Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ Is the Most Intense One Yet

We are all very used to seeing Tom Cruise go to extreme lengths to almost die frequently for our entertainment, and the upcoming Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning looks set to raise the bar even further. Serving as a sequel to Dead Reckoningthe eighth installment of the blockbuster franchise will see Cruise return as super-spy Ethan Hunt, facing off against Morales’ essay Gabriel and the menacing artificial intelligence known as The Entity (played by itself, we think). But according to director Christopher McQuarrieone of the film’s stunts may have gone ever so slightly above and beyond even their usual standard of death defying stunts — almost too much so

In a recent interview with Empire Magazine (via GamesRadar), McQuarrie revealed that during an early screening of The Final Reckoningone audience member experienced an intense reaction to one of Cruise’s latest death-defying feats.

“We had a small screening and someone said, ‘I was suffocating throughout the entire sequence. I almost had a heart attack.’ And I thought, ‘I guess we did something right.’”

What Are Tom Cruise’s Biggest Stunts?

Oh boy, where do we start? Well, with the most recent. We already know that the first trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has already given fans a taste of the breathtaking action that awaits, and shows Cruise hanging onto a biplane flying upside down. Sure, why not? But if we’re diving into Cruise’s history of wild stunts, we’ve got to rewind to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning which features a motorcycle jump off a cliff that transitions into a BASE jump. Easy. Next.

In Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Cruise jumped out of a plane at 25,000 feet, performing a High-Altitude, Low-Opening parachute jump, which required him to undergo extensive training and perform over 100 jumps just to get the shot. Oh, and let’s not forget the helicopter sequence, where Cruise not only piloted the chopper himself. Oh, and in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Cruise decided to hang off the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. That’s the world’s tallest building, standing at 2,722 feet high. We love the commitment, Tom, but please, be careful. There’s a long way from the sky to the ground.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits theaters in May 2025. The previous Mission: Impossible films are streaming now on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on what looks to be the final outing for Hunt and the Impossible Mission Force.

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