All of Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" movies, ranked from worst to best

"Mission: Impossible 2" should be given way more love than it gets — mainly because Hong Kong cinema legend John Woo helmed it. Yes, the "Hard Boiled" and "Bullet in the Head" director brought his signature bullet ballet style to the "Mission: Impossible" sequel, with all the slow-motion flair you could ask for.

Is it cheesy? Sure. Does the script need some work? Definitely. Is there any smart subtext or meaning underneath all the action? Absolutely not. This is a peak 2000s action movie, and it knows it.

"Mission: Impossible 2" is so over the top that once you've made peace with it, it's best to just go along for the ride. Come on, Tom Cruise and Dougray Scott play motorbike chicken with each other before a mid-air tackle sends them both crashing to the ground… What's not to love? It's the type of vehicular chaos that Dominic Toretto would be proud of.

Even so, "Mission: Impossible 2" ranks at the bottom of the bunch.

The 2011 film "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" takes the franchise into the modern era. It follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they're forced to go on the run when they're framed for bombing the Kremlin.

It quickly becomes a race to stop nuclear strategist Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), who wants to start a nuclear war so that only the strongest members of humanity will survive.

It's this plot that keeps "Ghost Protocol" from ascending the list, because, as spy thrillers go, stopping a nuclear war feels predictable, and the film fails to do anything unique with the premise. Plus, there's nothing particularly extraordinary about Hendricks as a villain.

But generic plot devices aside, the film features some brilliant fights and gripping set pieces. The stand-out moment is when Cruise's hero climbs the Burj Khalifa in Dubai with nothing but sticky gloves and rope.

It's a nail-biting scene, especially when the gloves begin to fail and Hunt must stop himself from tumbling off the side of the building.

One of the most surprising elements of the film is Jeremy Renner's William Brandt, a disgraced former agent who's grappling with the guilt of failing Ethan on a former mission. That sub-plot works very well amongst the rest of the action, and it's a clever way of injecting a bit of heart into the mission.

Two words: JJ Abrams. The "Lost" and "Fringe" creator took to the big screen in 2006 with "Mission: Impossible 3," which takes a mid-noughties approach to the Impossible Mission Force and gives it a brutal edge.

The sequel pits Ethan, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Zhen (Maggie Q), and Declan Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) against nefarious arms dealer Owen Davian, played by the incomparable Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Part of what elevates "Mission: Impossible 3" from previous films is that it never actually explains what Ethan and the gang are chasing. It's known only by its mysterious codename, the Rabbit's Foot. It could be an infectious disease, a computer virus, a hard drive teeming with currency, or nuclear codes… And that's what makes it so compelling.

It's also refreshing to see Ethan settled and in love with Michelle Monahan's Julia Meade. What does married life look like for a superspy? How does that complicate his responsibility to save the world?

The sequel feels very busy, as Abrams packs a lot into a tight two-hour run time. And some beats don't quite work, like Ethan's dynamic with his young mentee Lindsay Farris (played by Keri Russell). But there are some stellar sequences throughout, like the ballistic shoot-out on the bridge — which is an eye-popping piece of action choreography.

Taken from the 1966 TV series of the same name, 1996's "Mission: Impossible" introduces Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) as he works for Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), the main character from the show.

It has audiences instantly on their toes when Ethan's entire team, and Phelps, are assassinated by a double agent in the opening — and the hero goes on the run after being framed for their deaths.

"Mission: Impossible" earned itself a place in cinema history thanks to the brilliantly intense break-in scene, where Cruise is suspended on wires while hacking a CIA mainframe computer.

And of course, the high-octane ending on top of the channel tunnel train is a pulse-pounding affair set to the iconic theme music.

Cruise effortlessly brings Hunt to life alongside top-notch performances from Voight, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Ving Rhames, which really help sell the paranoid atmosphere that director Brian De Palma bakes into the adventure.

"Rogue Nation" is where frequent Tom Cruise collaborator Christopher McQuarrie properly put his stamp on the franchise, and he expands the world in a fascinating way with the introduction of the Syndicate, a vast organization made up of rogue agents from every intelligence agency on the planet.

Their mission (should they choose to accept it) is to create disorder and chaos to destabilize the global intelligence community, although their true goals don't become apparent until 2018's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout." Hunt is determined to root out the Syndicate, and its sinister leader, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris).

"Rogue Nation" also introduces Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a murky British agent who has a delicious will-they-won't-they dynamic with Cruise's hero.

A brawl in the rigging above an opera stage in Vienna is a stunning highlight, as is Cruise's dive into a submerged computer program. Cruise actually broke the world record for holding his breath for six minutes while completing that stunt in 2014.

"Dead Reckoning Part One" sees Hunt's IMF team chasing a key that will lead them to an unstoppable AI that could wreak havoc on the world if left unchecked.

And, of course, every government agency in the world wants to get their hands on it — so Hunt and his team are effectively on the run from everyone.

"Dead Reckoning's" focus on AI gives it a grounding in the real world, but the film also continues to elevate the sheer scale of action that audiences have come to expect from the "Mission: Impossible" franchise.

That jaw-dropping mountain jump in the movie's climax has to be seen to be believed, and it only gets more bonkers after that.

It's a testament to Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie that MI films continue to feel fresh and new — even though "Dead Reckoning's" script does drag on at points.

Then again, audiences are coming to see Cruise throw himself off a mountain, not to hear Oscar-winning dialogue.

Let's hope "Dead Reckoning Part Two" is just as fun.

There's no question that Christopher McQuarrie's "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" is the best movie in the franchise, which is saying something considering it's the sixth outing for Hunt and the gang.

It continues the Syndicate storyline from "Rogue Nation" and dives further into Solomon Lane's (Sean Harris) world-threatening scheme. He wants to destabilize the world by irradiating the Siachen Glacier, which supplies water to India, Pakistan, and China. This would kill off a third of the world's population and drastically change society in the process.

But the bulk of the story revolves around a CIA and IMF mole who goes by the codename 'John Lark.'

The hunt to find this rogue agent crosses the world, introducing the likes of Henry Cavill's CIA agent August Walker and Vanessa Kirby's underworld matriarch, Alanna Mitsopolis.

The scope of McQuarrie's movie is massive, and its huge stunts mirror that size. A gobsmacking scene sees Hunt dive with Walker from a plane and parachute into Paris. Cruise shot the stunt alongside a cameraman to properly capture the chaotic dive.

Then, of course, there's the film's exhilarating helicopter chase through a New Zealand mountain range — just another example of McQuarrie and Cruise's commitment to filming these stunts in the most jaw-dropping way possible.

"Fallout" is a thrilling chapter of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise that deepens the audience's understanding of Cruise's hero while delivering a stunning cinematic experience.