Top 10 Craziest Mission: Impossible Stunts

The Mission: Impossible franchise has been running strong since 1996. With each installment in the series trying its best to outdo the previous film in both quality and the ludicrousness of the stunts, it’s no wonder why this franchise has been attracting audiences all over the globe.

Most of the movies in this series have famous scenes where Tom Cruise risks his life in a never-ending string of life-threatening practical stunts. Here are the ten most dangerous, remarkable, and downright insane feats Cruise has performed throughout the six films of this long-running action franchise.

10 Knife To The Eye – Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

In the climax of Mission: Impossible 2, Ethan Hunt and Sean Ambrose fight on the beach. At one point in their battle, Ambrose pulls out a knife and attempts to stab Ethan’s eye. Ethan manages to stop it right before it hits him.

Cruise and director John Woo accomplished this stunt by attaching the knife to a steel cable and measuring it so that it could not extend further than an inch above his real eye. Had Cruise moved his head the wrong way or had the cable snapped, he could have lost his eye. Terrifying.

9 Motorcycle Chase – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Many of the films in this series feature Cruise riding a motorcycle. However, the greatest motorcycle chase in this series is in Fallout, when Ethan and Walker are riding away from local police in Paris.

The highlight of this scene comes near the end when Ethan is forced to ride against traffic in front of the Arc de Triomphe before crashing into a car and barely making his escape.

8 Shanghai Chase – Mission: Impossible III (2006)

One of the most underrated installments in the franchise is JJ Abrams’s Mission: Impossible III, and this scene has flown under the radar in this series filled with over-the-top action.

During this exciting sequence, Ethan has stolen the Rabbit’s Foot in Shanghai, and the stunts are never-ending. From rolling between the wheels of a moving truck to having a car come an inch from slamming into his face to leaning out of a moving vehicle to shoot at a pursuer, Cruise put his life on the line many times during this thrilling action scene.

7 Rooftop Chase – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

A highlight of Mission: Impossible – Fallout is the rooftop chase when Ethan is pursuing Lark through the city. He jumps from rooftop to rooftop and even jumps out of a window during this scene, which Cruise gets to show off his running abilities.

The scene has become famous for a moment in which Cruise jumped off a building and slammed into another, accidentally pressing his foot against the concrete and breaking his ankle. After taking a few weeks off to heal, Cruise returned to set to finish filming the scene.

6 Free Solo Climb – Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

One of the very first stunts Cruise performed in this series is his introductory scene at the beginning of Mission: Impossible 2, when he is free solo climbing in Dead Horse Point State Park in Moab, Utah.

Cruise performed this scene on a harness, but there was no safety net underneath him. He accomplished this scene despite studio concerns about its safety, and he also tore his shoulder, performing a stunt where Ethan jumps from one side of the cliff to another.

5 HALO Jump – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Near the beginning of the film, Ethan and Walker must perform a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump to land in Paris undetected during a lightning storm. While Henry Cavill was replaced with a stunt double, Cruise performed the jump on his own, filming one jump a day.

He, along with a few cameramen, filmed a total of 109 jumps from an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,600 m). The final product in the film includes CGI for the lightning storm and the ground, and consists of three takes strung together to create the illusion of a continuous shot.

4 Helicopter Chase – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Fallout ends in a large-scale sky battle where Ethan pursues Lark to retrieve a detonator that can deactivate the bombs. The sequence begins with Ethan climbing up a rope that leads to a helicopter, a stunt which Cruise, of course, did for real.

Additionally, he trained for nearly two years to fly a helicopter to film the section of this scene where Ethan chases Lark’s helicopter. The sequence ends with the helicopters crashing into each other and a showdown on the edge of a cliff. This was an effortlessly exciting climax for the film.

3 Underwater Heist – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

With Rogue Nation, Christopher McQuarrie was able to successfully combine the modern-day action-heavy style of the franchise with its spy espionage roots. One of the most suspenseful scenes in the film is a scene where Ethan must make an underwater extraction.

Cruise trained to hold his breath for extended periods to film this scene, and he managed to hold his breath for over six minutes to shoot this sequence, which was filmed in a long take and edited in the movie.

2 Hanging Off A Plane – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

In the thrilling opening action sequence of Rogue Nation, Ethan and his team must intercept nerve gas being sold to terrorists. The scene culminates in Ethan grabbing onto the side of the plane as it takes off from the ground.

Given the way Cruise works, this stunt was not done with CGI. Cruise was strapped onto the side of an Atlas C1, and the plane took off, reaching over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) into the air. He performed this stunt eight times, opening this movie with a bang.

1 Scaling The Burj Khalifa – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

What may be the most iconic scene in the franchise is also Cruise’s craziest stunt. During this scene in Ghost Protocol, Ethan is forced to scale the side of the tallest building in the world with sticky gloves to access a restricted server room.

Cruise performed this stunt on the side of the real building, attached to the Burj Khalifa by cables digitally erased in postproduction. He later runs down the side of the building, and this is, without a doubt, one of the most exciting action sequences in the entire series.

About The Author

Jonathan Sim
(12 Articles Published)

Jonathan Sim is a New York-based film critic and journalist. He loves movies, writing, magic tricks, basketball, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, Harry Potter, and all things pop culture.

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