We all know just how much Tom Cruise loves risking his life for our entertainment. The entire Mission: Impossible franchise is now based completely around the star and producer one-upping himself with practical stunt daredevil-ry. What we’re looking at here though, is one type of stunt specifically, and how each film in the franchise lives and dies based on it. We’re talking of course about the drop.

The heights from which Ethan Hunt can fall have been explored extensively and in wildly different ways by each filmmaker who’s pointed their camera at the IMF. From Brian De Palma creating the first iconic heist scene in the series, to John Woo and his hyperstylized slow motion motorcycle martial arts, to JJ Abrams physics defying mystery box maguffin, Brad Bird resurrecting the allure of the franchise and Christopher McQuarrie doubling down on all the right things all the way through Dead Reckoning part 1, each film has a major drop stunt that can make the difference between something memorable or something that can not stand the test of time.

This video was written by Siddhant Adlakha, edited by Justin Donaldson, with title graphic animation by Casey Redmon.

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