Mission: Impossible - Fallout's Best Action Sequences

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Mission: Impossible — Fallout, in theaters now.

The Mission: Impossible franchise is known for mind-blowing stunts, whether it's Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt dangling from rooftops and cliffs, scaling skyscrapers, or racing through cities on motorcycles, cars or trucks. The sixth film, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's Fallout, ups the ante, delivering gravity-defying set pieces and chase sequences unlike any audiences have ever seen.

The film certainly embodies the adage "Go big or go home!" as Fallout's ambitious scenes set it apart from not only from the rest of the franchise, but the rest of the genre. With that in mind, let's look at six of the best action sequences from Ethan Hunt's latest adventure.

6. Helicopter vs. Helicopter

Fallout follows Hunt as he pursues the terrorists called the Apostles in hopes of preventing a nuclear detonation in Pakistan. To do so, he needs to get the detonator from CIA traitor August Walker (Henry Cavill), so his team on the ground can disarm the weapons. Walker leaves Karachi in a helicopter, not realizing Hunt is climbing his way onto a backup chopper meant to provide protection.

What ensues is a heart-stopping battle in which Hunt nearly falls to his death, finally gets into the helicopter, takes out the guards and pilots it himself. Oh, yeah, and he's never flown one before. That leads to a chase sequence you'd expect to see on the highway in Fast and Furious movies, with Hunt trying to ram Walker, and Walker looking to shoot down the IMF agent.

It's one of Cruise's most thrilling scenes as he fumbles around with the chopper, barely evading the Pakistani terrain, before they crash into the snowy mountains.

5. The Cliff Fight

That helicopter scene flows right into this finale as both aircraft are lodged in between two cliffs. Thanks to some dynamic cinematography and editing, the aircraft come crashing down, with the duo barely escaping death. They then duke it out, with Walker angry that his face has been burned from the helicopter's fuel.

It's a straight-up brawl with the men literally on the edge. Eventually, they go over the side, and attempt to scale back up the cliff using the cable attached to Hunt's helicopter (which is still perched on the cliff). As the hero gains the upper hand, he pulls the chopper down onto Walker, and jumps onto the cliff, clinging on for dear life.

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4. Ilsa Faust vs. Solomon Lane

The MI-6 spy Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) and the Apostles' leader, Lane (Sean Harris), reprise their feud from Rogue Nation at the bomb site. Lane tries to hang Benji (Simon Pegg), who's come to defuse the bomb, which allows Ilsa to break free of her constraints and engage the villain.

She uses her wrestling and karate background, while Lane employs mixed martial-arts techniques to subdue her. The two tear apart the wooden shack as Ilsa uses boxes and other items to prop up Benji to prevent him being strangled to death. T]he fight ends with her choking out Lane and saving Benji. It's McQuarrie's way of reminding us who Hunt's female counterpart is, especially as she had the chance to kill Lane, but instead chose to carry out justice the right way.

3. The Bike Hunt

Earlier, Hunt is coerced into freeing Lane so he can exchange him for plutonium from a broker known as the White Widow (Vanessa Kirby). Hunt doesn't trust her, so he gets his IMF team to acquire Lane while he draws attention away on a motorcycle. That leads to a crazy chase through London with some of the tightest and most nerve-wrecking camera angles ever.

The bumps, near-death moments and actual collisions are too close for comfort as Hunt evades a number of cops. He even goes against the flow of high-speeding traffic, which culminates in him careening into a car. He barely gets up, and the barrels down into the sewer, where his friends are waiting for him in a raft, ready to interrogate Lane.

McQuarrie delivers a scene that keeps you on the edge of your seat, borrowing elements from the Fast and the Furious franchise, Need for Speed, the Jason Bourne series, Ronin, James Bond,and The Italian Job.

2. The Bathroom Brawl

To find out more about the nuclear threat, Hunt and Walker investigate a terrorist known as John Lark in Paris in the first act. Hunt doesn't know the man they're pursuing is a fake, as Lark is actually Walker. As they try to find out more, though, a massive bathroom brawl erupts and we get pure, unadulterated violence.

The Lark impersonator, played by Liang Yang, takes the two men to the cleaners. No matter what they throw at him, they can't take him out. His martial-arts style leaves the men no choice but to team up against this one-man wrecking crew, which leads to guys being flung through windows, sinks and walls, and being beaten with pipes. Everything comes to an end when Ilsa is forced to intervene by shooting "Lark."

1. The HALO Jump

The HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump involves Hunt and Walker leaping from a plane high above Paris. What makes it even more exciting is Walker getting struck by lightning, resulting in Hunt chasing him down to revive him. The free-falling camera angles cultivated a dizzying scene, not meant for viewers prone to motion sickness.

This scene occurs early on, setting the tone for the movie as the jump goes down to the wire with Hunt having to give his rival oxygen, then pull both parachutes at just the right time once they pass the lightning storm.

Everything from the sound editing to the visuals made this a masterpiece sequence, and among the best cinematic action scenes of all time.

In theaters nationwide, director Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible — Fallout stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, joined by returning actors Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell and Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, with Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris, Sian Brooke and Frederick Schmidt.