After 29 years and eight missions, do we have to say goodbye to Ethan Hunt? The next installment, starring Tom Cruise as the iconic agent, is titled Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning—which sounds, well, quite final. Even the trailer strikes an emotional tone that hints at a possible farewell:
Over the years, a trademark of the action franchise has been Tom Cruise’s commitment to performing the most daring stunts himself. From motorcycle jumps off cliffs to scaling the Burj Khalifa to earning a pilot’s license just to personally fly a helicopter—Cruise is known for constantly pushing his limits. Naturally, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning aims to take things even further.
As director Christopher McQuarrie told Empire:
“There are stunts in this film that will melt your brain. In Africa, there wasn’t a single day—not one—where Tom wasn’t doing something that surpassed everything he had ever done before.”
However, one stunt proved so extreme that even the seasoned action star reached his limits. The scene in question involves Cruise hanging onto the wing of a Boeing-Stearman biplane from the 1930s as it soars through the air at 10,000 feet (just over three kilometers).
Why Tom Cruise Lost Consciousness Multiple Times During the ‘Final Reckoning’ Stunt
This intense airplane sequence was filmed in South Africa and presented a unique challenge for the Mission: Impossible star. As Cruise himself explained:
“When you expose your face to the wind at 120 to 130 miles per hour (up to 209 km/h), you get very little oxygen. I had to train myself to breathe properly. There were moments when I passed out and couldn’t get back into the cockpit.”
Fans of Mission: Impossible know what this means: we can probably look forward to another thrilling behind-the-scenes video that will get our adrenaline pumping. After all, we were treated to an incredible making-of feature for the motorcycle stunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning:
But that’s not all. McQuarrie has teased an even more daring sequence—one that will surpass both the biplane stunt and a planned underwater scene. While details remain a mystery, the director hinted that it’s one of the most intense sequences of his career:
“I actually feel like throwing up just thinking about the stress involved,” McQuarrie admitted. “It was truly extreme.”
We’ll find out exactly what he means when Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits German theaters on May 21, 2025.
Besides his stunts, Tom Cruise is also famous for his high-speed running scenes in his films. But can
