Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part I: The Stunts That Keep the Franchise Alive.
I woke up the morning of Friday July 7th having never seen a Mission: Impossible movie. By Wednesday night, on July 12th, I had watched all six movies, knew everything Ethan Hunt-related, and was sitting in the theater eagerly waiting to see the opening credits for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Dead Reckoning is part one of a two-part finale to the Mission: Impossible series. The action film is the most expensive Mission: Impossible film, clocking in at a $291 million budget and made more than $80 million on opening weekend alone, setting a franchise record. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film follows spy Ethan Hunt, played by Tom Cruise, and the rest of Hunt’s team in the Impossible Mission Force, or IMF. The team is tasked—should they accept—to track down a terrifying weapon that threatens all of humanity.
This weapon? An artificial intelligence force called “The Entity” that is becoming sentient. Each moment, The Entity gains more power and control over the webspace and begins to destroy truth as we know it. Hunt and the IMF team are forced to realize that they cannot trust their computers, cameras, or any other technology they might be using. The way to gain control? A two-part key that can unlock access to The Entity’s original access code. The only problem? Every villain on earth is searching for the key. The world’s only hope? Ethan Hunt and the IMF.
The “AI-villain” is new for the Mission: Impossible series. While the former enemies mostly include international terrorists racing for weapons, this cyber-based enemy is something that Hunt—and the viewers—had never seen before. However, some things never change.
Hunt’s IMF team from previous movies made a return appearance, including Simon Pegg as Benji, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, and fan favorite, Ving Rhames—who made his first Mission: Impossible appearance in the debut film back in 1996— as Luther. Hayley Atwell made her Mission: Impossible debut by playing Grace, a clever thief and eventually an integral member of the IMF. Together, the team fights against The Entity, as well as those trying to harness its power.
Base Jumping, Skydiving, and Car Chases: Oh My!
So, what separates Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One from all the other action movies out there? For starters, is Tom Cruise’s unwavering commitment to the franchise. For almost thirty years, Cruise has played Hunt, and has taken the role very seriously. So seriously in fact, that the stunts you see on the big screen are stunts that Cruise trained for and performed himself. At sixty-one years old, Cruise shows no signs of stopping. While all the Mission: Impossible movies have impressive stunts, Dead Reckoning takes it up a notch.
In addition to the classic hand-to-hand combat scenes (including in the dark alleyways of Venice and atop a runaway train), Dead Reckoning has intricate stunts that will leave viewers stunned. One of the lengthier stunts in the film includes a car chase through narrow cobblestone streets in Rome, Italy. But this is not any ordinary car chase. Instead, Atwell and Cruise are handcuffed together, in a bright yellow Fiat 500, fleeing from police—for nearly twenty minutes. The two had to learn to function as a team and control the small car over the cobblestone steps that would send their vehicle in all different directions. Atwell said that the duo spent over five months drifting together while being handcuffed and choreographed the scene “like a dance.”
While the handcuffed car chase is exciting, face-paced, and witty, one stunt in the movie takes the cake—the motorcycle stunt. In this scene, Hunt is forced to take a less-than-conventional route to hop on a runaway train in order to rescue Grace and regain control of the two-part key to The Entity. Without taking too long to think, Hunt takes his motorcycle full speed off a cliff and base jumps off the side of a mountain, until parachuting into the train. While the film takes place in the Austrian alps, the real stunt took place in Norway. The team built a ramp for Cruise to drive his motorcycle off a cliff, dispose the bike mid-air, and free-fall until he opens his parachute.
Although this stunt only took place for a few seconds, thousands of hours went into preparation to make sure that Cruise could pull off such a feat. To be prepared for the dangerous stunt, Cruise did 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps. In addition to making sure Cruise was safe, the preparation allowed the director and film crew to map out camera angles to record the stunt.
Even though the stunt takes place towards the end of the film, it was filmed the first day of production. The reasoning was that if Cruise got hurt, or worse, the writers and director could make a plan for a re-write of the movie. Luckily it never came to that. On the first day, Cruise successfully completed the stunt not once, not twice, but six times. All of the hard work and preparation led to a death-defying stunt that left viewers speechless.
What’s Next for Ethan Hunt?
In addition to the classic IMF team, subtle love-interests, and cunning villains, it seems to be the stunts and Cruise’s daring nature that makes fans keep coming back for more. The good news is that we won’t have to wait long. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two is scheduled for release in June 2024. While filmmakers have been subtle about what is to come for the final story of Ethan Hunt, one thing we know for sure is that Cruise’s stunts will be bigger and badder than ever—leaving fans waiting at the edge of their seats.
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