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It’s hard to imagine Tom Cruise saying goodbye to Ethan Hunt, the character he’s dutifully portrayed since 1996’s Mission: Impossible. But everything from the name (The Final Reckoning) to the trailer’s closing moment (“I need you to trust me one last time”) sure makes it seem like the end of the road for a character that’s outlasted countless crises, two James Bonds, and five presidential administrations.
If you’re looking to catch up on the film series before the new one releases on May 23, you don’t have much time, but we’d never say it’s impossible. The good news is that you can stream every movie in one place. Paramount+, which offers a seven-day free trial and starts at $8/mo, will get you every film in the series. It’s also available as an add-on to a Prime membership.
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The Final Reckoning was originally slated to be called Dead Reckoning Part Two and serve as a direct sequel to Dead Reckoning Part One. The 2023 film dropped “Part One” from its title after it fell short of expectations at the box office, failing the truly impossible mission of withstanding the cultural phenomenon that was Barbenheimer. The sequel was then renamed The Final Reckoning.
In the Rolling Stone review, film critic David Fear wrote, “Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning” feels like a conclusion to 30 years worth of proving that yes, you still can conjure up a certain vintage strain of Hollywood magic. It also feels like the end of an era. We will still get ‘Tom Cruise movies.’”
Can I Watch Paramount+ Through Amazon Prime?
If you’d rather not create yet another new account, Paramount+ can be added to your existing Prime membership, making it easier to keep your subscriptions in one place.
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How many Mission: Impossible movies are there?
The Final Reckoning is the eighth film in the franchise. It’s directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who has helmed every film in the series since 2015’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The only actors who have appeared in every Mission: Impossible film are Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames, while Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Angela Bassett have all appeared in multiple entries in the series.
Do You Need To Watch Mission: Impossible In Order?
The first two films, directed by Brian De Palma and John Woo are largely standalone, but the plots become increasingly interconnected starting with 2006’s Mission: Impossible III, which introduces Simon Pegg and Michelle Monaghan.
Henry Czerny, who appeared in Mission: Impossible, reprises his role in Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning. In short, while it’s entirely possible to follow each of the films on their own, it’s worth watching each entry in the series before the new one comes out. And if you want to watch the series that inspired the movies, Mission: Impossible is also streaming on Paramount+.
Mission: Impossible
The first film introduces Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Ving Rhames’ Luther Stickell. Directed by Brian De Palma, it also stars Jon Voight, Vanessa Redgrave, and Jean Reno.
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible 2
The campiest of the bunch, Mission: Impossible 2 is directed by John Woo and stars Thandiwe Newton, Dougray Scott, and Richard Roxburgh.
Rolling Stone Review: “M:I-2 keeps the pulse pounding without sacrificing laughs or logic. Even Ethan, a workaholic you’d never catch with a martini, shaken or stirred, loosens up.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible III
Mission: Impossible III introduced Simon Pegg and Michelle Monaghan in what would become recurring roles, while Laurence Fishburne plays the IMF director and Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the bad guy.
Rolling Stone Review: “It’s a kick to watch Hoffman play hellboy to Cruise’s action hombre and you can believe the movie is all the better for it. Having said that, the true star of M:i:III is director and co-writer J.J. Abrams.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The fourth entry in the franchise sees Cruise and Pegg reprise their roles, while Rhames makes a cameo. Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist, Paula Patton, and Léa Seydoux also appear.
Rolling Stone Review: “The IMAX cameras produce the thrilling effect of 3-D without the damn glasses, making Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol a genuine marvel of cinema ingenuity. Check the dizzying scene of Cruise scaling Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation
Rogue Nation is Christopher McQuarrie’s first entry in the franchise, and it features the return of Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Ving Rhames, while Sean Harris, Rebecca Ferguson, and Alec Baldwin make their first appearances.
Rolling Stone Review: “The movie begins with Ethan hanging from the side of an Airbus A400M cargo plane during takeoff. Why? That kind of question is irrelevant in a franchise in which action trumps logic at every turn.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Fallout sees the return of Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris, while Henry Cavill plays Ethan’s souped-up CIA foil and Vanessa Kirby plays an arms dealer.
Rolling Stone Review: “There’s really no excuse for padding a two-and-a-half hour film with so much needless exposition. But you bear with it, because the set pieces are so off-the-charts spectacular.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning
Vanessa Kirby and Rebecca Ferguson return in Dead Reckoning, while Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, and Pom Klementieff join the cast.
Rolling Stone Review: “And like every Mission: Impossible before it, Dead Reckoning sticks to a tried-and-true formula that essentially acts as a string to connect one action-sequence bead to the next.”
Streaming: Paramount+ | Paramount+ on Prime
