible movie to the worst James Bond movie.
The Second Movie Is Decent
Even in the best movie franchises of all time, there’s always one dud, and the Mission: Impossible series has Mission: Impossible 2. But Redditor JS_The_Shroud thinks that it’s much better than people say. They admit that it had some weird elements, but they claim it was “as good as the first movie.”
Before Christopher McQuarrie directed the fifth movie and every movie since there was a different director for each movie. For Mission: Impossible 2, that director was John Woo, who is a great filmmaker, but for whatever reason, the film didn’t turn out all that great. However, it could have looked a lot different, as at one point, Oliver Stone was attached to direct Mission: Impossible 2.
Fallout Didn’t Do Anything New For The Series
Fallout isn’t just the latest movie in the series, it’s also considered the best, but Redditor Stevie855 doesn’t think it does anything new for the series. They claim that the movie is “old, boring, and cartoonish,” and it’s the same old story as all the others, being that there’s a shady organization that Hunt is trying to track down.
However, it isn’t the highest-rated movie in the series on IMDb for nothing. The movie has loads of new tricks up its sleeve and tons of fresh ideas. It contains the biggest stunts, the antagonist continues over from the previous movie, and for the first time, the muscle was actually an engaging and interesting character (which was mostly thanks to Henry Cavill’s performance).
The First Movie Is The Best Of The Series
When it comes to fans’ favorite Mission: Impossible movies, there’s a lot to choose from, especially considering it’s one of the most consistent franchises in terms of quality. For the most part, fans tend to go for a film on the back end of the series, but Reddit user Boss452’s favorite is the first movie in the series.
The reason it’s their favorite is because it’s the most “grounded in reality” of the lot, and the espionage sequences in the film are arguably more intense than any other in the series. However, though the movie is typically exciting for a Mission: Impossible movie, it isn’t hard to believe the first Mission: Impossible was released 25 years ago, as the special effects and CGI don’t hold up.
Rogue Nation Is Too Realistic
Another deleted Reddit user accuses Rogue Nation, along with Ghost Protocol and Fallout, of being too realistic and “grounded.” They say that the reason they prefer Mission: Impossible III is because of how unrealistic it is. But the thing is, it’s exactly the opposite of those films.
J.J. Abrams brought a sense of realism to Mission: Impossible III. However, on the other side of the spectrum, Ethan Hunt climbs up the tallest skyscraper in the world in Ghost Protocol, does a HALO jump in Fallout, and literally hangs off a plane in one of Rogue Nation's best stunts.
Ghost Protocol Is Boring
When feeling ‘meh’ after watching it and wondering why everyone else loves it, Reddit user, Godsfallen, thought Ghost Protocol was too "boring." The director of Ghost Protocol is Brad Bird, who had only ever worked in animation until the Mission: Impossible movie, as he was best known for Pixar’s The Incredibles. And the reason why Ghost Protocol is the complete antithesis of boring is because it essentially plays out like a live-action Incredibles movie.
It has the most entertaining action scenes because, just like The Incredibles, Bird inserts comedy into it, and it’s the only movie to play on the fact that Hunt is getting older. It’s also the first Mission: Impossible movie that throws Benji into the action, and Ghost Protocol features the iconic sandstorm chase.