Your mission ... should you choose to accept it, like Tom Cruise

I understand a lot of people are uncomfortable with Tom Cruise's religion and his personal life. But he is a hell of a movie star.

On a recent episode of The Tonight Show, when Jimmy Fallon asked the now 53-year-old actor why he still performs stunts like the already iconic one in the poster to your left, he said something along the lines of "I do it for you," meaning the audience.

That's always been my theory about Cruise -- his real life eccentricities aside -- he's like a hyperactive puppy dog, eager to deliver thrills to film audiences. Outside of a few dramatic roles, I think the Mission: Impossible series contains some of his best, loosest work -- and Ethan Hunt may go down as his most signature character.

I can say with great confidence that his new Hunt adventure -- Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation is the second best blockbuster of the summer, after Mad Max: Fury Road. It's fast, funny and inventive and I had a total blast watching it.

Five films in and this franchise is far from running out steam. Other than the Bond films, which are sort of a world unto themselves, only the Fast & Furious movies have managed to keep up their momentum this many films in. It helps that Cruise is somehow ageless and he has also discovered a brilliant formula for these films.

Ghost Protocol

He always teams with a new director, who brings their own style to each project (although the new film feels like the least stark departure from its predecessor). There's a new femme fatale and/or love interest each time too. The usual sidekicks appear (Ving Rhames and now, with a bigger role, Simon Pegg). And there's usually a solid character actor playing his superior (Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Fishburne have played this role in the past - this time Alec Baldwin has a ball with it).

There's also always a bravura set piece where Cruise has to perform some remarkable feat to penetrate some absurdly impenetrable fortress. The one in this film is a real doozy.

All of these familiar elements could in theory grow tiresome but they never do because the pacing is almost always top notch and the films have increasingly taken themselves less seriously. Cruise too seems liberated playing a character that's never had much depth. Some could call Hunt an American version of Bond, except even 007 has a lot of backstory and character development.

Hunt is essentially a hyper driven and reckless agent -- but also a total pro who simply wants to get the bad guys and protect his peers. He's not expected to be very human, which makes it the perfect role for Cruise. Entertainment Weekly has already done their ranking of the five films to date. And here's mine:

5) Mission: Impossible II (2000): My least favorite film of the series and the one that feels the most dated. This one came at the height of what I call Matrix-imitation syndrome. As great as that film was, it spawned far too many bloated, slow motion action sequences. John Woo directed this one and all his hallmarks are here (doves, abound). Cruise's rock climbing antics serve no story purpose other than to make him look cool, same goes for the midair fighting -- but it's perfectly watchable.

4) Mission: Impossible III (2006): J.J. Abrams' underrated entry in the series was an under-performer at the box office in part because it was released at the height of Tom Cruise backlash. It's got some very nifty, jittery action sequences and a nice turn by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as the villain. My only real complaint with this one is its attempt to domesticate Hunt and to give him a love interest. It bogs down an otherwise fleet and exhilarating ride.

3) Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015): Although director Christopher McQuarrie doesn't really have a distinct visual style, this relentlessly exciting film has a lot going for it. Leading lady Rebecca Ferguson is possibly the best female foil Cruise has yet had in this series. And although the plot gets a little too labyrinthian for its own good, the movie keeps throwing new fun twists and stunts your way; there's very little, if anything, to complain about. Cruise has another hit on his hands.

2) Mission: Impossible  Ghost Protocol (2011): These last two are essentially tied for me. Brad Bird crafted a visual feast for the eyes -- the sandstorm chase, the scaling of the world's tallest skyscraper in Dubai, for instance. He also provides the sleekest, simplest story of the series. Cruise is on the run, literally and figuratively, which forces his Ethan Hunt character to do what he's greatest at -- improvise. This was a huge comeback for Cruise and it helped established Bird as one of the premier action directors of this era.

1) Mission: Impossible (1996):  Not as action-heavy as its sequels, but more brooding and resonant. This one wins by a hair because its director, Brian DePalma, is one of my favorites, and the film is the most subversive and deliberately cinematic of them all. The opening plays like a riff on Psycho, the characters we think are our heroes are slaughtered and we are plunged into a more modern world of back stabbing spies than we ever could have anticipated for a TV reboot. The movies got bigger but for sheer impact nothing has topped Cruise being lowered into that secure room in Langley.