Tom Cruise in 'Mission: Impossible II' (2000). The first sequel in the Mission: Impossible franchise began with a shocking scene in which Cruise free-climbs a 2,000-ft. rock face in Utah.

Even when the series was more focused on espionage than over-the-top spectacle, Mission: Impossible could always be relied on ...

Impossible franchise struggled after the first movie, because it failed to recognize what made the 1996 spy thriller so special.