by Cherise T.

It’s August, it’s hot, you need to complete a few more adventures for Summer Reading 2023. Cue the music and jump into Mission: Impossible. Not only can you see the world, but you can watch Tom Cruise do all his own stunts over 25 years of true movie star magic.  

At this point in film history, Tom Cruise embodies Ethan Hunt, heroic Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent. The seventh installment, Dead Reckoning, is in theaters currently (with part 2 arriving in 2024), and its trailer with Ethan/Tom jumping off a cliff while riding a motorbike is simply heartstopping. Saving the world is assured as long as tech genius Luther, played by Ving Rhames, is by Ethan’s side. Beginning in the third installment, the team is perfected with the addition of field agent Benji, played by Simon Pegg (see also Shaun of the Dead for London electronics salesman battling a zombie apocalypse while maintaining his sense of humor). These three, bolstered by a rotating cast of glamorous spies, defeat the savviest of international criminals. 

Brian De Palma, the great suspense director, kicked off the Mission: Impossible series in 1996. Not-to-be-missed scenes include the exploding fish tank and Ethan suspended upside down by a cable while attempting to infiltrate an impenetrable CIA vault. Cruise later explained he put coins in his shoes to help him balance. 

Mission: Impossible II finds Ethan saving us all from the release of a deadly virus. The rock climbing sequence is incredible. Ethan is pulled out of retirement for Mission: Impossible III which transports viewers to Rome, Shanghai, and Berlin. Directed by J.J. Abrams (Cruise is an Alias fan), the movie includes an explosive scene on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. 

Ghost Protocol, the fourth in the series, finds Ethan accused of bombing the Kremlin and fighting for his life. Brad Bird bravely ventures beyond his acclaimed animation repertoire, including The Incredibles and Ratatouille, to direct this one. The travelogue encompasses Bangalore, Mumbai, Budapest, Dubai, and Moscow, and Cruise again engages in some impressive climbing, scaling a 1700-foot building. For those prone to hypertension, beware the action sequence in the parking structure. 

The Syndicate is a group of spies gone rogue, and they have nerve gas. Hence, Rogue Nation, get it? Ethan goes to the opera, visits Oxford, hangs suspended from an Airbus, and dives underwater in a long take that has been reported as lasting anywhere from three to six minutes. Cruise trained with a diving instructor to assure he could act as well under the sea as he does on land and in the sky. 

2018 brought the release of Fallout, the sixth installment. The Syndicate has morphed into the Apostles, and Ethan must race to Paris, London, and the Himalayas to retrieve some plutonium. Ethan jumps from a plane, requiring Cruise to do multiple takes skydiving from an aircraft traveling 165 miles per hour at an altitude of 25,000 feet. At one point, production was suspended to allow Cruise to recover from a broken ankle that he suffered performing one of his “easy” stunts jumping between buildings. 

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to watch all six. There’s no boredom allowed when you have an HCLS library card. 

Cherise Tasker is an Adult Instructor and Research Specialist at the Central Branch. When not immersed in literary fiction, Cherise can be found singing along to musical theater soundtracks.