An underrated 2000s action movie from Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series is available to stream for free. Since first slipping into Ethan Hunt’s shoes back in 1996, Tom Cruise’s stock as an action movie star has seen a monumental rise. From Minority Report to the Jack Reacher movies, Cruise has sprinted his way through a plethora of action flicks during his decorated onscreen career, but Mission: Impossible will always be the high-octane, thrill-a-minute franchise he’s known best for.

With eight Mission: Impossible movies released across the span of almost 30 years, Ethan Hunt has enjoyed plenty of highlights, but the series noticeably kicked up a gear with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011. That movie sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the H๏τ streak continued for the next three entries, peaking with Mission: Impossible – Fallout‘s staggering 98% Tomatometer score. That is not to say earlier installments were lacking, and Cruise’s third crack of the IMF whip is arguably the most underrated action movie of his career.

Mission: Impossible III Is Streaming For Free

Among the movies added to Pluto TV to watch for free in May 2025 was Mission: Impossible III, the movie that sent Cruise’s Ethan Hunt on a mission to rescue his fiancé, Julia. Among the eight Mission: Impossible movies in existence, the third installment is the one that often gets overlooked in favor of more recent fare. Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant as the story’s villain, while J.J. Abrams injected a fresh layer of direction that helped to push Cruise’s action franchise onto greater heights in later sequels.

Our Take On Mission: Impossible III Being An Underrated Tom Cruise Movie

Mission: Impossible Is A Must-Watch Tom Cruise Action Film

Mission: Impossible III did much to make up for its predecessor, with the second movie generally considered to be the weakest chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Financially, it did well, but when it comes to overall quality, Mission: Impossible 2 fell victim to many of the common issues that arise when following a successful first film, and it remains the only “Rotten” blot on the franchise’s record. Mission: Impossible III avoids the problems of its predecessor, such as its slow pace, and even improves on the first movie as well.

The third Mission: Impossible movie rarely slows down, putting Tom Cruise through a number of intense action sequences and enabling him to employ his signature practice of doing his own stunts throughout. It also offers some genuinely surprising twists in the story, helping make it one of the most entertaining action movies of the decade and most certainly a film worth watching, regardless of whether Ethan Hunt’s latest reckoning is final or not.

Sources: Rotten Tomatoes