Tom Cruise’s airplane stuntMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningis shown off in two new images. Directed by franchise veteran Christopher McQuarrie, the next installment in the long-runningMission: Impossiblefranchise features Cruise back as Ethan Hunt, once again facing off against Gabriel (Esai Morales) and the Entity. TheMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningtrailerhas teased some of the action and stunts that are to come, including a sequence in which Cruise hangs off of a yellow biplane.
As the film’s May release date inches closer, the February issue ofEmpiremagazine now provides two new looks atMission: Impossible –The Final Reckoning’s plane stunt. The first image, featured as part of the magazine’s cover, featuresCruise clutching onto the wing of the same yellow biplane featured in the trailer, revealed to be a 1930s Boeing Stearman, hanging on for dear life as the vehicle seemingly banks to one side. The second image sees Cruise in an even more precarious position, hanging off of the plane’s landing gear. Check out the new images below:
Cruise speaks toEmpireabout the plane stunt, which was filmed in South Africa, revealing that a unique challenge of filming the sequence was the lack of oxygen:
“When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen. So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
McQuarrie addresses the stunts more broadly inThe Final Reckoning, saying Cruise has truly outdone himself this time:
“There are stunts in this movie that will melt your brain. There would be a day in Africa — any day in Africa — where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before.”
There’s also, McQuarrie teases, a stunt inThe Final Reckoningthat surpasses the biplane stunt and the movie’s underwater sequences, though he doesn’t reveal what it is. All he does say is that the stunt was the source of a great deal of anxiety:
“I truly want to puke thinking about the stress. It was intense.”
What Tom Cruise’s Plane Stunt Means For Mission: Impossible 8
The Final Reckoning Looks Like Cruise’s Most Dangerous Outing Yet
Since the release ofMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocolin 2011, each new installment in the hit action franchise has featured one or two standout stunt sequences that Cruise does himself. In theacclaimedMission: Impossible –Dead Reckoningin 2023, the major stunt was a sequence in which Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff into a base jump. At first, it looked like the biplane set piece inThe Final Reckoningwas the new film’s big, standout sequence, butMcQuarrie’s reveal toEmpiresuggests there’s another, bigger, and bolder stunt in the film that remains secret.
Tom Cruise’s 14 Mission: Impossible Stunts Ranked By Most Dangerous
Tom Cruise continues to perform his own dangerous stunts for the Mission: Impossible movies, each death-defying sequence upstaging the last.
Whatever the secret stunt ends up being, the biplane sequence already looks to be truly breathtaking. It’s not yet clear how the sequence fits intoThe Final Reckoning’s plot or where it falls in the movie’s runtime, butthere are several other shots in the trailer that also seem to take place in South Africa. There’s a shot of Cruise with fellowMission: Impossible – The Final Reckoningcastmembers Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis, for example, that suggests Ethan won’t be in the location alone.
Other cast members set to appear inThe Final Reckoninginclude: Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Shea Whigham, Katy O’Brian, Indira Varma, Angela Bassett, Nick Offerman, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, and Hannah Waddingham.
Our Take On The Final Reckoning’s Airplane Stunt
Cruise’s Next Mission: Impossible Has Incredible Potential
Cruise continues to put his life on the line for viewers' entertainment, andThe Final Reckoningcould be the culmination of this. It’s not clear if the next movie will be the last, but it certainly seems likeMcQuarrie and Cruise have pulled out all the stops, leaving it all on the table for what might be Ethan’s last adventure.
If the upcomingMission: Impossiblemoviecan combine death-defying stunts with a strong story and genuine emotion, it certainly has the potential to be the best entry in the franchise yet. The theatrical experience has been central to Cruise’s career for decades now, andthe biplane stunt alone looks worth the price of admission to a theater. With an underwater sequence and another secret stunt also included,Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoninghas the makings of a spring hit.
