But how does it stack up with what’s gone before? (WARNING: Spoilers for the first five Mission: Impossible films follow, but Fallout is for you to discover on your own). To find out, your mission is to look back at 20 years of Mission: Impossible’s maddest moments, and then watch the films all over again in Sky Cinema on demand.

The Kremlin infiltration

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 12. Also available in HD

The clever part is Hunt’s escape, where he alternates his trademark power-run with calm and collected periods striding around dressed as a Russian military officer. Then he strips the stripes off his trousers, tosses away his hat and reverses a military coat to reveal a tourist’s bomber jacket. He would have gotten away with it too, if someone hadn’t almost immediately blown up the whole place. Maybe his choice of coat was unfortunate under the circumstances…

Davian’s interrogation

Mission: Impossible III, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 12. Also available in HD

The title of most hissable bad guy in the series is a hotly contested one. But Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Davian and his ability to snarl threats right after hanging upside down over the open doors of an airplane in flight put him on another level. It’s notable that the point of this scene was to interrogate Davian. But by the end, it’s Ethan who loses his cool and reveals some compromising intel. Uh-oh.

Flirtation by dangerous driving

Mission: Impossible 2, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 15. Also available in HD

Ethan Hunt’s flirting technique, when it comes to Thandie Newton’s thief Nyah, involves racing her at speed round a series of hairpin bends. And they’re on the phone for half of it. Disgraceful! She eventually crashes – although Hunt rescues her before her car goes over the edge – but until that moment it’s a glorious vision of impossibly swishy hair (on both their parts) and flirtation through adrenalin. Just please, please, don’t try this at home.

That plane stunt

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 12. Also available in HD

It’s become something of a joke that in each film Tom Cruise climbs something higher than the last. Short of a jaunt up Everest (don’t rule it out) he was all out of high things. Then Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie strapped the star to the outside of a transport plane, which took off at a speed where even a hit from a small pebble could have killed him..

The CIA break-in

Mission: Impossible, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert PG. Also available in HD

The infiltration of CIA headquarters is brilliant. Hunt has to get some files off a computer, so he enters through a ceiling duct and is lowered into a room. But there are rules: he can’t touch the floor, can’t allow the temperature in the room to rise more than one degree and can’t make any noise above a whisper or an alarm will go off. A classic!

Sky-high thinking

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, available in Sky Cinema on demand. Cert 12. Also available in HD

When the insurance company for Ghost Protocol refused to cover any scenario that had Tom Cruise hanging outside the top of the world’s tallest building and then clambering about, the star did the only sensible thing: he fired them and did it anyway. The scene is a highlight, literally and figuratively, with Cruise clinging to the sheer side of the Burj Khalifa by his electrically gloved fingers. Hold your breath until he’s safely back inside.

Find out what’s on Sky Cinema

Get even more lights, cameras and action with our movie homepage, featuring all the daily premieres and more of the thousands of films available on demand on Sky Cinema.

Watch on the go

If you subscribe to Sky Cinema on Virgin TV, you can watch on the go with the Sky Cinema app on your mobile, laptop or tablet anywhere in the UK (or while temporarily in the EU) with a WiFi or broadband connection. Just download from the Apple app store, Google Play or the Amazon appstore and log into the app to start watching.

Upgrade to Sky Cinema now

Don’t have Sky Cinema? You can find out about our Sky Cinema package and upgrade here.