Mission Impossible: The Improbable Franchise

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the Mission Impossible franchise, which spans 22 years and 6 movies. In that time, the longest gap between films was 6 years. Off the top of your head, try to name another franchise with that longevity and that consistency. (Even the shockingly durable X-Men franchise didn’t begin until the year 2000.)

A few noteworthy franchises have similar longevity, but huge production gaps between films. (For Star Wars, the longest gap was 16 years, between 1983 and 1999.) Others have changed protagonists along the way. (For Star Trek, movies were produced consistently for 23 years, between 1979 and 2002, but the characters changed in 1994.)

On the other hand, Tom Cruise has carried the Mission Impossible franchise since he was 34 years old. In the latest installment, he’s 56, and still running breakneck across rooftops and doing his own death-defying stunts. For one scene, he trained for a whole year to do a complex high-altitude skydiving sequence. The man may be eccentric, but he’s an action phenomenon.

Another shocking thing about the franchise is that it hasn’t gone downhill. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first 3 movies are scored between 57% and 70% while the latter 3 movies are scored at 93% or higher. I’m tempted to quibble over some of the scores (Mission Impossible 3, scored at 70%, is my favorite), but the point still stands: These films hold up.

At the beginning, the films were very inconsistent. Each one was helmed by a different director, and the tone, characters, visual style, and production design changed every time. The first film is Brian De Palma’s take on Mission Impossible; the second film is John Woo’s take; the third film is J.J. Abrams’ take. For the first 3 films, the only consistent elements were Tom Cruise and his trusty “guy in the chair,” Ving Rhames.

Then Mission Impossible 4 began to change things. Although helmed by a different director, Brad Bird (of “Incredibles” fame), it brought back some characters and elements from the third film. Mission Impossible 5, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, brought back even more. Then Mission Impossible 6 bucked the trend completely; it had the same director as Mission Impossible 5, and it served as a direct sequel to the events of the previous film.

The thing that makes this strange and satisfying is that the series felt like it was ending 12 years ago! In Mission Impossible 3, Ethan Hunt (the Tom Cruise character) is retired. His adventures in the fourth film are explained as a special situation, but the fifth film doesn’t even bother to explain why he’s still a secret agent. That makes it extremely satisfying when the latest film, “Fallout,” ties everything back together.

Mission Impossible is a franchise built on delivering more than you expected to get, both in quantity and quality. How many times has a successful film franchise grown out of remaking an old TV show? I don’t think it happens very often. Then again, I admit to some amount of bias here; I’ve loved Mission Impossible since I saw the first film as a kid. (I distinctly remember recording an episode of Entertainment Tonight just to catch the trailer for Mission Impossible 2.)

For me, each new film has been a pleasant surprise—never something I took for granted. In fact, the gap between Mission Impossible 2 and 3 was so long (6 years) that I remember thinking the franchise was over. When they announced the third film, I thought, “Great! They’re going to finish the trilogy after all.” Then I reacted with surprise when they announced the fourth, and I was incredulous when they announced the fifth... but I was always excited to buy my ticket.

By the time the sixth film was announced, I knew better than to be surprised. However, I am a little surprised that it’s probably the best one yet. If they choose to end the franchise here, I’ll be completely satisfied, but I won’t rule out the possibility of another film. For any other franchise, that might seem improbable... but definitely not “Impossible.”