It was a hit TV series in the 1960s and 1980s, but now when you hear the name Mission: Impossible - or that propulsive Lalo Schifrin theme tune - you can only think of Tom Cruise as Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt. The franchise has slowly taken over Cruise’s film career, becoming a byword for the actor’s own incredible stunt work. Find out where to watch every Mission: Impossible movie in chronological order with our streaming guide, below.
How to watch the Mission: Impossible franchise in order
It starts with Mission: Impossible, which announces that it is not just a cash-in revival of an old favourite in the opening minutes by re-introducing and then immediately killing off the character of Jim Phelps, a remnant of the TV show. Ethan Hunt is then established as a super-capable field agent, with Ving Rhames appearing as faithful computer hacker sidekick Luther Stickell.
Mission: Impossible II sees Hunt team up with a professional thief played by Thandiwe Newton, the pair of them travelling to Australia to stop a rogue agent releasing a deadly genetically modified virus. In Mission: Impossible III, the great Philip Seymour Hoffman is an arms dealer who almost gets the better of Hunt, in a film that introduces cast regular Michelle Monaghan as Ethan’s fiancée Julia.
By this point, Tom Cruise has already dangled off a cliff, run from thousands of gallons of coursing water, and had the point of a knife held millimetres from his open eye, all of these stunts filmed without doubles and with minimal special effects. In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the stakes are raised further as he climbs the outside of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in a film that also introduces core cast member Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation marks the moment when M:I becomes a more coherent franchise - this and all the subsequent films are directed by Chris McQuarrie, working closely with the real boss of the series, Tom Cruise. Before that, the films were helmed by directors who were well established in their own right: Brian de Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird.
The stunts only get more epic. In Rogue Nation there’s a fantastic motorbike chase, an unbelievable opening scene featuring Cruise hanging off the side of a plane as it takes off, and a genuinely perilous sequence where the actor is filmed underwater for an extended period and is clearly holding his breath for real.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout has a tough act to follow, but it trumps Rogue Nation with a one-take skydive, a fabulous helicopter chase and a notorious rooftop leap, during which you can clearly see the moment where Cruise breaks his ankle. Not wishing to waste a set-up that took weeks to plan, Cruise got up and ran out of shot, thus completing a usable take, before seeking medical treatment.
That brings us to Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, where the big stunt is perhaps the greatest of Cruise’s career, in terms of the amount of planning required and the level of risk involved: he rides a motorbike straight off a cliff. That movie’s upcoming sequel has a lot to live up to - and if you’ve not seen all the Mission: Impossible movies, you’ve got a lot of heart-pounding action to get through.
Where can I watch Mission: Impossible movies online in the UK?
If you're looking for where to watch every Mission: Impossible movie online, we've got you covered with this streaming guide. You can find out where to stream every movie in the franchise here, along with any offers to watch the M:I franchise legally for free on streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and ITVX.
