Movies like Mission: Impossible arrive at a satisfying midway point between meticulously constructed action and dazzling star power, with both aspects featuring prominently without one drawing attention away from the other. Tom Cruise delivers not only all the charms that global audiences expect from a Hollywood leading man but elevates the daringness of the stunts in each new installment of the franchise. It may feel sometimes like there's little out there that can match the Mission: Impossible franchise's dedication to quality and creativity, but there are a number of similar movies available to stream on Netflix and beyond.
With the next Mission: Impossible sequel, Dead Reckoning Part One, set to ignite the summer box office of 2023, interest in the spy franchise is at an all-time high and its place in the competitive genre is set to shift again. The best movies like Mission: Impossible can give action movie fans all the same thrills and surprises from the franchise's best moments, but they can also inform the timeline of how the Mission: Impossible films have evolved by showing their main competition and influences.
GoldenEye (1995)
Available to stream on HBO Max
Released only six months before the original Mission: Impossible, Goldeneye was the 17th James Bond movie in Eon Productions' ongoing franchise and Pierce Brosnan's introduction as 007. As per IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, it is still generally considered to be both Brosnan's best in the franchise and one of the best James Bond movies in general.
On a mission to stop a megalomaniacal former colleague with a devastating satellite weapon, Brosnan's Bond proved that the old-school franchise had more than enough life left in it to go up against new-school thrillers like Mission: Impossible. Fans of Cruise's stunts in the Mission: Impossible movies will definitely love the heart-stopping jump off of a real-life dam in the opening scene.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Available to purchase on Prime Video
George Clooney and Brad Pitt lead a star-studded team of professional thieves in this charming remake of the Rat Pack classic of the same name. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the new Ocean's Eleven surpassed the original in many ways and even began its own franchise.
More of a comedy than an action movie like Mission: Impossible, Ocean's Eleven is an old-fashioned comedy caper in many ways but also a gorgeous and suave crime thriller in many others. Fans of the heist sequences in the Mission: Impossible movies will be enthralled by this elegant story about an eclectic group of talented thieves who plan to rob a major casino in Las Vegas.
Salt (2010)
Available to stream on Prime Video
Angelina Jolie plays a highly-skilled CIA operative accused of being a Russian sleeper agent in this action-packed thriller. Salt is a little more icy and brutal than a spy movie like Mission: Impossible to go along with its heavier Cold War theme, but Jolie is one of the few Hollywood legends that can match Cruise's star power in the role of Ethan Hunt.
Interestingly enough, the lead role was originally intended for Tom Cruise before being retooled for Jolie (via NBC). The ease with which Jolie slips into the role of an unstoppable superspy begs the question: will the two stars ever face off in Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise?
The A-Team (2010)
Available to purchase on Prime Video
Based on the iconic 1980s TV show of the same name, The A-Team is a big-screen reboot for the titular team of former soldiers turned vigilantes/mercenaries has a great cast and a pacy plot involving all manner of entertainingly improbable heists and escapes. Fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise's many switcheroos will have a blast with all the twists in this story about the team attempting to clear their wrongly besmirched names.
Liam Neeson leads the team and the movie's huge set pieces based around the team's elaborate plans will be sure to get a Mission: Impossible fan's blood pumping. The film also serves as an origin story for the team, so, even though it sadly never got a sequel, it still has as much exciting promise leftover when the credits roll as a Mission: Impossible movie does.
The Sum Of All Fears (2002)
Available to stream on Showtime and Paramount+
One of several adaptations of a best-selling Tom Clancy novel that star the author's most famous character, Jack Ryan, The Sum of All Fears stars Ben Affleck in the lead role as the heroic CIA analyst. Affleck's Ryan must race to stop a neo-fascist terrorist group from inciting a war between Russia and the U.S. in this high-stakes espionage thriller.
Even though Affleck, like most actors to take on the role, didn't last as Ryan beyond one movie, he stands out among a roster of stars including Harrison Ford and Chris Pine. The core premise of the plot is similar to the one in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, though Clancy's main characters take a much more low-key and diplomatic route to resolving their conflicts, and tense negotiations are peppered with bursts of the kind of explosive action that befits such high stakes.
Jack Reacher (2012)
Available to stream on Paramount+
Tom Cruise has more than just one successful action movie franchise under his belt and has also led the Jack Reacher films. Based on the novel One Shot, the first movie in the franchise drops the titular sleuth into the middle of a mass murder case that draws his attention to a sinister criminal organization that operates out of the shadows.
Though Cruise famously appeared quite different from how Reacher is described in the original novels, he does an outstanding job of playing an unforgiving hard case who knows how to take down a group of men with his bare hands. The action in Jack Reacher is as bare-knuckle and bruising as the Mission: Impossible movies ever get, if not more so, and it was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who took over as the Mission: Impossible franchise's first mainstay director from Rogue Nation onwards.
Jason Bourne (2016)
Available to stream on fuboTV
Though they are at their hearts spy movies, the Mission: Impossible films have never attempted to go up against the James Bond films in any way and have instead carved out their own section of the genre. The Jason Bourne movies, on the other hand, have invited the comparison between their deadly government operator and 007, not only living to tell the tale but actually thriving and rivaling the James Bond franchise at numerous turns.
Though the whole series of movies should be of great interest to a film fan looking for the best movies like Mission: Impossible, the latest movie in the franchise takes many of the best elements from Matt Damon's original run as the character and brings them into an even more modern world. The titular amnesiac assassin is brought out of hiding once again in the simply-titled Jason Bourne and must face long-hidden aspects of his past when he faces a new wave of highly-trained killers who have been sent to take him out.
Tenet (2020)
Available to purchase on Prime Video
Christopher Nolan incorporated many spy movie hallmarks into his Batman movies and his high-concept heist movie Inception, but Tenet directly deals with the world of espionage, albeit with a characteristic sci-fi twist. The film follows a government agent as he's recruited into a secretive team of spies trying to stop an elaborate plan to end the world by using a form of time travel.
The plot may sound a little too heady for a fan of the relative straightforwardness of the Mission: Impossible franchise but Nolan focuses on making the film as big and complete of a cinematic experience as possible. The complex storyline is just one component of that experience and fans of the practicality of the Mission: Impossible movies will recognize the depth of Nolan's devotion to capturing blockbuster ideas in-camera.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Available to stream on HBO Max
Like the Mission: Impossible movies, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was adapted from a popular spy series that originally aired in the 1960s, but this reboot opted to go the less-typical route and stuck with the original time period. However, the story follows a small team as they hunt down a missing nuclear scientist who's being used to build a bomb for a fascist group, so it could fit right into the Mission: Impossible franchise in that respect.
Director Guy Ritchie injects so many of his trademark witticisms into each scene that the film takes on its own unique personality very early on. Star Henry Cavill shows off as many of the Bond-worthy qualities that he exhibits in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and the rhythmic energy of Ritchie's dialogue fits perfectly with the setting.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Available to stream on fuboTV
Atomic Blonde adapts the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City and follows a spy played by Charlize Theron as she hunts a list of double agents in late 1980s Berlin. Theron's ferocity in the movie's numerous fight sequences easily makes it stand out as one of the best modern action movies like John Wick but Mission: Impossible fans won't be left wanting for variety in terms of action scenes.
From the car chase to the shoot-out, Atomic Blonde takes on all the major action movie set-ups and adds its own distinct flair to them. Fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise's more style-driven moments will find plenty to appreciate in the film's late Cold War chic.
Skyfall (2012)
Available to stream on Netflix and Paramount+
Though some of Daniel Craig's Bond movies were more well-received than others, the actor had a generally successful run as 007 with Skyfall being an undeniable high point during his tenure. The film marked the 50th anniversary of Eon Productions' long-lasting series of Bond movies and managed to live up to monumentally high expectations.
Bond pursues a fittingly colorful villain throughout a globetrotting adventure full of some of the franchise's most stunning vistas but the fight choreography and stunts have all the intensity of the Mission: Impossible franchise's too. Skyfall shows that 007 had learned a lot from the success of the Jason Bourne movies and the Mission: Impossible films but the movie still keeps the spirit of the Bond franchise alive.