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Based on a 1960s television, the first in the Mission: Impossible series was released in 1996 and was the brainchild of Tom Cruise who has starred in and produced every fim.
Fast-forward to 2025 and the eighth film is about to hit cinemans, with Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning one of the most hotly-anticipated movies of the year.
In the interim the series has taken over $4.09 billion at the box office - making it the 17th most profitable frachaise in the history of cinema.
The films follow Tom Cruise’ special agent Ethan Hunt and his regular battles to save the world with the help of his Impossible Mission Force (IMF) team.
The gang have changed over the years, with Ving Rhames the only constant as Luther Stickell. Simon Pegg’s character Benji Dunn is the second most loyal/alive Hunt colleague, with six films under his belt.
What sets the Mission: Impossible films apart from many other action movies is that they have managed to attract critical-acclaim alongside entertaining audiences - the last film was even nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture.
Here’s how the eight film shave been viewed by the critics - from best to worst - according to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
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5. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
It's early days, but on early advance screenings 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' is already rating a fresh 81 per cent on the Tomatometer. We're not giving away any spoilers, but it's once again directed by Christopher McQuarrie and sees Tom Cruise joined again by Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny, and Angela Bassett. We can't wait to see it. | Contributed
6. Mission: Impossible III
Sixth spot goes to 'Mission: Impossible III', directed by sci-fi specialist J.J. Abrams, with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 71 per cent. The 2006 film sees a retired Ethan Hunt return to active duty to capture a shadowy arms dealer, memorably played bby the much-missed Philip Seymour Hoffman. | Contributed
7. Mission: Impossible
The original but, according to the critics, not the best of the series is the 1996 original, directed by Brian De Palma - it still scores a creditable 65 per cent though. Perhaps making a little too much use of the suspiciously-realistic masks for which the series was famous, it sees Hunt hunting down the people who killed his IMP team in Prague, before framing him for the murder spree. Jon Voight, Henry Czerny, Emmanuelle Béart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Vanessa Redgrave star alongside Cruise. | Contributed
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8. Mission: Impossible 2
The worst of the films, or at least the least good, is 'Mission: Impossible 2', or 'M:I-2' as the marketing men tediously tried to get people to call it. The 2000 film was directed by John Woo and has the balletic action scenes that you would expect from the 'Broken Arrow' filmmaker. Scottish action Dougray Scott plays a rougue (obvs) IMP agent up to mischief with a genetically engineered disease called Chimera. It's a fairly convoluted and unsatisfying watch, and is the only one of the films to get a 'Rotten' rating, with only 57 per cent of the reviews positive. | Contributed