Mission Impossible: Deadly Judgment — Part 1 it has some of the biggest action sequences of the year. From jaw-dropping chases through Venice, to Ethan Hunt’s leap from a moving motorcycle. The movie reaffirms the saga’s tradition of showing several of the most remembered scenes of the genre. That, without losing its realistic quality or making it clear, as the director Christopher McQuarrie, has repeated on more than one occasion. The star Tom Cruise does not hesitate to risk his life, to provide emotion and spectacular visuals to his best-known franchise.
Which includes using stunt doubles very rarely and making sure most of the shots are done by practical visual effects. Whether it’s jumping kilometers high, driving all kinds of vehicles and even climbing buildings with little protection.
The interpreter is willing to show that cinema it is still an emotional experience that deserves effort and dedication in its production. Which, of course, turned the saga into a journey through all kinds of technical experiments, increasingly risky and sometimes reckless. However, something is clear: the combination of daring and intelligence give the saga its particular personality.
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We leave you six emblematic scenes in the Mission Impossible franchise that are part of cinema history. From Agent Hunt balanced and about to die, to the most dangerous climb, the front wall of a mountain. Nothing is enough in a film series that ups the ante — and the ambition — installment by installment. Without a doubt, his greatest attribute.
A daring visit to the tallest skyscraper in the world
In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, released in 2011, the character of Ethan Hunt, climbed the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world since 2004. Under the direction of Brad Bird, the action became epic when the agent played by Tom Cruise, scaled it in appearance , almost without further protection. The most chilling thing came when he hung from the distance of 232.1052 meters before breaking a window and going inside.
Of course, it was a perfectly planned maneuver. Before carrying it out, climbers and architects were consulted. Also, there were at least ten dress rehearsals, to check that each harness — invisible to the camera — was in the right place. But before that, Tom Cruise suffered to the highest floor of the building without security measures for a promotional photograph. What propped up the myth that the scene was an experimental combination of engineering and actor value.
Knives and mountain climbs in Mission Impossible II
In the year 2000, the immediate sequel to the initial feature film, disappointed a large part of the public. However, it has two scenes that went down in history for their spectacularity. On the one hand, it is one of the great fights of the franchise and on the other, its opening scene, which moved and made clear, Tom Cruise’s commitment to the nascent franchise.
In the first case, Ethan Hunt had to fight the evil Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) in a hand-to-hand fight. What looks like a regular bare-knuckle fight sequence turns into something more, when the villain tries to plunge a dagger into the agent’s eye. The shot zooms in and shows the metal edge, less than a centimeter from the eye of the star. The most amazing? The scene was created with practical effects, which consisted of hanging the hunting knife from a wire and Tom Cruise allowing the object to come as close to his eye as possible. A risk that he ran without question.
The second enduring image on the tape is its beginning. In it, we can see Hunt climbing without a harness and with his bare hands up a cliff in Dead Horse Point, in Utah. Apparently, the character has no protection, but in reality, it took him five days to surround himself to maximize security measures. Also, she is one of the few in which the interpreter allowed a stunt double, in this case, the well-known Keith Campbell.
Another skyscraper in the saga
For Mission: Impossible III In 2006, JJ Abrams directed a feature film in the saga that doesn’t contribute much to its mythology or its history. But, even so, it began the saga’s tradition of performing great historical stunts that has made it famous today. On this occasion, it was about climbing the facade of a skyscraper in Shanghai. But from a shot so inclined and dangerous, as to cause chills.
These days, it looks like another of the franchise’s great visual feats. However, it is much more than that. For the occasion, Tom Cruise slipped attached to a crane, with no more protection than two canvas corsets, and threw himself headlong to the ground. His audacity led him to plummet in a realistic shot, dangling just twenty meters above crashing into deadly concrete. A shock that the director recounted over and over again throughout the promotional campaign.
A helicopter chase for the history of cinema
In Mission: Impossible—Fallout From 2018, Christopher McQuarrie showed off a high-speed helicopter chase through New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Ethan Hunt in front of the pilot’s controls and doing all kinds of amazing stunts and most of them dangerous. A surprising fact? Tom Cruise didn’t use stuntmen, he actually flew the plane and he didn’t use any special effects.
Of course, the actor’s love for heights and all kinds of air vehicles is known. However, it was the film that really demonstrated his ability and the way he manages to integrate his passion for risk with the character he plays. Which shows a journey of singular interest through the artist’s career, not only in front of the cameras, but his devotion to training and physical effort.
A record for Mission Impossible
In Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, released in 2015, a water dive allowed Tom Cruise to demonstrate his athletic qualities. He not only trained to lower his heart rate — and thus decrease his oxygen consumption — but to gain an understanding of his body’s reaction to extreme situations. The result was a scene in which the actor held his breath for 6.5 minutes, setting a record among performers.
A curious data? Tom Cruise lost his mark against Kate Winslet, who reached 7 minutes and 15 seconds in the recording of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Sense of Water.
The iconic scene of the saga
Not as spectacular as the rest, but essential for the history of cinema, is the iconic scene that made the first installment of the saga famous. In it, the action focuses on the agent Ethan Hunt. He is suspended on an ultra-sensitive floor, which he cannot touch under any circumstances.
Hanging from a series of cables that could barely maintain balance, the actor managed to record the scene, after putting a handful of coins in his shoes. The added weight allowed him to remain upright through the agonizing twenty-five minutes during which filming of the sequence took place.