Do you know that primal element that kicks in when danger is near, warning us to flee in order to avoid bodily harm? Yeah, Tom Cruise doesn’t have that. I’m not breaking any news when I tell you that Cruise is a maniac when it comes to his stunt work. I mean that in the best way possible. The man puts his life on the line – literally – to accomplish eye-popping stunts, all in the name of entertaining his audience. We have already gone to some lengths to document the amazing sequences he’s pulling off in the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One. But a new video that was attached to the Avatar sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, so that audiences could see it in IMAX has now been released, and it’s the wildest thing you will see today.
The video, posted above, shows all of the preparation that Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible crew have to put in just so that they can pull off one sequence from the highly anticipated sequel. The stunt, which we were able to see at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, shows Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt riding a motorcycle off of a ramp that sends him over a cliff in Norway… plunging him into a base jump where a parachute (we think) will take him onto a train down below. It’s intending to top the HALO jump featured in Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and is described by Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One director Christopher McQuarrie in the following way:
This is far and away the most dangerous thing we have ever attempted.
When McQ calls it that, you know this is something serious. He has been directing Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise since the magnificent Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, so he has guided Cruise through incredible plane stunts, motorcycle sequences that shut down the streets of Paris, and more. Cruise and McQuarrie feel a need to continuously top themselves with each new Mission: Impossible movie. After a motorcycle ride off a ramp into a base jump, however, I’m not sure what else these two can cook up… short to Tom Cruise taking Ethan Hunt to space, which has been the running joke for some time now.
This might be my favorite part of the video, to be honest. The look on Christopher McQuarrie’s face as he watches his A-list leading man performing death defying stunts proves that he is just as shocked and amazed by Cruise’s commitment as we all are. The joy of filmmaking is a delight to see.
We don’t know a ton about the plot of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, or why this story needed two installments. It feels, to me, like Cruise and McQuarrie are bringing a chapter of Ethan Hunt to a close, with old characters showing up and Hunt being told that he needs to choose a side in a growing conflict. Also, as I have pointed out, Cruise is 60. How much longer will he be able to pull off stunt work on this level. He’s already a Hall of Fame GOAT when it comes to on-screen stunts. He has nothing left to prove. But if he feels like the story needs it, Cruise will do it. And we love him for that.
Look for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One when it opens in theaters on July 14. It’s one of many upcoming 2023 movies that we have circled as Must See in the coming year.