Forget modern action cinema, this genius scene from Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning owes so much to movies from 100 years ago. For the past 30 years, Tom Cruise has performed increasingly daring stunts with each Mission: Impossible movie. From scaling the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, to hanging off the side of an Airbus A400M as it’s taking off, Cruise has continually pushed the boundaries of cinematic spectacle. The latest example comes in The Final Reckoning, which features yet another high-risk set piece.

In The Final Reckoning, Cruise once again ups the ante with a breathtaking action scene in which Ethan Hunt fights Gabriel midair on a flying biplane. It’s arguably the most breathtaking and dangerous stunt Cruise has performed in Mission: Impossible. True to form, the sequence was filmed practically, without green screens or stunt doubles. Cruise clung to the wing of a vintage aircraft, performing intricate maneuvers like climbing from the fuselage onto the wings, all while soaring through the sky at 140 miles per hour and 8,000 feet in the air.

The Final Reckoning’s Plane Stunt Is An Homage To Silent Cinema

It Owes So Much To Buster Keaton & Ormer Locklear

Cruise’s incredible feats, especially The Final Reckoning‘s plane stunt, owe a mᴀssive debt to the silent film era, particularly the work of Buster Keaton, one of Cruise’s cinematic heroes. Keaton was a legendary silent film star known for performing jaw-dropping stunts with ᴅᴇᴀᴅpan comedic timing. His most famous feats include standing motionless as a house facade falls around him in Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) and riding atop a moving train in The General (1926). Cruise has openly cited Keaton as a major influence on his own stunt philosophy.

But the plane stunt’s connection to silent cinema doesn’t stop with Keaton. Cruise’s wing-walking draws heavily from the legacy of Ormer Locklear, one of the original daredevils of early aviation cinema. Locklear, a real-life pilot and barnstormer, is widely credited with performing the first wing walk to make a repair mid-flight. Locklear starred in The Great Air Robbery (1919), and during the production of his second film, The Skywayman, Locklear was killed in a plane crash, and that footage was even used in the final cut.

The midair fight between Ethan Hunt and Gabriel plays like a love letter to silent cinema. Because neither character can speak over the roar of the wind and the engine, the fight relies entirely on their physical movement and facial expressions to tell the story. The scene plays like something out of a lost Buster Keaton movie, only missing interтιтles to complete the homage.

Buster Keaton, Not Tom Cruise, May Still Have The Greatest Movie Stunts Ever

Keaton Combined Dangerous Feats With Physical Comedy

What makes Buster Keaton’s stunts so enduring is not just their danger, but the sheer creativity and timing involved. One of his most famous stunts – standing perfectly still as a two-ton house facade crashes around him – remains one of the most insane practical stunts ever filmed. The margin for error was mere inches. Likewise, in The General, Keaton performed on moving trains, leaping between cars and dodging obstacles. These stunts involved elaborate and dangerous choreography with real personal risk baked into every frame.

It’s almost surreal to compare Keaton to someone like Tom Cruise, but the connection is real. Both are obsessed with doing it for real, even risking their own safety for cinematic authenticity. Cruise may be Hollywood’s greatest modern daredevil, but Keaton was inventing the cinematic language of stunts 100 years ago.

While Cruise excels at creating spectacle, Keaton combined death-defying stunts with perfectly timed comedy. This is something Cruise might do well to explore, given his own great comedic timing, as seen in Tropic Thunder and other roles. If The Final Reckoning really is the last Mission: Impossible movie, maybe the next chapter of Cruise’s career should be channeling Keaton’s knack for combining inventive stunts with physical comedy.