The longevity of the Mission: Impossible film series defies conventional wisdom about franchise-building, partly because when you look at all seven movies, it feels like several franchises at once. Yes, agents Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) appear in every single one of the movies, but, interestingly, they’re the only characters that share that distinction. In a way, since it launched in 1996 as a reimagining of the popular 1966 TV series of the same name, Mission: Impossible’s most consistent key ingredient is that it changes its premise and basic set-up about every two movies or so.
