10 Reasons Why Mission: Impossible Is The Best Film Franchise Ever
9. The Gadgets
How did an effective Halloween gimmick become the hallmark of one of the greatest franchises - action irrelevant - in the business? M:I has always walked a fine line as a franchise between tongue-in-cheek brilliance and serious punches, but their famed masks firmly fall in the former category.
The ability to swap faces between team members has been an near-indispensable part of the formula, as has the well-stocked arsenal of extra gizmos trotted out at regular intervals, including optical camo screens, glass-climbing gloves and a flute that doubles as a sniper rifle, plus Tom Cruise's hair in M:I 2.
Given the latter-day approach to Bond in the Daniel Craig era, alongside John Wick, this counterpoint to the back-to-basics rumble of other modern action franchises helps M:I stand out from the crowd in a glorious way.
Not only that, but given the sheer amount of technical wizardry conjured by their counterparts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on a computer, there's something tangibly satisfying about the way a reveal can play out when a latex mask is ripped off, Scooby-Doo style, in any of these entries.