No actor in the history of cinema has put their body on the line to stop a fake villain, thwart a fake nuclear attack, and entertain vast crowds like Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible franchise. While other action stars use camera tricks, stunt doubles and CGI to manufacture a sense of toughness, Cruise really is climbing the tallest building in the world, fighting on a moving train, and doing things in the air with planes that would get the average person put in jail or a grave.
Mission: Impossible has been the standard-setter for action stunts for more than two decades, and that’s why we had to rank the wildest sequences that have been featured in the film. We’re judging these insane feats by how humanly improbable they are to pull off, so while some may look crazier than others on film, the ones that really pushed Cruise to his physical limits will rank the highest.
The Final Reckoning was another explosive entry into the Mission: Impossible canon, even if it’s its last. But don’t worry about not seeing Cruise putting his body on the line for an action flick: He’s already committed to doing action films when he’s 100. While we celebrate the 29-year history of Mission: Impossible young stunts and Cruise’s geriatric leaps of faith, lets revisit the stunts that made him one of the greatest action stars of all time.
