Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning!the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise, the film delivers the death-defying stunts, global-scale action, and fearless Tom Cruise performance that audiences have grown to expect. Every entry in the action saga has pushed itself to the next level, and The Final Reckoning packs its nearly three-hour runtime with thrilling action scenes and some of Tom Cruise's most ambitious stunts.

Picking up after AI threat known as the Entity before it gains complete control of the world's digital systems and launches a nuclear apocalypse​​​​. With the future of the world hanging in the balance, the team faces impossible odds in a high-stakes, globe-trotting mission. From exploring sunken submarines to defusing bombs and death-defying fights in the air, this mission puts the gang in some pretty precarious positions, as these seven scenes prove.

7 Ethan Breaks Paris Out Of Graz-Karlau Prison

The First Action Sequence Of The Film Is A Bit Underwhelming

The first action sequence of the film sees Ethan breaking Paris out of the notorious Graz-Karlau prison in Austria, in hopes of getting Paris to help locate Gabriel, who stabbed her on the train in Dead Reckoning Part One. The sequence plays as a covert infiltration, with Paris initially fighting Ethan and Benji, who are in disguise, blending stealth and bursts of hand-to-hand combat.

While the choreography is tight and Pom Klementieff shows her excellent fighting skills, the scene is somewhat short and falls a bit flat. It's over before it really begins and turns into more of a tense stare-down than a memorable fight sequence. It serves more as a setup than a spectacle as it reintroduces Paris as an ally, establishes the team's status, and sets the tone for the team's mission.

6 Gabriel, Ethan, Kittridge, And Briggs Face Off

Needed More Action

When Ethan and his team arrive at the remote South African bunker, they walk into a trap. Gabriel reveals a nuclear device with a ticking 20-minute countdown and demands the key module Ethan recovered from the Sevastapool in exchange for deactivation. Ethan agrees, only for Kittridge and Briggs to barge in with their own agenda, as they want the U.S. to have control of the Entity. The scene starts dialogue-heavy and layered with power plays, and then breaks out into an arms-heavy fight between the three teams.

Although the stakes are massive, the action could've lasted longer. With so many major players in one room, and Benji being injured, this thrilling confrontation falls a bit short. There are no major confrontations that take place, with the most excitement coming from the surprise of Kittridge and Briggs' arrival, as well as Gabriel flipping the script on everyone. It sets up the grand action sequence that happens later in the film, but this set piece is far from the best.

5 Ethan Goes Down To The Sevastopol Wreck

Slow Paced But Intriguing

This sequence is more about tension than blockbuster action, but it still delivers the thrills this franchise is accustomed to delivering. Ethan's dive to the sunken Sevastopol is one of The Final Reckoning's most atmospheric and nerve-wracking scenes. He navigates the wreck in search of the module, discovering the crew's corpses and plenty of torpedoes.

After retrieving the module, Ethan accidentally triggers the wreck to slide down the continental shelf. While there was no actual fighting in this scene, the slow pace builds real tension, with each movement increasing the risk of detonation or collapse. The choreography and visuals of this stunt make it an immensely intriguing scene. It also helps that it feels so believable after Cruise and McQuarrie found a way to film an underwater set piece better than the one in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation.

4 Ethan Is Attacked On The USS Ohio

A Great Claustrophobic Fight

Ethan boards the USS Ohio as part of his mission to reach the sunken Sevastopol, but things go sideways for a second. While working out below deck, he's ambushed by a rogue crew member who's secretly loyal to the Entity. What follows is a gritty, close-quarters hand-to-hand combat in the submarine's tight spaces. This sequence is a standout thanks to its brutal choreography and timing, as the attack serves as a sort of jump scare. Every clang of metal and sharp movement makes this moment feel as urgent and visceral for the audience as it was for Ethan.

The fight is a raw, grounded contrast to the grandiosity of the film. Ethan is vulnerable, wearing only his underwear and with no weapons nearby, showing just how vulnerable he is. Just as his attacker seems to gain the upper hand, another crew member intervenes and saves Ethan. While brief, it's one of the most intense and grounded action moments in the film.

3 Ethan And Grace Escape Gabriel

Ethan's Most Aggressive Kills In The Film

This is the second action sequence of The Final Reckoning, but it's the first that leaves an imprint. Ethan and Grace are captured by Gabriel, who wants Ethan to retrieve the Entity's source code from the Sevastopol. When Ethan refuses, Gabriel threatens Grace's life, leading Ethan to pretend to swallow a cyanide capsule. Using the moment of distraction to break free, Ethan launches into a vicious fight that showcases his most lethal instincts.

What makes this scene stand out is how much it leans into horror-style brutality. Two of Ethan's kills happen off-screen, with the camera focusing on Grace's shocked reaction. When the camera pans back to Ethan, one enemy lies crushed beneath what seems to be a metal box, while the other lies on top of said box, with a metal cleaver jammed into his back. It's a dark, visceral reminder of what Ethan is willing to do when cornered, and when the people he loves are threatened.

2 Ethan's Team Against The Russians At St. Matthew Island

Everyone Plays A Crucial Role In The Fight

This cold, explosive sequence finds Ethan's team at St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea, where a Cold War-era sonar array detected the coordinates of the Sevastopol's final transmission. There, they find William Donloe, the disgraced CIA analyst from Mission: Impossible 1, who had been living on the island for 30 years, and apparently memorized the coordinates decades earlier. When a Russian special forces unit also shows up hunting for the coordinates, chaos ensues. The team engages in a fiery fight while trying to defend Donloe as he transmits the coordinates to Ethan.

Every team member is put to the test, with Benji, Degas, and Paris fighting to hold off the Russians, while Grace and Tapeesa escape in order to meet Ethan with a decompression chamber after he retrieves the Rabbit's Foot from the Sevastopol. The tension hits its peak when Donloe's cabin is engulfed in flames, but he still manages to complete the transmission. This scene is a standout because it gives the entire team a chance to shine in a fast-paced, crucial sequence. With personal stakes and relentless action, it's one of the film's most cinematic and thrilling action sequences.

1 The Plane Fight

One Of Mission: Impossible's Best Stunts

The centerpiece of The Final Reckoning's ending is a breathtaking sequence where Ethan chases Gabriel midair on a biplane. This is one of Cruise's most impressive stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which sees him fight on not just one, but two biplanes. Cruise spent over a year and a half preparing for this aerial feat, which involved hanging from an inverted plane at 140 miles an hour. The scene is constantly evolving, seeing Cruise jump from the ground onto one biplane, fight off the pilot, then jump off said biplane onto Gabriel's to continue the fight.

The meticulous planning and execution are a testament to Cruise's commitment to delivering authentic, adrenaline-pumping action. It's a sequence that demands to be seen on the big screen and will surely leave you questioning how they possibly pulled off an aerial stunt like this. The show-stopping nature of this scene easily solidifies it as the best stunt in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and it stacks up incredibly well with the best of the best that Tom Cruise has ever done as Ethan Hunt.