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“If you read my Empire cover story on this film, you’ll recall that there’s a stunt Cruise does in this that is so insanely dangerous that I yelped when I saw it,” Empire‘s Chris Hewitt wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the new Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning trailer was released. In a follow-up post, Hewitt notes how someone in his comments tried to say that he spoiled the film “even though I don’t say a single thing about the form this stunt takes, or where it comes in the movie. Oh, Twitter. Never change (change).”
One funny response to his post states how Tom Cruise has to outdo himself after his wild motorcycle cliff jump in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The official trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning features several of Tom Cruise’s stunts from the previous movies and the eighth. But knowing the most dangerous stunt of them all is being saved for theaters is a welcome sign. Trailers have made a pattern of spoiling some of the bigger moments in films, but it appears that won’t be the case with Mission: Impossible 8.
[RELATED: Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Reveals New Footage of Its Best Returning Character]
The first screening for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning took place in January, and director Christopher McQuarrie says they left one audience member on the edge of their seat. “We had a small screening and someone said, ‘I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack,’” McQuarrie shared. The director’s response to this intense reaction was telling: “And I thought, ‘I guess we did something right.’” While McQuarrie didn’t specify which sequence caused such a visceral response, trailers have shown several pulse-pounding moments, including Ethan Hunt hanging from a biplane and a particularly tense underwater scene that reportedly made even Tom Cruise nervous during filming.
The filmmaker previously noted that the underwater sequence required that Cruise hold his breath for more than six minutes, and he would “never ask him to do it again.” The filming experience was “physically punishing” and he would not “recommend it to anybody who doesn’t want to make a lifestyle out of it.”
In Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Ethan and his friends are in a race against villain Gabriel to track down the Entity, the AI program prominently featured in 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. The film’s cast includes several returning franchise veterans, including Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett, and more. Nick Offerman and Hannah Waddingham are among the series newcomers. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who helmed the previous three installments.
Are you excited to find out what dangerous stunt Tom Cruise takes on in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
