The 5 Most Daring Stunts in the Mission: Impossible Franchise 

The Mission: Impossible franchise has released seven films over 27 years and has made over $4 billion worldwide. With Tom Cruise in the lead role as Ethan Hunt, the eighth installment of the film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, will be released on May 23rd, bringing the franchise to a close. The films, known for the ridiculously dangerous stunts performed by Cruise, redefined the action genre and the big blockbuster. With each film, we’ve witnessed incredibly imaginative and equally dangerous stunts, while most Hollywood films have relied on CGI and green screens. Working with many different directors, Cruise has stuck with Christopher McQuarrie for the last four films and together, they have been pushing the boundaries of filmmaking with daring practical effects. Especially Cruise, who has spent decades defying gravity, logic, and common sense to deliver thrilling and exciting scenes to audiences.

With each film, the action scenes get better and more intense. We’ve seen Cruise literally cling to the side of an airplane and leap off a 4,000-foot cliff. Obviously, an incredible amount of dedication and time goes into these stunts, and Cruise delivers a bigger performance each time and with each film, he raises the bar even higher. Here are the 5 most daring stunts in Mission: Impossible franchise so far, ranked. 

5) Free Solo Cliff Climb in Mission: Impossible 2

Compared to the other explosive stunts in the films, the free solo cliff climbing stunt Cruise performed is more exhilarating than explosive. We are introduced to Ethan Hunt as he climbs a cliff with no equipment or safety. And, of course, Cruise, performing the stunt personally, had as little safety as possible, using just a harness and a thin wire to make it look more authentic. But this doesn’t change the fact that Cruise performed the climbing and jumping himself, suspended 2,000 feet in the air, even suffering a shoulder injury during the shoot.

With amazing cinematography, we get to see the vast and unforgiving landscape around Hunt. This scene has since become one of the most iconic moments in the franchise and is crucial to the film, because it’s the opening sequence and our introduction to Hunt. It perfectly showcases his character: a man strong and crazy enough to climb a cliff with nothing to rely on except himself. And it also sets the tone for the rest of the film signaling that the action and stunts will only escalate from this point on.  

4) Burj Khalifa Climb in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol 

For the fourth film, Ethan Hunt takes on the world’s tallest building: Burj Khalifa. Filming on location in Dubai, Cruise suspended himself 17,000 feet above the ground. This scene doesn’t just involve being suspended on the side of the building; Cruise was running across the glass windows while performing dangerous maneuvers. The production team had to reinforce the glass on the building to make sure it could support the weight of Cruise and not break. They also had to take into account Dubai’s intense heat.  

Even the filming was a struggle and they had specialized camera rigs to be able to film the breathtaking scene. And even though there was a safety harness, there were still very real dangers, including heavy and unpredictable winds, which could have led to a disastrous accident. However, as always, Cruise and his team did an amazing job, especially in the scene where Hunt runs straight down the side of the building. This stunt also reinforced Cruise’s reputation, highlighting his willingness to go to extreme lengths for the audience. 

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3) Plane Stunt in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation  

For this film, Hunt found himself clinging to the side of a military plane as it takes off. Cruise performed this stunt on location, a.k.a. in the sky. Attached to the outside of the plane, he had to endure a reaching speed of 260 mph and an altitude of 1,000 feet. Again, no green screens or CGI were involved, just Tom Cruise hanging onto the side of a plane. This scene was one of the most dangerous stunts Cruise had performed up until this film. Even though he was attached to a harness, the dangers of hanging on to the side of the plane were limitless.  

Cruise underwent extreme training to withstand the intense wind resistance and vibrations from the plane. From debris hitting him to strong winds throwing off his control, it was extremely risky. The biggest problem Cruise had was keeping his eyes open during the scene because of such high speeds. To protect his eyes, he wore specially designed contact lenses. The scene took eight takes to film, but for the sake of the art, Cruise and his team endured it all and once again delivered a spectacular stunt. 

2) HALO Jump in Mission: Impossible – Fallout

With this stunt, Cruise performed one of the most dangerous stunts in film history: the HALO jump (high altitude – low opening). This is a method used by the military that involves free-falling from a plane at an extremely high altitude. Cruise became the first actor to perform a HALO jump on camera. Even though it sounds like a simple parachute jump, HALO is extremely dangerous. One of the biggest dangers is the high altitude; jumping from 25,000 feet or higher means less oxygen and lower air pressure. That’s why the production team designed a helmet to provide Cruise with oxygen during the jump, and he had to inhale pure oxygen for 20 minutes before each jump.  

Another danger is the high speeds of 120 mph one can reach, and any wrong move can be fatal. The parachute is also opened at a very low altitude, which limits the time to open it before hitting the ground. The significance of this stunt is that it’s a single-take shot, which took over 100 jumps to capture and was planned for over a year. Cruise once again raised the stakes for the action genre with this legendary stunt. 

1) Motorcycle Cliff Jump in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Cruise once again outdid himself in the most recent film of the franchise when he jumped off a cliff riding a motorcycle and then parachuted his way down. For this stunt, the crew built an actual ramp on the side of a cliff in Norway and a smaller practice ramp to practice over 13,000 motocross jumps. Digital models were built of different ramps at different angles, and the stunt took years of planning and months of preparation to execute. Cruise had to learn not only to ride a motorcycle at an incredibly high speed but also to perfect his trajectory and timing for the shot.  

We watch as Cruise rides a motorcycle off the cliff, freefalling over 4,000 feet surrounded by rocks, relying only on a parachute to escape. It’s important to note that there was no safety harness or nets for this incredible stunt. Cruise had to ride the motorcycle and open his parachute with no safety, only relying on his practice and skills to succeed. With drones and helicopter cameras, this stunt was achieved with zero CGI. Once again, months and months of hard work paid off for Cruise and his team, and we literally cannot wait to see how he tops this in the next film.