Quick LinksA History of Gravity-Defying Action in ‘Mission: Impossible’ A ‘Mission: Impossible’ Stunt That Was Years in the Making
A Final Reckoning is coming. After nearly three decades and seven adrenaline-fueled films where Tom Cruise proves he is one of the greatest action stars of our days, Mission: Impossible is gearing up for yet another world-saving mission. But after seven successful films featuring a succession of even greater death-defying stunts for super-agent Ethan Hunt, is it even possible for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to top the greatest stunt in the franchise so far?

A direct sequel to 2023’s Dead Reckoning, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is set to continue super-agent Ethan Hunt and his team’s search for the Entity, a supercharged AI system with world-ending capabilities. Facing off against the governments of the world who seek to control the Entity as well as the sentient Entity, which is working on its own designs, Ethan goes rogue as he searches to find and destroy a weapon that is too dangerous for any power to hold.

Such world-ending threats are old-hand for Ethan Hunt. And yet, with each film, the series manages to raise the stakes to such a level that Final Reckoning stands on a mountain’s edge of anticipation. But, given the fantastic and thrilling risks we’ve already seen from Ethan’s adventures to save the world, it will be a hard task for Final Reckoning to beat what they’ve already done.

Your changes have been saved Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Release Date July 12, 2023 Cast Tom Cruise , Ving Rhames , Simon Pegg , Rebecca Ferguson , Vanessa Kirby , Haley Atwell , Shea Whigham , Pom Klementieff , Esai Morales , Rob Delaney , Henry Czerny , Cary Elwes Runtime 164 minutes

A History of Gravity-Defying Action in ‘Mission: Impossible’

When Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning debuts, the film will have a difficult task ahead of it: trying to outdo the jaw-dropping segments of action that viewers have come to expect. This is not unfamiliar territory for the series. Since its debut, Mission: Impossible has successfully amped up the energy and the impossible heights to which Ethan Hunt must climb, crawl, traverse, and then throw himself from in glorious resilience. The days when Ethan rappelled from the ceiling in delicate tension or stretched while hanging off the side of a mountain are gone with all the innocence of summer’s youth. Now, if there isn’t a speeding train to fight on top of or a helicopter chase over mountainous terrain, was the world really at risk in the first place?

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In Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt did a motorcycle chase through a sandstorm and most memorably scaled Dubia’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. Hanging on by a wire, the actor swung, ran, and climbed 1,700 feet in the air along the buildings’ surface. In Rogue Nation, Cruise completed a pair of impressive stunts. The actor began the film by hanging on to the outside of a plane in flight. And in the film’s most spectacular moment, Cruise filmed a one-take underwater heist scene that required the actor to hold his breath for over six minutes.

As breathtaking as this is, Cruise topped himself in the next movie, Fallout, where he completed a HALO jump. The stunt was so dangerous that Cruise refused to let his co-star Henry Cavill perform the jump as well. It took over 100 takes for the committed Cruise to get the 25,000-foot jump scene just right. Along with the HALO jump, Fallout included a flight of chases in cars, helicopters, and a foot chase that saw Cruise running and jumping along the top of buildings. The actor broke his ankle while completing one of the jumps, which shut down the production of the set while Cruise recovered. However, the scene did make it into the final cut of the film.

A ‘Mission: Impossible’ Stunt That Was Years in the Making

Despite his remarkable catalog (or perhaps thanks to them), Cruise’s greatest stunt scene so far is the motorcycle jump in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. In the scene where Ethan is chasing down a train, the agent is discomfited when he runs out of road and is told that his only option is to drive his motorcycle off a mountain and parachute onto the still-moving train. Ethan’s reaction to this suggestion is about as incredulous as one might hope, in keeping with reality and the viewers’ wide-eyed disbelief.

But the full-throttled jump and beautiful dive and glide through the air is a wonder of execution that would be hard to top. In the Paramount YouTube video titled ‘The Biggest Stunt in Cinema History,’ Cruise explained that this stunt was years in the making and was something that he had wanted to do since he was a child.

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Tom Cruise has become known for doing his own stunts. For the scene in Dead Reckoning, he was required to perform a motorcycle jump off a cliff into a base jump. Technical and base-jumping experts were hired to help coordinate the logistics. A motocross track was built so Cruise could become experienced at hitting the necessary marks. During training, Cruise completed over 500 skydives and 13,000 motocross jumps. This dedication paid off as the final take saw Cruise barrel off the edge of a mountain and soar over the rocky terrain below in a stunning and thrilling action sequence.

From such heights, it’s hard to imagine how the Mission: Impossible team can top this one in the next film. The series has consistently elevated the risks and thrills in each successive movie, much to the delight and appreciation of its audience. Tom Cruise is a marvel whose dedication to his craft and thrill-seeking innovation has shown no signs of wavering. But with the grandeur of the cliff jump in Dead Reckoning, what next can Mission: Impossible do that could ever eclipse what they have already done?

Co-writer and Director of Dead Reckoning Christopher McQuarrie is a frequent collaborator with Tom Cruise. The pair also worked together in other franchises, such as Edge of Tomorrow, Jack Reacher, and Top Gun: Maverick. “This is, far and away, the most dangerous thing we’ve ever attempted,” McQuarrie admitted at the time of filming, “The only thing that scares me more is what we have planned for Mission 8.” Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning comes to theaters on May 23, 2025. See Tom Cruise’s motocross stunt off a cliff in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning on Paramount+.