Tom Cruise’s airplane stunt Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is shown off in two new images. Directed by franchise veteran Christopher McQuarrie, the next installment in the long-running Mission: Impossible franchise features Cruise back as Ethan Hunt, once again facing off against Gabriel (Esai Morales) and the Enтιтy. The Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning trailer has teased some of the action and stunts that are to come, including a sequence in which Cruise hangs off of a yellow biplane.

As the film’s May release date inches closer, the February issue of Empire magazine now provides two new looks at Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning‘s plane stunt. The first image, featured as part of the magazine’s cover, features Cruise clutching onto the wing of the same yellow biplane featured in the trailer, revealed to be a 1930s Boeing Stearman, hanging on for dear life as the vehicle seemingly banks to one side. The second image sees Cruise in an even more precarious position, hanging off of the plane’s landing gear. Check out the new images below:

Cruise speaks to Empire about the plane stunt, which was filmed in South Africa, revealing that a unique challenge of filming the sequence was the lack of oxygen:

“When you stick your face out, going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen. So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pᴀss out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”

McQuarrie addresses the stunts more broadly in The Final Reckoning, saying Cruise has truly outdone himself this time:

“There are stunts in this movie that will melt your brain. There would be a day in Africa — any day in Africa — where Tom would go out and do something that topped anything he had ever done before.”

There’s also, McQuarrie teases, a stunt in The Final Reckoning that surpᴀsses the biplane stunt and the movie’s underwater sequences, though he doesn’t reveal what it is. All he does say is that the stunt was the source of a great deal of anxiety:

“I truly want to puke thinking about the stress. It was intense.”

What Tom Cruise’s Plane Stunt Means For Mission: Impossible 8

The Final Reckoning Looks Like Cruise’s Most Dangerous Outing Yet

Since the release of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol in 2011, each new installment in the hit action franchise has featured one or two standout stunt sequences that Cruise does himself. In the acclaimed Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning in 2023, the major stunt was a sequence in which Cruise drives a motorcycle off a cliff into a base jump. At first, it looked like the biplane set piece in The Final Reckoning was the new film’s big, standout sequence, but McQuarrie’s reveal to Empire suggests there’s another, bigger, and bolder stunt in the film that remains secret.

Whatever the secret stunt ends up being, the biplane sequence already looks to be truly breathtaking. It’s not yet clear how the sequence fits into The Final Reckoning‘s plot or where it falls in the movie’s runtime, but there are several other sH๏τs in the trailer that also seem to take place in South Africa. There’s a sH๏τ of Cruise with fellow Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning cast members Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Greg Tarzan Davis, for example, that suggests Ethan won’t be in the location alone.

Our Take On The Final Reckoning’s Airplane Stunt

Cruise’s Next Mission: Impossible Has Incredible Potential

Cruise continues to put his life on the line for viewers’ entertainment, and The Final Reckoning could be the culmination of this. It’s not clear if the next movie will be the last, but it certainly seems like McQuarrie and Cruise have pulled out all the stops, leaving it all on the table for what might be Ethan’s last adventure.

If the upcoming Mission: Impossible movie can combine death-defying stunts with a strong story and genuine emotion, it certainly has the potential to be the best entry in the franchise yet. The theatrical experience has been central to Cruise’s career for decades now, and the biplane stunt alone looks worth the price of admission to a theater. With an underwater sequence and another secret stunt also included, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning has the makings of a spring hit.

Source: Empire