10 Reasons Why Mission: Impossible Is The Best Film Franchise Ever

There's been no shortage of fantastic film series over the past twenty-five years and beyond. Harry Potter and Spider-Man captivated millions. The Lord of The Rings and Toy Story broke the much-vaunted awards season. The Dark Knight Trilogy changed the game and then the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed it again.

But there's one franchise that just about predates all of them, one that has woven itself just as much into the fabric of pop culture over the last few decades, a dark horse that has gradually built upon its star's initial charisma and appeal into a six-film beast that makes a credibly persuasive argument to be the finest action franchise of the twenty-first century - scratch that, perhaps the finest franchise of the twenty-first century, full stop.

It is of course Mission: Impossible - the building-climbing, plane-clinging, sky-jumping, heart-in-mouth exploits of one Ethan Hunt and the Impossible Missions Force as they battle darkness and disaster across the globe.

A rich hexalogy, helmed by five separate directors with distinct creative visions - Brian De Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams, Brad Bird and Christoper McQuarrie - it's never quite reached the heady highs of consideration many of its rivals have over the years as the cornerstone of action cinema that it is.

We're here to restore some creed to the name of the IMF, to sing its praises and make a case that it's truly better than all of its rivals at the multiplexes.

For your mission, should you choose to accept it, read on...

Where shall we start? The wire-dangle? The motorcycle chase? The Burj Khalifa? The cargo plane?

Or should we just go straight to Fallout and have, in order, the HALO jump, the rooftop chase and the helicopter dual?

Mission: Impossible has made its name on stunts above all else in the modern era - and with a death-defying individual like Tom Cruise willing to risk life and limb to make them some of the best in the business, there's little being shortchanged in the bang-for-buck situation here.

Plenty of other franchises have mustered a fine line in such a department - James Bond has certainly seen his fare share - but with Cruise and his castmates often forgoing doubles to do the deeds themselves, there's an extra frission watching them hurl themselves about with gloriously lunatic abandon that pulls you to the edge of your seat.

(Side note: Fallout somehow lost the Stunt Ensemble honour at the Screen Actors Guild Awards to Black Panther in 2018. If the Oscars finally gets a Stunt category together by 2021, the franchise may finally get to the Dolby Theatre.)