After seeing the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible movies — Dead Reckoning Part One, which is now in theaters — I can certainly understand why some believe Mission remains the best action franchise in Hollywood at the moment. With each time the IMF wage yet another war against global terrorism and Tom Cruise risks his life for another astonishing, practically shot stunt, I never cower at the chance to accept another new mission. However, I cannot say I believe this is one of those franchises that gets better with each chapter, because my choice for the best Mission: Impossible movie has not changed in more than a decade.
I will never forget the first time I saw 2011’s Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, for which Cruise would come back to play the Impossible Mission Force’s top agent, Ethan Hunt, for the fourth time. However, I immediately could tell that things were moving in a different direction with this film, from the way he shared the spotlight with his co-stars at an almost equal measure, the high-stakes sensation of the stunts being stronger than ever, and the IMF no longer in charge — resulting in a Mission unlike anything we had seen before and, for my money, never better even today. There are a couple of reasons why I believe director Brad Bird’s live-action debut revolutionized the M:I series, and has yet to be topped. Should you choose to keep reading, allow me to explain myself even further.
