A Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning behind-the-scenes video gives fans a tease of Tom Cruise’s latest death-defying stunt. In the short clip, the franchise star can be seen filming a scene where Ethan Hunt precariously hangs off a biplane that’s soaring through the air. Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s director, is seen in an adjacent aircraft, reviewing footage on monitors set up on a rig. It seems McQuarrie has at least two cameras getting coverage: one filming a wide shot of the biplane in flight and another positioned to get a close-up of Cruise. The filmmaker seems unnaturally calm as he watches his leading man perform the stunt.
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Cruise shared the video on his official X, formerly known as Twitter, account. His post is accompanied by a caption reading “Hang on…” You can watch the video in the space below:
The Mission: Impossible film franchise has long been famous for Cruise’s impressive stunt work; Ethan’s now-iconic Langley heist in the 1996 original is still a renowned setpiece. With each installment, the actor seemingly attempts to outdo himself. Audiences have seen Cruise scale the world’s tallest building, hang to the side of a plane as it takes off, perform a HALO jump from 25,000 feet in the air, and jump a motorcycle off a cliff. The Mission: Impossible 8 trailer includes footage of Ethan clutching onto a red biplane, implying this latest stunt is part of a much larger sequence.
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With Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning wrapping up three decades of storytelling, Cruise and Co. didn’t hold anything back. In January, McQuarrie shared that after holding a Final Reckoning screening, someone told him that they “almost had a heart attack” while watching one of the film’s action sequences.
Even knowing that Cruise managed to perform this stunt unscatched, the behind-the-scenes footage is terrifying to watch, especially when the camera shows how high the biplane is as it flies upside down. As wild as it is to see the video, longtime fans know this is just another day at the office for Cruise, who for years has wowed audiences with his supreme dedication to his craft. Whether he’s dangling off a biplane in The Final Reckoning or soaring in a fighter jet in Top Gun: Maverick, he goes to great lengths to ensure viewers are treated to exhilarating big-screen spectacle. Knowing Cruise is doing these stunts practically only augments the experience of watching the movie; it helps ground the perilousness of the situations Ethan finds himself in.
There’s usually one stunt that gets chosen to be the centerpiece of a Mission: Impossible marketing campaign. For instance, promotional materials for Rogue Nation heavily featured Ethan grabbing onto the plane for dear life. With Cruise offering a glimpse of The Final Reckoning‘s biplane sequence on his social media, it’s plausible this stunt will be a highlight of future official looks at the film — perhaps in the upcoming Super Bowl spot. If it is, fans won’t have to worry about the trailers spoiling The Final Reckoning‘s action. There are surely even more jaw-dropping stunts in the final film.
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