Tom Cruise’s Hair In Every Mission: Impossible Movie, Ranked
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
The Mission: Impossible film series is, unlike most Hollywood franchises, built less around lore and callbacks and more around recurring moments we expect each time we sit down in our seats to watch the latest entry. I expect to see people in lifelike masks, some twists, some turns, a few dangerous stunts, a car or motorcycle chase, and a villain trying to do something terrible. Oh, and one more thing I expect: Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt sporting a new hairstyle.
Yes, in nearly every Mission: Impossible movie, Cruise is rocking a new hairdo. Sometimes his hair is long. We like that. Sometimes it’s short. We aren’t as excited about that. So we decided to rank each of these haircuts from worst to best.
And before we hop into the list, just a heads-up that we are only focusing on the main movies starring Cruise. This isn’t about the OG show or any of the games or whatever. We are only ranking cinematic hair, the best kind of hair. Anyway, here’s the best haircut out of all the Mission: Impossible movies…
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
If I were to rank all of the films, Mission: Impossible 2 would (probably) be at the bottom. While it has some fans and it has some cool moments, it’s a bit of a mess and feels out of place compared to all the other films. But damn, Hunt’s hair in this one is the best. It’s the longest it will ever be and looks fantastic.
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
The fourth film in the series is one of the best and also serves as a bit of soft reboot for the franchise after the so-so MI3 and the (as mentioned already) not great MI2. And it appears that director Brad Bird and Cruise wanted to make a clean break from MI3’s short hair. So once more, Hunt has grown his hair out, though this time it’s a bit more styled than in MI2.
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
The latest movie in the series (and maybe the last…) seems to be designed to be more fan-service-y than usual. I guess after eight films, the series has earned one movie that is filled with callbacks and references. And that’s why, I think, Cruise is sporting some very long and messy hair. He knows, like we know, that it’s Hunt’s best look. So why not bring it back for one more go?
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
In Rogue Nation, we get a medium-length haircut on Ethan for the first time in the series. It looks fine, though it mostly just reminds me that I’ll always prefer a longer style on the world’s best super spy.
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
Perhaps the nicest thing I can say about this haircut is that of all Hunt’s shorter styles, this is the least bad. I think that’s down to it having some good volume and shape. It’s not just a buzz cut or crew cut. There’s a bit more going on and I appreciate that.
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
This is the perfect cut for a movie like Mission: Impossible 3. It’s not horrible, but it’s pretty forgettable. It’s not the worst, but you’ll likely never say you love it. It’s just fine. It gets the job done. It’s a utilitarian cut that feels very generic, but has just enough style that you don’t mind looking at it. And all of that could apply to the middle-of-the-road MI3 as well.
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
Wowza, what a not-great look! I think this cut—which is similar to his hair in Fallout, but a bit shorter and less voluminous—when matched up with some of his outfits in this movie just ends up creating a bad combo. It almost feels unfinished and tired. Sounds a lot like Dead Reckoning!
Image: Paramount / Kotaku
And so, we reach the worst haircut out of all of them. What a shame this military-like crew cut is what Tom Cruise has in the very first film. The OG Mission: Impossible is a great film, one of the best in the series. But Hunt looks like a soldier more than a spy with this boring and aggressively dull haircut. At least the movie is awesome.
