2018 Hit Film Ranked Among Greatest 'Action Movies Ever Made' Is a Sequel

Tom Cruise is trending once again following his appearance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week.

The honorary Oscar winner, 63, was out promoting his upcoming movie Digger, which experts are saying might just nab Cruise his first competitive Academy Award next year.

In the meantime, fans are probably looking back at the renowned actor's career, which includes at least a few Mission: Impossible films. Back in 2018, for example, perhaps the finest entry in the franchise was released, according to critics and audiences.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout currently ranks inside the top 70 on Rotten Tomatoes' list of 300 Best Movies of All Time, and the headline of IndieWire's official review of the film at the time calls the sequel "one of the best action movies ever made."

"It doesn't take long to recognize that Mission: Impossible - Fallout is one of the best action movies ever made," reads the first line of the IndieWire review, in addition to the superlative-laced headline.

The storyline for this sixth M:I installment follows Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and the IMF team as they join forces with CIA assassin August Walker (Henry Cavill) to prevent a disaster of epic proportions. A group of terrorists known as the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When the weapons go missing, Ethan and his crew find themselves in a desperate race against time to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands...

Three years earlier, a franchise addition from an entirely different universe was released - with the movie-centric outlet Collider later dubbing Mad Max: Fury Road the "best action movie ever made." Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, the George Miller thrill ride was both a critical and commercial success, going on to receive a whopping 10 Academy Award nominations and winning six.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 9:48 AM.