Mission: Impossible may have geared up later, but is now a veteran in its own right, releasing a total of 8 movies between 1996 and 2025. As the more recent franchise, Mission: Impossible has borrowed plenty of tricks from its British counterpart, but James Bond and Ethan Hunt have both endured fallow periods, and both modernized their respective arsenals to remain on the cutting edge of the spy genre.
While some degree of crossover is expected, however, 2015 marked a strange year for both IPs, as James Bond and Mission: Impossible released basically the same movie.
Spectre & Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Have Basically The Same Plot
The fourth installment in Daniel Craig’s series of James Bond movies, Spectre finds 007 hell-bent on tracking down the film’s titular organization, while most of his peers are reluctant to believe it actually exists. Bond politely sticks his middle finger up to protocol and accountability as he runs around chasing the enigmatic figure atop the SPECTRE heap, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Back home in London, the 00-program is facing a crisis. Believing Bond’s unit to be an antiquated waste of resources with a dangerous lack of democratic oversight, Andrew Scott’s Max Denbigh is intent on ending the British Secret Service as we know it. He plans to ditch Bond, and merge MI6 with MI5 as part of a wider coalition of intelligence agencies across the world, all in the name of modernization. Having Bond parade around the world causing chaos while M fights a political battle back home is not helpful to MI6’s cause.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (which released a few months earlier, it should be noted) tells the same story. And not just broadly, but as similar as its famous rubber masks. Just like Bond with SPECTRE, Ethan Hunt develops an obsession over the Syndicate. And just like SPECTRE, the Syndicate has been secretly orchestrating global events and gathering funds for its shady purposes.
Unfortunately for Hunt, he too finds his colleagues in a skeptical mood, and is forced off-grid in order to pursue what he believes is a real and present threat to global security. Without the backing of his employers, Hunt takes desperate measures – Bond has his Cinco de Mayo incident; Hunt has the Vienna opera. Both are very good at leaving a mess behind them.
Making matters worse for Hunt, the US has had a similar idea about old-fashioned spies being outdated, and is looking to permanently shutter the IMF and roll whatever remains into CIA jurisdiction. Jeremy Renner’s William Brandt must fight a political battle at home against the CIA’s increasingly-annoyed director, all while Ethan Hunt jogs around the world doing exactly what his detractors are accusing him of.
Spectre and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation end their stories in the same way too. Bond and Hunt both find proof that these villainous organizations exist, they both locate and apprehend the evil leaders, and in doing so, their organizations are spared the sharp blade of bureaucracy.
Spectre Vs. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Which Is Better?
Pitting Spectre against Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is a fascinating exercise, because while Daniel Craig’s fourth Bond outing is widely considered one of his weakest, Rogue Nation is widely considered one of the stronger Mission: Impossible movies. And yet, despite that, deciding the superior spy flick isn’t a straightforward task.
Spectre has the better cast. Even on his best day, Ethan Hunt is no Bond. And despite a brilliant turn from Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust, it’s difficult to argue with an ensemble like Spectre‘s, which boasts Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Monica Bellucci, Dave Bautista, and Andrew Scott.
In terms of action, the two films are almost neck-and-neck. Spectre possesses a more distinct sense of style, predictably, but Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation proves more innovative, with Tom Cruise hanging from the side of a plane, then holding his breath for a tension-filled underwater sequence.
Story is the weakness in both movies, albeit for opposite reasons. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation repeats the same premise most entries in the franchise follow, with the good guys and bad guys chasing the same MacGuffin. It’s simple stuff that doesn’t get bogged down in details, holding the viewer’s hand through chunks of exposition. There’s even a moment where, after Ethan Hunt explains at length what the Syndicate really is, Simon Pegg’s Benji chirps in with “an anti-IMF…” just for those at the back who weren’t listening.
By contrast, Spectre tries too hard to be clever. Tying Blofeld into the past three movies and making him Bond’s lost brother is just the tip of the iceberg as Spectre loses itself in a whirl of unclear motives and incomprehensible schemes that demand the viewer remembers details from nine years prior.
Ultimately, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation edges the debate, with its more streamlined story preferable to Spectre‘s issue of being too convoluted by James Bond standards.
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- Genres
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Action
- Created by
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Ian Fleming, Albert R. Broccoli
- First Film
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Dr. No
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No Time to Die
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James Bond 26
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Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond
The James Bond franchise follows the adventures of British secret agent 007 as he combats global threats. With a license to kill, Bond faces off against various villains and criminal organizations, employing high-tech gadgets, espionage, and charm. The series spans multiple films, featuring exotic locations, thrilling action sequences, and memorable characters. Bond’s mission to protect the world and uphold justice remains central, making the franchise an enduring icon in the spy genre.
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- Created by
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Bruce Geller, David Koepp, Steven Zaillian, Robert Towne, Christopher McQuarrie, Tom Cruise
- First Film
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Mission: Impossible
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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning
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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
- First TV Show
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Mission: Impossible
- Latest TV Show
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Mission: Impossible
The Mission: Impossible franchise is an American action spy series that began with the 1996 film Mission: Impossible and has since become one of the most successful and long-running franchises in Hollywood. The films follow Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), as he takes on various high-stakes missions around the world, often involving intricate heists, double-crosses, and death-defying stunts. The franchise is renowned for its intense action sequences, particularly those performed by Tom Cruise, who insists on doing many of his own stunts.
