The Mission: Impossible franchise has evolved in fascinating ways since its initial 1996 entry, but what have been the biggest changes in the series? The series is approaching 30 years old and is one of the most successful film franchises ever. Moreover, it shows no signs of letting up, with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 set for release on July 12.
With a franchise as vast as this one, there will inevitably be changes and evolutions in how the films are made. There are many elements that have remained, such as Ethan Hunt fighting a war he has no reasonable chance of winning and the threat of tyranny from a megalomaniacal terrorist seeking world domination. However, the franchise has changed in 10 significant ways since its 1996 debut entry.
10 Mission: Impossible's Stunt Work Is More Realistic
Mission: Impossible has its fair share of stunts, including the finale sequence where Ethan Hunt is clambering along the top of the train, ultimately jumping onto the helicopter, before then successfully blowing up the helicopter and his enemies to get blasted back onto the train. However, the most realistic the stunts in Mission: Impossible ever get is perhaps the rope descent scene. However, this is more gradual and suspenseful than stunt-like.
Since Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the stunts have been much more grounded in reality, consisting of spectacles that could feasibly happen, no matter how unlikely. Indeed, Tom Cruise prides himself on doing many of his own dangerous Mission: Impossible stunts, including climbing skyscrapers, clinging onto the side of a plane in-flight, and hanging from a helicopter at roughly 2000 feet from the ground. Furthermore, since the first Mission: Impossible film, audiences have also enjoyed many other reality-based stunts and action sequences, such as high-octane motorcycle and foot chases, including on rooftops.
9 Ethan Hunt Gets The Mission Briefings
It’s interesting to realize that in Mission: Impossible, it wasn’t Ethan Hunt who was given the mission briefing, but it was instead given to Jim Phelps during his flight. It’s become commonplace to see Ethan receive his mission propositions which, should he choose to accept them, would then take him on his journey throughout the film’s following narrative. The device through which the mission briefing is delivered to Ethan is usually destroyed after a short countdown once it’s finished playing, a moment that has become synonymous with the franchise. Interestingly, Ethan Hunt is about to receive a briefing on an unknown mission at the very end of Mission: Impossible.
8 Mission: Impossible Doesn't Rely On Ethan Hunt's Rope Descent Scenes
There are two main action scenes during Mission: Impossible, the climactic train sequence, and the cable descent scene at CIA headquarters, with the latter largely defining the espionage of the Mission: Impossible series. Understandably, therefore, the moment was mimicked at various points throughout the following two sequels, once scene where Ethan plummets down through vent shafts into the labs of Sean Ambrose to come to an abrupt halt inches from the ground and again when Ethan descends to the ground over the wall of a party in Vatican City. However, because the stunt work has now become so much more sophisticated, gone are these basic cable descent moments.
7 Mission: Impossible Characters Have More Personality
Because Mission: Impossible was dealing with such dark themes as the Cold War and hardcore espionage, the feel of the film is rather gloomy. This results in the characters feeling dry and soulless and the movie could certainly not be considered comedic. Since the first entry, however, the characters interwoven throughout the films inject much more heart and soul into the IMF world of espionage. Benji, for example, acts as a wonderful comic relief, an element Mission: Impossible was gravely missing. The characters in these modern sequels altogether play off each other with a chemistry that is wholly attractive for audiences to enjoy.
6 Mission: Impossible Has More Heart
Mission: Impossible didn’t really offer much in the way of romance. There was Claire Phelps, Jim Phelp’s wife, but the romance there was foggy and didn’t hold up to the politics within the circle of characters. She was, after all, essentially working with Jim, and therefore Ethan Hunt knew he couldn’t completely trust her. However, Ethan has usually been involved in some kind of solid romance in the sequels. The direct sequel is the best example, with Nyah Nordoff-Hall in Mission: Impossible 2. Mission: Impossible's Julia and her fake death proved all kinds of problems for Ethan, whom he relished in a romance with.
5 Ethan Hunt's Mission: Impossible Team Became Close Friends
The Mission: Impossible series is largely known for its IMF team, which today consists of characters audiences have fallen in love with over time, including Luther Stickell, Benji Dunn, and William Brandt. The first film begins with the IMF team on a mission and then being sent on another, but that team is soon dispersed within the first third of the movie. A couple of those so-called team double-cross Ethan, too, meaning he largely works alone for most of the plot. Since 1996, however, the IMF team has become loyal to one another, and Ethan knows they can be trusted with his life as they work together mostly harmoniously.
4 Mission: Impossible's Action Goes Bigger
Mission: Impossible is a franchise that prides itself on topping its last outing, which is appropriate when you consider these have become some of the biggest action films ever made. By definition of action, the stunts and spectacles are expected to be sured in quality with the next entry, and it has become somewhat of a trend that Tom Cruise and his colleagues take that challenge seriously. The stunts have progressively gotten more spectacular as the series goes on, wowing audiences with new and exciting action that constantly takes the franchise to the next level, which has been a significant evolution since the highly espionage-themed Mission: Impossible.
3 Mission: Impossible's Villains Are More Dangerous
Jim Phelps in Mission: Impossible, as portrayed by Jon Voight, was a formidable enough villain. However, Voight was 56 when filming the movie, certainly making him on the older side. This didn’t stop him from being dangerous in his own right, albeit in the more cowardly, slimy way, the sinister IMF traitor he ended up being. But the villains in the series after that have generally been more intimidating and indeed present throughout more of their films’ respective plots. Sean Ambrose, Owen Davian, Kurt Hendricks, Solomon Lane, and August Walker have all imparted much more presence and dominance throughout their movies, in contrast to Jim Phelps.
2 Mission: Impossible's Locations Are More Exotic
Mission: Impossible is almost entirely set in Prague, Czech Republic, and while this can be considered a romantic location, the series embraced much more exotic locations around the world with the follow-up movies. In contrast to Prague, Mission: Impossible 2 featured Tom Cruise mountain climbing in the picturesque setting of Dead Horse Point in Utah. Since then, in the franchise, audiences have marveled at such settings as Vatican City, Dubai, Vienna, and Paris, all spectacularly romantic and exotic locations, considerably easier on the eye than the doom and gloom of Prague as depicted in Mission: Impossible.
1 Mission: Impossible Sequels Are Better Quality
The Mission: Impossible series is rare in that the movies tend to get better with quality as the franchise progresses, which is no small feat for action films in particular. There is always pressure to deliver action, especially since good action requires a good budget, and if the films don’t do well commercially, the budget can be hurt for the next project. The Mission: Impossible series, after all, doesn’t just rely on action. They are thrillers, too, and can also be dramas with the wonderful combination of characterization the films offer.
Although it does have a very ionate cult following, the first Mission: Impossible film didn’t do well, with only a 66 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating, and the sequel, Mission: Impossible 2, did even worse with a mere 56 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating. Mission: Impossible 3 boasted a 71 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the series’ critical acclaim has progressively improved since, with the latest film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout championing a remarkable 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Will Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning keep this pattern and beat this rating?
