Tom Cruise showcases his prowess at the age of 61 by performing a series of daring action sequences in the new installment of “Mission: Impossible.”
8.0
81
- The article reveals part of the film’s content.
One year after the success of Top Gun: Maverick (grossing $1.5 billion), Tom Cruise returns with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. The blockbuster is the seventh installment in the series that elevated Tom Cruise’s name to the pinnacle with his role as agent Ethan Hunt.
Despite its runtime of over two and a half hours, the movie doesn’t feel long due to its fast-paced plot. The film capitalizes on the excitement of Tom Cruise’s action sequences. Having played the lead role in the series for nearly 20 years, the actor consistently takes on challenging scenes. At the beginning of the film, Ethan showcases his marksmanship skills in a gunfight scene in the desert. The agent impresses with his disguising abilities, transforming his appearance to infiltrate heavily guarded buildings.
In the second act, Ethan and his companion Grace face off against the antagonistic faction and have the key stolen from them. With the direction of Christopher McQuarrie, a close collaborator with Tom Cruise, the high-intensity scenes are elevated, including a pursuit on the streets of Venice, Italy. At times, Ethan’s team is outnumbered by three opposing groups, yet they manage to escape tight situations. The action is interwoven with comedic elements to alleviate the tension.
Tom Cruise in the most challenging action scene of Mission: Impossible 7.
In the third act, Tom Cruise leaves his mark with a scene involving a motorcycle chase alongside a high-speed train. To board the train, the character must ride off a cliff and then parachute down. The scene is shot from a wide aerial angle, creating a suspenseful effect for the viewers. A large audience in an early screening collectively applauded and rewarded this segment.
Tom Cruise revealed that it took him 15 months to conceive and perfect the “hanging on a cliff” scene, involving 536 real jumps. He participated in extensive parachute and skydiving training, learning to deal with dangerous situations in mid-air. The director constructed a 135-meter-long, 10-meter-high ramp for Tom Cruise to ride the motorcycle and execute the stunt of leaping off a cliff. According to the team’s representatives, he had just six seconds to deploy the parachute; otherwise, he would crash into the rock wall.
Tom Cruise practiced parachute jumps 500 times for ‘Mission: Impossible 7’
Numerous film-focused publications praise the film for showcasing Tom Cruise’s prowess in the action genre. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie boasts a 99% “fresh” rating from critics, the highest score in the actor’s career. The Guardian awards the film 5 out of 5 stars, with the review stating: “Daniel Craig got tired of playing 007 after five films. But at the age of 61 and in his seventh Mission: Impossible film, Cruise is in better shape than ever. Tom Cruise easily convinces us that the action genre has reached new heights.”
Characters Ethan and Grace in a closing scene of the film.
In the new installment, Ethan Hunt and the members of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) face a threat named The Entity, an artificial intelligence (AI) that possesses all human knowledge, including classified intelligence from espionage missions.
The only way to stop The Entity is by obtaining the source code key, which is split into two parts that have been lost. While on the quest for the key, Ethan crosses paths with Grace (Hayley Atwell), a mysterious “superthief,” and they become companions.
Apart from the main face, Hayley Atwell, known for portraying Peggy Carter, Captain America’s love interest in Marvel films, shines as Tom Cruise’s counterpart. Atwell captures the audience with scenes showcasing the skills of a superthief or the romantic segment when she first encounters Ethan at the airport. Rebecca Ferguson, who appeared alongside Cruise in the previous two films, returns in this new installment. On the antagonist side, Esai Morales impresses as Gabriel, Ethan’s adversary, with his brooding and transformative performance.
Mission Impossible has been a renowned American espionage TV series, airing from 1966 to 1973, and later in 1988 to 1989. In 1996, director Brian De Palma decided to bring the story of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) to the big screen, with Tom Cruise in the lead role. To date, the six films have grossed $3.8 billion, making it the 18th highest-grossing film series in global cinema history.
