For six films and more than 20 years, Tom Cruise has dangled from wires, scaled buildings, and dodged explosions for our entertainment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. It's not only one of the best action franchises running right now, it's the one with an outrageous among of the best stunts in cinema history, and defying all reasonable understanding of biology and physics, Cruise just keeps getting more impressive and physically daring.

With Mission: Impossible - Fallout now in theaters, I'm taking a stroll back through the most iconic set-pieces of the franchise and ranking my favorites. There's no shortage of favorites, because Cruise has spent the last two decades working with some of the best filmmakers and filmmaking crews in the industry, and they keep leveling up the game with each new installment. Which is why you'll find a mighty long list of honorable mentions attached to this list, and why I encourage you to sound off in the comments with your favorites.

Honorable mentions: The Classic Woo Shootout (Mission: Impossible II), The Shanghai Skyscraper (Mission: Impossible III), The Vatican Heist (Mission: Impossible III), The Prison Break (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), The Morocco Chase (Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation), The Halo Jump (Mission: Impossible - Fallout), The Paris Chase (Mission: Impossible - Fallout)

10) Battle of the Motorcycles; Mission: Impossible II

Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous, but so damn entertaining. We all know that John Woo's Mission: Impossible II is the least cohesive installment in the franchise (and I'd be lying if I didn't say I love it anyway), but damn does Woo know how to deliver some batshit crazy action. The first Mission: Impossible sequel also features a classic Woo shootout that's pretty damn good, but he saves the full-tilt bonkers action for the climactic motorcycle battle, which pits Ethan against the villainous former IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) in a battle of motorcycle jousting and beachside hand-to-hand combat. It's so extra, in all the best ways, and seeing Ethan Hunt embroiled in a peak-bananas John Woo action scene is a gift way too many people take for granted.

9) The Fish Tank Explosion; Mission: Impossible

A pivotal, big-action moment in the first Mission: Impossible film, the ol' fish tank explosion practically looks quaint compared to the stunts the franchise has become known for in the years since, but it still holds up as a breathless experience thanks to Brian De Palma's filmmaking. It's classic De Palma, through and through. Instead of relying on physical feats, De Palma builds tension through his knack for paranoia and dawning dread, giving us what is still to this day the most unhinged and panicked version of Ethan Hunt we've seen. Dutch angled to filth and brewing to an explosion of frantic jazz horns, the practical explosion was quite something in its time and the torrent of blue waters is so beautifully shot that the sequence still holds up (which is more than I can say for the unfortunate-looking train climax). It really just ends with Tom Cruise outrunning some water, but it gets the heart pumping and damn, it looks good.

8) The Bridge Assault, Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III's banner action moment doesn't have the grace and elegance of some of the finer Mission: Impossible set-pieces, but no one can say J.J. Abrams didn't come out guns blazing in his feature directorial debut. The highway attack is one of the highest-octane, explosive set-pieces in the entire franchise history, an assault on the senses that's so bullet-ridden and sun-drenched it's practically ripped out of the Michael Bay playbook. That's not an insult, it's a testament to the sheer immersive, over-the-top action on display in the scene. What's more, Abrams is wise enough to root the scene in real stakes and danger, ending it with the gut-punch escape of Owen Davian (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman) -- still the most haunting villain in the franchise -- which mean Ethan and his team fail, and Davian is coming for Ethan's wife. Bombastic and extreme, with one of the best "Tom Cruise running" moment sin the franchise, the highway attack is a somewhat unusual set-piece for the franchise, hinging more on explosions than outstanding feats, but even with its thick layer of mid-2000s orange lighting, it holds up as a visceral, pulse-pounding scene.

7) The Diving Heist, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Tom Cruise, what are you doing?! This won't be the only time I mention that Cruise is a little bit crazy for what he's willing to do to get the shot. In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Cruise took things to the next level in several scenes, but the underwater heist represents such a unique set of filming challenges -- and a singular visual experience as the reward -- that it's stunning the thing ever got made. Honestly, what is Cruise's insurance like? To film the gorgeous, literally breathless underwater sequence, Cruise learned to hold his breath for six and a half minutes -- an extreme length that allowed him to hold his breath while exerting the energy required for the two-minute takes. This has easily got to be one of the most dangerous things Cruise has done for entertainment value, and it paid off with a hell of a scene.

6) The Bathroom Fight, Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Instantly iconic for Henry Cavill's arm reload alone, the bathroom fight scene in Fallout also happens to deliver the most brutal hand-to-hand combat in the franchise to date. After Halo diving into a Parisian night club, Ethan and newcomer August Walker (Cavill) wind up locked in a battle royale with one seriously bad terrorist, played by stuntman and coordinator Liang Yang. Fallout establishes Ethan as a scalpel and Walker as a hammer, and that motif plays out with some real beauty during the fight scene. Cruise fights with grace and tactical maneuvering, but Cavill moves like a damn tank. And they're both outmatched in the fight by the singular Yang, who moves with a speed and efficiency that makes two of cinemas finest action performers look like school children being dragged by the ear. The scene ends with a pool of blood that defies Hollywood's squeaky clean standards and sets the stage for one of the darkest, most dangerous films in the franchise yet.

5) The Opera Assassination, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Elegant orchestration in all its glory, Rogue Nation's Vienna Opera House sequence is the most beautiful and precise set-piece in the franchise to date. It also has some of the best Ethan personality moments as he tries to stop the assassination of the European diplomat, while getting his ass soundly kicked meters above the ground in the fly system of the grand opera house. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie layers new obstacles with a refined hand, always giving Ethan some new challenge to overcome -- usually while he's got a giant henchman with his hand around his throat. The fight choreography is balletic at moments, and Rebecca Fergusson's Ilsa Faust brings an Old Hollywood elegance to every moment on screen, making for a downright lovely, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, and consummately entertaining sequence, staged to the high drama of Puccini's Turandot.

4) Prepare for Takeoff, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

I think this is the moment a lot of us started to realize that Cruise's dedication to stunt work had veered into the realm of possible insanity. The opening sequence of Rogue Nation established McQuarrie as a writer-director with a firm grasp on what makes the Mission: Impossible franchise (and Ethan Hunt) so damn delightful, and a creative partner for Cruise who's willing to go as far and as hard as his actor. Punctuated by a string of catch-your-breath humorous beats, the sequence finds Cruise dangling from the side of an Airbus A400M during takeoff, flapping around in the wind like some fearless rag doll. This has easily got to be one of the most dangerous things Cruise has ever done for audience entertainment -- sure he was harnessed, but throw any number of curveballs and that harness ain't gonna do shit. It's pure insanity, drummed up for your pleasure, and sets the tone for the heights of action about to unfold.

3) The Langley Heist, Mission: Impossible

A brilliant inversion of what we expect from action scenes, the Langley heist is all about silence and stillness. Firmly on the opposite end of the spectrum from the gunfights and explosions that the franchise would become known for, this indelibly iconic set-piece finds Ethan and his team breaking into CIA headquarters to retrieve a file and sends Ethan repelling into a room that requires a key card, a retinal scan, voice ID, and rapidly changing codes — oh and once he’s in, he has to remain utterly silent and calm because the room is decked out with sound and temperature monitors that tigger alarms with the slightest elevation. Are you sweating yet? Because Hunt does, and in the clean white room, where every minute and gesture matters, that single bead of sweat becomes as dangerous as the ticking clock on a nuclear bomb. De Palma made the brilliant call to play the scene without a score, in anxiety-inducing silence, and he uses every shot to build piano-wire tension while Cruise executes impeccable physical control to put the audience right in his shoes. To this day, the image of Tom Cruise dangling in that white room remains the most iconic and imitated sequence in the franchise, and for damn good reason.

2) Battle of the Helicopters; Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I'll keep this one brief and spoiler-free since Fallout just hit theaters, but suffice it to say that the climactic helicopter battle in the sixth Mission: Impossible film is a breathtaking parade of "holy shit" moments from start to finish. This is one of those set-pieces that baffles the mind and leaves you thinking, "How did they do that?" It's the kind of cinematic sorcery you only get with a performer like Cruise, who actually piloted the helicopter, earning his pilot certification in just six weeks. You also need a filmmaker like McQuarrie and his remarkable camera crew, who capture shots that seem all but... well, impossible. McQuarrie is also a master of the ticking clock, layering impending doom on impending doom, from the literal ticking bombs on the ground to engine failure in the sky, and an unstoppable stream of obstacles for Ethan to overcome. Fallout's third-act chopper battle leaves you prying a white-knuckle grip off the armrest and scraping your jaw off the floor in wonder and disbelief at just how elegant and outrageous Mission: Impossible stunts can be.

1) The Burj Khalifa Climb, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The GOAT. The most perfect set-piece in a franchise full of perfect set-pieces, Ghost Nation's Burj Khalifa climb sends Cruise dangling from obscene, stomach-churning heights (the building is more than 2700 feet tall and they reportedly shot the scene at 1700 feet) in a stunning spectacle that inverts the Mission: Impossible trope of hanging Tom Cruise from wires in favor of watching him scale an impossibly flat, impossibly tall surface with only a pair of failing magnetic gloves to get him across. The sequence is expertly designed by director Brad Bird -- who sets up the scene with a gorgeous slow pan down to the ground that knots your stomach and reveals the breath-taking height -- not only to build tension with each passing moment, but to showcase Cruise's remarkable performance and athleticism as each new unreasonable obstacle comes his way.

And Cruise, reliably, performs the hell out of it; from the dawning moment of dread as he realizes his life in the hands of two enhanced pieces of fabric to the utmost exasperation as he dangles thousands of feet in the air and screams "No shit!" Beautifully constructed and executed to perfection, employing that classic Mission: Impossible score at just the right moment, the Burj Khalifa climb makes gold out of every camera move, reaction shot, and lilt of Cruise's body to deliver one of the most thrilling and satisfying stunts ever filmed.