Christopher McQuarrieis a filmmaker who first rose to prominence in the mid-1990s, primarily thanks to writing the 1995 mystery/thriller filmThe Usual Suspects, which netted him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. By the start of the 21st century, he directed his first feature film, and then returned to screenwriting for a while before resuming his directing career. He’s best known now for frequently collaborating withTom Cruise, having directed a total of five films (and counting) with the megastar.
Overall, his filmography is still modestly sized, at just six films, but is also undoubtedly impressive, with a clear sense of each movie he tackles being bigger – and arguably better – than the last. Those six movies – released between 2000 and 2025 – are ranked below, starting with some decent films that fall a little short of greatness, andending with remarkably satisfying blockbusters that are deservedly considered among the best action/thriller movies in recent memory.
6’Jack Reacher' (2012)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins
Jack Reacherwas the first time Christopher McQuarrie directed a movie starring Tom Cruise, and it was the former’s first directing credit in 12 years. Before this, McQuarrie had also co-written and co-produced the 2008 war/thriller movieValkyrie, which starred Cruise and could arguably stand as the first collaboration between this dynamic duo, butJack Reacherrepresented McQuarrie in full creative control. While it kicked off something great, when it came to the partnership between director and actor, the film itself does leave a little to be desired.
It’s afairly by-the-numbers action/thriller/mystery movie, with a certain level of competence yet not much by way of things that are truly exciting. Cruise stars as the titular character, and he’s mostly at home playing someone a little more hard-edged than his usual action movie characters, with Reacher having a mysterious past, connections to various shady people, and combat expertise that makes him a genuine physical threat.Yet the grittiness is dulled by the film’s PG-13 rating, and the infrequent action scenes don’t manage to be nearly as excitingas what’s found in the later action films McQuarrie and Cruise would make together in the years afterJack Reacher. Oh, and this onedid lead to a fairly successful TV series, for what that might be worth.
Jack Reacher
5’The Way of the Gun' (2000)
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Benicio del Toro, Juliette Lewis
The Way of the Gunis certainly an interesting directorial debut for Christopher McQuarrie. Despite being the movie of his with the lowest budget of them all, it has a good deal more to offer thanJack Reacher, being an uncompromising, violent, and sometimes mean-spirited modern Western/neo-noir/action movie. It has some flaws that stop it from being one of the greatest movies of its year, sure, but in no way could it be considered one ofthe worst movies of 2000either.
It’s a movie that starts with an introduction to two very crass and violent criminal drifters, and doesn’t waste time getting them wrapped up in a complex series of events, largely kicked off by their kidnapping of a pregnant woman.They clash with various other people all after the same woman and/or money, leading to an inevitably bloody climax. It starts and finishes well, but the whole middle section of the movie – which is more dialogue-heavy – can drag at times, ultimately weighing the film down a little.
The Way of the Gun
4’Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' (2025)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames
To be fair, there was a great deal of anticipation forMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, all to the point where the chances of it fully living up to the hype seemed very unlikely. Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise had been absolutely crushing it throughout the preceding decade, and their fourth go-around (not to mention maybe their final one)… it just didn’t hit the same. The pacing was a bit off here, and while the quality of the action was good (with one especially wild stunt sequence), the action also felt less frequent. Also sacrificed: a fair amount of fun. The stakes inThe Final Reckoningwere seemingly too high to have the sort of team dynamic and banter that made action and non-action scenes in past movies just that little more fun.
Still, there are worse ways along-running film series could come to an end, if, indeed, this movie really is the final one.Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningcan’t call itselfa modern-day action classicthe way some other films can, but it does still feel likeMission: Impossiblein its best moments. There’s fun to be had here, so long as you’re patient with the incredibly long sequences of exposition, and you similarly have to be okay with a surprisingly downbeat tone found throughout. It seems there might’ve been some behind-the-scenes reworking ofThe Final Reckoning,after the seventh movie in the series underperformed, and that could’ve resulted in this eighth entry feeling messy. You could do worse, and it’s not a miserable watch, butoutside of a handful of key sequences, one also gets the feeling that MacQuarrie and Cruise probably could’ve done better.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning
3’Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation' (2015)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg
Three years after directing Tom Cruise inJack Reacher, Christopher McQuarrie helmed the fifth movie in theMission: Impossibleseries,Rogue Nation. This turned out to be the first ofseveralMission: Impossiblemoviesdirected by McQuarrie, and broke what had previously been a series tradition (of sorts) where every new movie in the franchise was directed by a different filmmaker (and notableones at that:Brian De Palma,John Woo,J.J. Abrams, andBrad Birddoing1to4, respectively).
While the best was still to come when it came to McQuarrie doingMission: Impossiblemovies,Rogue Nationwas still a great start to his time with the long-running action/spy series. Theplot saw Ethan Hunt and his team clashing with another organization known only as The Syndicate; a group of highly-trained individuals that seemed dead-set on taking out the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). It’s a rock-solid action movie, and delivers pretty much everything you could want out of aMission: Impossiblemovie.
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation
For as great asMission: Impossible - Falloutwas, Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise almost outdid themselves come 2023, with the release of the seventh film in the series,Dead Reckoning Part One(well, it used to be calledDead Reckoning Part One, but that got replaced with just “Dead Reckoning”). Ittook the series to dazzling new heights in various ways yet again, and also stands out for making a rogue A.I. program its central villain, which feels verytopical given the rise of A.I. in 2023, and all the various concerns that have come from the advancements made in that sphere.
Beyond the (once again) solid story,Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoningalso has some of the most remarkable action in recent memory, and quite arguably the best set pieces of the series so far. It moves at a fantastic pace and doesn’t feel its length (and it is a long movie, at 164 minutes). If the story that started inDead Reckoninghad concluded just as well withThe Final Reckoning, the pair of films could well have comprised one of the greatest action epics of all time… but, regrettably,what we have instead is an excellent part one and then a decent follow-up that is far more disappointing, all the while also seeming afraid of being linked to that first movie.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning
1’Mission: Impossible – Fallout' (2018)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames
It’s very unlikely that anyone would’ve come out ofMission: Impossible - Rogue Nationfeeling unsatisfied, but then three years later, the sixth movie –Fallout–made the previous movie feel like a mere warm-up by comparison.Falloutwas a spectacular action moviethat took things to new heights, especially regarding the large-scale action scenes and impressive stunts, with a familiar premise regarding the IMF team being on the run while trying to save the world executed well to boot.
Tom Cruise seemed to push himself even more than before here, jumping out of a plane thousands of feet in the air, participating in brutal hand-to-hand fights, and being front-and-center in some amazing chase sequences, too.
But for as compelling and well-told as the narrative was, it’sthe over-the-top action sequencesthat ensuredMission: Impossible - Fallout’s status as a modern classic within its genre. Tom Cruise seemed to push himself even more than before here, jumping out of a plane thousands of feet in the air, participating in brutal hand-to-hand fights, and being front-and-center in some amazing chase sequences, too. AndMcQuarrie captures said stunts and action sceneseven better than before,withFalloutfeeling wonderfully visceral and non-stop when it came to the barrage of stunning things it was willing to show its audience. It’s just relentless stuff in the best of ways, and remains the Mission: Impossible to beat in quality, if that’s even possible (might well be a mission: impossible itself).
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
NEXT:Recent Action Movies That Were Better Than ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’
