The Mission: Impossible 7 Action Scenes We Can't Wait To See Based On The New Trailer
After what seems like an eternity, Tom Cruise is finally returning to theaters as Ethan Hunt in "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1." Over Cruise's improbable 27-year run as the globetrotting IMF spy, he's solidified himself as one of the greatest stunt performers of all time. With the newly released trailer for the film, Cruise will get the chance to cross off a few more death-defying action set pieces from his mile-long bucket list, including a motorcycle BASE jump that's already being sold as the biggest stunt in cinema history.
Over the years, Cruise has become obsessed with delivering eye-popping thrills for audiences, to the point where it's almost become a social contract where the mega-star virtually guarantees that the masses are going to be blown away by the time they leave the theater. With the anointment of Keanu Reeves as the reining top action star after "John Wick: Chapter 4" and the cacophony of action in contemporaries like "Fast X," it's not going to be easy for Cruise to wow us again. But he's certainly going to try!
While Cruise and the folks over at Paramount aren't showing us all the goods in the latest footage, they are making sure to reveal just enough to confirm that the highly publicized cliff diving moto-stunt isn't the only show-stopper in the new blockbuster. From action popping off in various planes, trains, and automobiles to close-quarter fistfights and gun battles, there's plenty to choose from. So, why not highlight some of the wild sequences we're most excited about?
Just desert
To get started, no modern day action movie as of late is complete without some kind of fight out in the middle of the desert — and "Mission Impossible" wants to get in on the fun. Ethan Hunt did outrun a massive sandstorm in director Brad Bird's "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol," but now it appears that he'll be tasked with outmaneuvering a few faceless villains out in the deep sands of the Abu Dhabi desert.
Early on in the trailer, two tactical military airplanes swoop in, presumably to drop off soldiers that are on the lookout for Hunt. They storm into what looks like a derelict wooden structure where Hunt is hiding and waiting for the right moment for a counter attack. Returning as Ilsa Faust, Rebecca Ferguson is also shown later on shooting a long-range sniper rifle at a group riding on horseback in what looks like the same general vicinity. This action beat may be one of the first major action pieces in "Dead Reckoning Part 1" that establishes what the team has been up to since the events of "Mission: Impossible — Fallout."
Yes, running is a stunt when Tom Cruise does it
Someone, somewhere, has probably kept track of just how many miles Tom Cruise has run in every "Mission: Impossible" movie. In Brian De Palma's original, Cruise outruns a giant exploding fish tank to kick things off for the franchise. But the most running he's ever done in one film has to be in "Mission: Impossible 3" directed by J.J. Abrams, a filmmaker who equates running fast with high drama.
Here, Hunt is seen running in the same suit and tie he wears during some quick flashes of a hand-to-hand action scene in the opening seconds of the new trailer. Where's he running to? Who knows! Who cares! It's just assumed that it's a main clause in Cruise's contract that he has to get a certain amount of steps in over the course of the film's runtime.
Generally, when Cruise is running somewhere, it's in order to save someone he loves or to help out another member of the IMF team. Granted, this scene probably won't be the only time we see Ethan Hunt running away from something or sprinting to the rescue. But rest assured, we're going to see the continuing trend of Tom Cruise acting at top speed on opening weekend. Somehow, he's able to turn a quick shot of him running into an action scene all on its own — and it wouldn't be a "Mission: Impossible" movie without it.
A first encounter with a deadly sidekick
Up and coming superstar Pom Klementieff is taking a break from playing the alien empath Mantis in Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" franchise to appear as a yet unnamed assassin that looks to face off with Ethan Hunt multiple times throughout "Dead Reckoning Part 1." She's definitely in lockstep with the film's main villain, a mysterious power broker played by the great Esai Morales ("Ozark"). "It's been a long time, old friend," he says to Hunt in a neon-soaked nightclub that looks like it's straight out of the "Wick"-verse. Obviously, he's someone Hunt has known before, and with Hunt's old antagonist Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) also returning to the fray, it's clear the past has finally caught up with Hunt and he will have to face some old ghosts.
This scene featuring Klementieff looks more like a standoff that may or may not come to blows, but it should establish who's on what side and why. The unsheathing of her sword does seem like a call to arms, however, and Hunt is definitely going to have to find a way to get past her at some point. Klementieff is also featured in what looks like one of the best fights in the film in a small brick walkway where she's high kicking and head butting Hunt in a tight space that's only a few feet wide. There should be some epic clashes featuring Klementieff's character, and this nightclub sequence looks like the beginning of a tense showdown.
One more car chase in Rome
Next up, Hayley Atwell's character Grace is seen in the passenger seat handcuffed to Ethan in a small European car. This is a snippet of the massive car chase that was shown last month at CinemaCon when Paramount Pictures premiered nearly 20 minutes of footage. In /Film's description of the footage, it's revealed that Hunt is actually posing as Grace's lawyer in order to acquire a mysterious golden key that serves as one of the film's MacGuffins.
It looks like the entire Roman police force is in hot pursuit, along with Pom's character following closely behind. Surprising no one, Cruise is doing the stunt driving here, spinning and drifting through the city streets. When all is said and done, this should be one of the lengthier set pieces, and while we've seen this type of car chase before in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, this sequence may wind up topping them all.
The desire to up the ante on what's come before seems to be a running theme in "Dead Reckoning Part 1," with this high-speed chase in Rome looking reminiscent of the Marrakesh car chase scene in 2015's "Rogue Nation."
Following Tom Cruise off a cliff
The truly awesome stunt showing Cruise speeding off a cliff and jumping from a motorcycle into a controlled BASE jump has already been seen in the first trailer. But here, we get a much longer, extended take that shows almost the entire stunt from a couple of different angles. Cruise not only did this stunt once, he went ahead and jumped six more times just to make sure they had the shot.
The "Mission: Impossible" movies have always admittedly been fairly thin on story and plot in favor of increasingly dangerous practical stunt work. That's what audiences want to see and what Cruise wants to deliver. This stunt, in particular, seems like an excuse for Cruise and the stunt team to capture something truly amazing on film that's never been seen before.
That's all fine, but the storyline has been crafted around the motorcycle jump, not the other way around. Will this reach the same level of excitement that "Rogue Nation" delivered when Cruise hung off the side of a flying Airbus? At some point, the character of Ethan Hunt does have to do something impossible, of course, but it feels like we've already seen this so it may not have the same impact, even on the big screen. So while we're still excited to see exactly how this unfolds, it may end up being more interesting to see what leads up to this and what happens immediately after.
A train ride takes the series full circle
Personally, the HALO jump in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" looked like the most dangerous stunt of Cruise's career and the most impressive to realistically pull off. But according to director Christopher McQuarrie, the practical train fight in "Dead Reckoning Part 1" was the most difficult thing they've ever had to film.
The new trailer shows Cruise and Esai Morales' characters atop a fast-moving Britannia Class locomotive, which immediately serves as a callback to the climax of the first "Mission: Impossible." The difference is that bullet train sequence in that '90s film was almost entirely CGI, and although the VFX work absolutely stands up today, seeing Cruise on top of an actual train hits on an entirely different visceral level.
With this sequence, McQuarrie and Cruise have hopefully figured out a way to combine the big budget spectacle of these films with stakes you actually care about. As the director told Empire:
"There's a whole class of action movies centred around awe. For me, awe is a condiment, not a course. I have an actor who will drive a motorcycle off a cliff. Now the hard part is, I gotta make the audience care about that."
Check out these over-the-top action scenes and whatever else Cruise has up his sleeve when "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" sprints into theaters on July 12, 2023.