As someone who has watched a lot of BTS Mission: Impossible footage in my day, I’ve seen what Christopher McQuarrie looks like on more than one occasion. He may typically be a behind-the-camera kind of guy, but he did appear as a cop in The Usual Suspects back in the day, and many of us have seen him in plenty of interviews over the last several decades. So, a lot of film fans have an understanding of what the writer/director looks like, but I was still unprepared for Tom Cruise admitting he gets mistaken for a Jerry Maguire star all the time.

Speaking as part of Paramount's CinemaCon panel, Tom Cruise got candid about his long and storied relationship with Christopher McQuarrie. We previously reported on how he contributed to an early M:I script before later getting involved with the franchise as a director, but this story about how 'McQ' (as Cruise affectionately calls him) gets mistaken for Jonathan Lipnicki really took the cake.

I cannot stop thinking about this comment, because now that I’m really looking at a side-by-side of McQuarrie and Lipnicki, I can’t unsee it. The two do kind of favor one another in a weird way, and have the whole cute glasses thing going. Never mind the director is 56 and the former child actor is only 34!

So, really what McQuarrie kind of looks like is Lipnicki’s parent.

It's worth noting that Lipnicki has dropped the glasses and looks a bit different these days. Plus, if people really sat down and mathed out when Jerry Maguire came out and how old Lipnicki was in that movie (he was only 6 when the flick released into theaters in 1996), I doubt this mistake would be made. However, it clearly amuses Tom Cruise to no end that it’s happened on (seemingly) more than one occasion.

Tom Cruise is tickled pink about this fan connection to Jerry Maguire, but Jonathan Lipnicki doesn’t have as A+ of a relationship with the fanbase. He says people quote lines from the Cameron Crowe film at him all the time –which makes sense as it was one of his biggest roles – but the real problem is people don’t know Jerry Maguire lines well at all.

It's a great Jerry Maguire BTS fact, and the best news for Lipnicki is that McQ is clearly sometimes taking some of those awkward fan interactions for him.

Making the Mission: Impossible movies was clearly a difficult task. Each ensuing entry in the franchise had increasingly complex stunts as Tom Cruise continued to find new ways to impress audiences by putting his body on the line. Mission: Impossible- The Final Reckoning had some incredibly complex physical sequences, but director Christopher McQuarrie says none of them were the hardest part of the new movie, or his time on the franchise.

Speaking with Empire, Christopher McQuarrie says “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do” wasn’t filming the incredible biplane sequence at the end of The Final Reckoning or the beautifully put together submarine sequence. It was actuallu editing the first act of the film, which had so much it needed to accomplish in a brief period, that it took a lot of work. The director explained…

To be fair, The Final Reckoning certainly had a lot to get done in its runtime. The previous film Dead Reckoning ended with a lot of plot details left incomplete that the audience would need to be reminded of. The cast of Final Reckoning, including both characters introduced in previous films and those that were new, was quite extensive. There’s just a lot of information and detail that the audience is going to need up front in order for everything coming later to make sense.

And yet, you can’t have that sort of information presented in a way that the audience won't get bored, because they won’t absorb it. You don’t want it to take too long. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning was nearly three hours long. Every minute counts at that point, and if the setup takes too long, your whole movie becomes too long.

There were apparently attempts to trim down the movie’s runtime by excising all but the most important pieces of information, but every change made to the setup would have implications elsewhere in the film. McQuarrie continued...

In the end, the opening of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning was certainly a topic of conversation among viewers. Not everybody loved the “infodump” nature of the sequence, but some people thought that the way it summarized essentially the entire franchise, before diving into the last Mission: Impossible movie for Tom Cruise, was a fitting way to start the film.

While some parts of The Final Reckoning apparently took a lot of takes and were clearly complex, summarizing the entire Mission: Impossible franchise in just a few minutes is something few could do well. Christopher McQuarrie pulled it off. He got the movie started right, and if that hadn't happened, the movie probably wouldn't have ended right either.

The Final Reckoning may have wrapped the Mission: Impossible franchise with its 2025 movies release, but not before the movies produced a slew of iconic scenes in which Tom Cruise hung onto the sides of moving planes, avoided lasers, scaled the Burj Khalifa, chased and got chased on motorcycles and so much more. Amidst these, the Burj Khalifa scene has always been a standout for me personally, and I just found out it was basically written on the fly by Christopher McQuarrie himself.

That Burj Khalifa Scene Was Not Fully Scripted When Ghost Protocol Went Into Production

At Paramount's CinemaCon rundown earlier this year, Cruise apparently talked about McQ showing up on the set of Ghost Protocol while they were trying to figure out the particularly challenging scene, one he called a bit of a “Rubrik’s cube.” Christopher McQuarrie wasn’t helming the movie, Brad Bird was, and he wasn’t credited as a writer on the film, either, but Cruise brought him on board without even getting a greenlight first.

Though he would later basically become synonymous with the franchise, then-director Brad Bird and co-star Simon Pegg apparently didn’t even know who McQuarrie was during his first trip to the set. Yet, Cruise knew the famous scene where he was expected to climb the Burj Khalifa wearing only a pair of gloves was not working and he knew McQ could write them out of this pickle. As he told crowds at the event:

That's when McQ quietly got to work. In short order, he'd worked out all the little details that helped make the scene feel massive in scope on the big screen. Apparently, all it took was Cruise telling him what the blue and red lights meant.

It's so incredible to even think this could be a path to success, but of course, we now know the final version of this scene is electrifying. It also seemingly cemented Cruise and McQuarrie's working relationship, and he went on to direct the sequel to Ghost Protocol, otherwise known as Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. He and Cruise would continue the franchise together through 2025's well-reviewed The Final Reckoning, which Tom Cruise confirmed marks the final outing in the franchise as a whole.

It’s wild to think about Mission: Impossible stunts not being carefully crafted at the start, but even since the Brad Bird era, a lot was being done on the fly. The scene worked, and Cruise told crowds his newfound pal would later do punch up scripts for other movies, including infamously World War Z, but also other Tom Cruise flicks Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick.

The two clearly work well as a duo, with Cruise admitting sometimes he pushes McQuarrie to make M:I changes too, and with Ethan Hunt getting a mostly happy ending, I'm interested to see where their partnership goes next.

Tom Cruise has been known to be a daredevil when it comes to cinema. Some might even call him a maverick, especially after the 2025 movie Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning saw him flying pretty high for the stunt of a lifetime on the side of a plane. That apparently wasn’t the only thing the star was doing, however, as co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie revealed another earned credit for Cruise’s resume: cinematographer.

During a talk that saw both collaborators on hand at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (via That Shelf’s YouTube channel,) it was revealed that the ever intrepid leading man was truly an army of one while shooting some of those painful Mission biplane stunts. McQuarrie started to share that knowledge with the crowd with an anecdote, saying

I still can’t believe what I just read. Tom Cruise, the mad man that he is, was actually operating his own camera to get some of those shots where you might have been convinced Ethan Hunt’s near death was imminent. Physically, and logistically, it makes sense - because the man of the hour wouldn’t want to risk his crew’s lives in the making of his Mission: Impossible swan song.

If Tom Cruise stopped Henry Cavill from a HALO jump, you’d bet he’d tell the crew to stay on the ground. The results kind of speak for themselves, as the biplane chase joins the rest of the ridiculous Mission: Impossible stunts in the big screen hall of fame. But a little further background from Christopher McQuarrie certainly couldn’t hurt, with the filmmaker saying,

At this point, I’m wondering when Tom Cruise is going to go full Buster Keaton and direct a film of his own. I can’t think of another piece of the process that the man hasn’t touched in some way that he’d need to take that gig on, and I’m dying to know what he’d cook up behind the camera. Also, that might be the only way Cruise's mysterious space movie gets made at this point. Do you want to be the person to tell him he can't leave the planet?

That’s no slight to trusted helmers like Mr. McQuarrie though, and if you’ve seen Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, you’d probably agree. For those of you who need some more convincing, that eighth chapter in the IMF saga is now playing in a theater near you.

When it comes to 2025 movie releases, it’s going to be hard to forget the sheer bravery and madness associated with Tom Cruise’s last ride as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible series. From the actor’s dangerous underwater stunt to literally hanging from the wing of a biplane without a parachute, there’s a lot that could have gone wrong on the set of The Final Reckoning. When director Christopher McQuarrie recently talked about the movie, he shared one key moment from it that he was terrified might not translate on screen.

SPOILERS are ahead for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning. You can see the movie in theaters now, and stream the others with a Paramount+ subscription.

At the end of Tom Cruise’s extreme biplane chase scene with Esai Morales’ Gabriel, the villain plans to parachute away, but he suddenly gets killed after accidentally hitting the rudder. It’s one of the most memorable scenes in the movie that inspires a ton of shocked reactions from moviegoers. However, as McQuarrie told Empire, he carried a lot of stress over getting it right. As he shared:

Now, this makes sense. The bi-plane sequence itself is an incredible feat of stunt work from Tom Cruise, and all involved in choreographing and catching it on camera. McQuarrie has said it was very “physically punishing” for Cruise to hang on the wing of that plane while 8000 feet in the air and with winds as fast as 140 miles per hour.

Yes, the actor had a thin piece of wire that strapped him to the aircraft, but having one of the biggest movie stars accomplish that stunt? The stakes couldn’t have been higher.

So, understandably, it was important for the ending of the sequence to be satisfying to audiences. Ending a massive stunt with a semi-comedic accidental death is a big swing. However, thankfully, McQuarrie realized it does create the “pay off” he wanted for the dangerous stunt after seeing audiences in Tokyo react to it.

Tokyo wasn’t an anomaly; many of Final Reckoning's first screening reactions applauded the film, with one early reaction calling it a “symphony of danger, stakes, tension, and levity”. And, our own Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning review gave the movie a 4 out of 5 for being an “explosive” and “fitting finale.”

Truly, the moment was epic as Ethan worked to take down Gabriel while up in the air and moving between two planes. Then, to have the villain die the way that he did was equal parts shocking and exciting, because it was thrilling to see the bad guy finally go down.

Ultimately, Christopher McQuarrie can rest easy that “it was all worth it” regarding the biplane scene and the decision to top it off with the unexpected and accidental death of Esai Morales’ Gabriel.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning has officially brought Tom Cruise’s time in the storied franchise to a close, and the movie has largely been seen as a satisfying conclusion by both fans and critics. However, neither of the last two films were able to compete with the franchise’s box office champ Mission: Impossible - Fallout.

Fallout is far and away the most popular movie in the series, and considering it was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also helmed the last two Mission: Impossible movies, many fans were likely expecting to get more of that. However, the director tells Empire that he very intentionally tried to make Dead Reckoning and The Final Reckoning different movies, in the same way all of the Mission: Impossible flicks have been quite different. He explained…

It’s an interesting take from Christopher McQuarrie, who, when he came on board the Mission: Impossible franchise, seemingly broke something of a tradition that the series had seen. The first five Mission: Impossible movies had five different directors, and each one brought their unique style to Tom Cruise’s movies.

The first Mission: Impossible was more of a psychological thriller, being the creation of Brian De Palma. The second Mission: Impossible, being a John Woo movie, went harder in the action than any other entry in the franchise. It was when Christopher McQuarrie returned to make Fallout that the pattern of bringing in new directors ended, but it seems he was still very conscious of the history the franchise had; he wasn't even sure about returning after he made Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation for exactly that reason. This was why he did his best to still make each movie unique, even if they were all his.

I’ll admit, I was one of the people who was honestly a little bummed when it was confirmed that Christopher McQuarrie would be returning for Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and then again for the final two films. One of the things I liked about the franchise was the way new directors brought their own styles to each new film, and I was excited to see what it could mean for future films.

However, while Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning aren’t that different from each other, they do feel different from Fallout, so McQuarrie did achieve that goal.

The end of an era came to the 2025 movies schedule last month with the release of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Although there’d been rumblings that Mission: Impossible 9 might be in the cards, for now anyway, this is indeed the last appearance of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, whom we’ve seen save the world over and over again since 1996. And yet, even with all the pull he has in the action franchise, it took some effort from Cruise to persuade writer/director Christopher McQuarrie to include an A+ line in The Final Reckoning: “You're spending too much time on the internet.”

Ethan Hunt says this while fighting one of the many henchmen unfortunate enough to cross his path during Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, but McQuarrie didn’t include this line in his script and then decide later it wasn’t worth keeping in. Cruise came up with it himself, as the filmmaker informed Empire, saying:

Considering that Tom Cruise has been a producer on the Mission: Impossible movies, you’d think he wouldn’t have to push so hard to squeeze that one line in. But then again, it’s ultimately Christoper McQuarrie’s movie. Outside of implementing certain studio notes, he’s the one who has final say on how these movies come together, something he’s been doing since Rogue Nation following his uncredited scripting work on Ghost Protocol.

Fortunately for Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie buckled, and it’s a good thing he did because he ended up liking how the line sounded. As McQuarrie put it:

Tom Cruise has been professionally acting for over four decades, and action flicks are among some of the best entries on his resume (although there are certainly enough movies that prove he’s more than an action star). So I’m not surprised he’s come up with a good gauge on badass lines to say when playing characters delivering a beating on bad guys. I’m sure we could come up with a list of just badass lines Ethan Hunt’s delivered for nearly 30 years.

The exclusion of “You're spending too much time on the internet” wouldn’t have impacted the overall positive reception of the latest Mission: Impossible movie, including CinemaBlend’s Final Reckoning review giving it 4 out of 5 stars, but I’m still glad Christopher McQuarrie listened to Cruise and threw the line in there. If anything, it’s a good reminder not too spend too much time online, otherwise an IMF agent might call you out on it if you get on their bad side.

Warning: SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning are in play. If you haven’t taken flight with Ethan Hunt just yet, you’ve been warned.

“I need you to trust me… one last time.” One line was all it took for the 2025 movie schedule to seemingly become more deadly, and it was thanks to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt being the one to utter it. With that dialogue in play, some thought that Mission: Impossible 8’s ending would be akin to that of No Time To Die. After being asked if that was ever on the table, co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, the series’ longtime steward, admitted the thought had crossed his mind.

Speaking to the good folks at Empire’s Spoiler Special Podcast, The Final Reckoning helmer spilled state secrets on several aspects of this summer blockbuster. When it came to the potential death of Ethan Hunt, McQuarrie shared that his head was literally in the clouds when pondering it:

Ok, so it’s not quite Daniel Craig’s explosive 007 send off in No Time To Die’s ending. At the same time, it kind of doesn't have to be. I’ll gladly agree that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning avoided copycat claims by keeping Tom Cruise’s hero alive at the end. That is especially true when remembering this grand finale has Ethan Hunt basically living in exile for the protection of those he loves... and those Paramount+ subscription holders he’ll never meet.

That ties into another notion that Christopher McQuarrie discussed when it comes to killing your heroes. Some think of that sort of move as the big finish to a tale, which sees the hero’s loved ones honoring their death and moving on into life. However, the Top Gun: Maverick co-writer doesn’t see that as a given, as he explains below:

I wonder if this viewpoint was in mind when Christopher McQuarrie teased a Mission: Impossible 9 idea that he and Tom Cruise had developed? If so, that could mean adventures of an IMF without Ethan Hunt could still go on - just presumably without Tom Cruise’s daredevil playing a part in them. If you need proof on whether or not this sort of thing could work, you should see Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, in theaters now.

Danny Ramirez is an actor who knows his way around movies that involve his character flying. In 2022, he starred opposite Tom Cruise as Fanboy in Top Gun: Maverick, and just a few months ago on the 2025 release schedule, he reprised Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon, in Captain America: Brave New World. Of course, the kind of flying done in those two movies is quite different, but to my surprise, Ramirez informed me that Maverick’s Christopher McQuarrie actually helped with making Brave New World’s flight sequences look great.

Early on in my interview with Ramirez tied to Captain America 4 becoming available for Disney+ subscription holders to stream, I brought up how he’d said earlier this year that he had Tom Cruise on his mind when shooting the flying scenes in the latest Marvel movie. He elaborated on that mindset during our conversation, which started with him saying:

Because of the pandemic, there was a time when it was rumored that Top Gun: Maverick might be sold off to a streamer. But Tom Cruise and Paramount held the course on a theatrical release, and it resulted in the sequel making nearly $1.5 billion worldwide. But even beyond its critical and box office success, as Danny Ramirez noted, Maverick changed the game when it comes to cinematic flight sequences. He wanted to make sure the same care and attention went into what Captain America: Brave New World had to offer on that front, even though in this case, the majority of the movie’s flying came from Joaquin and Sam Wilson using their wing packs.

As for Christopher McQuarrie, he co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick with Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer, and he’s helping put Top Gun 3 together. So when the time came to plan Captain America: Brave New World’s main flight sequence, Danny Ramirez set up a meeting between director Julius Onah and McQuarrie. As he recalled:

The Celestial Island sequence saw Sam and Joaquin racing to neutralize two American pilots who’d been mind-controlled by Samuel Sterns into attacking the Japanese fleet nearby. Their efforts and successfully persuading the Japanese to stand out prevented a war from breaking out over the adamantium on the petrified Celestial, but Joaquin was critically injured in the process, leading to Captain America: Brave New World’s ending hospital scene. While I’m sure that flight sequence would have still looked impressive without Christopher McQuarrie’s involvement, I’m nonetheless glad Danny Ramirez was able to loop him in as an additional way to ensure its quality.

We’ll see Ramirez back in action as Joaquin Torres when Avengers: Doomsday is released on December 17, 2026, and I look forward to seeing the character showing off his in-flight moves within an even more fantastical MCU setting. Christopher McQuarrie’s latest movie, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, is now playing in theaters.

If you keep up with new movie releases, you probably already know Hollywood doesn’t make comedies quite like it used to. Take 2008's Tropic Thunder, for instance: There’s been so much talk about whether it could still be made today that people often overlook how hilarious the Ben Stiller film is. One of the best parts, and for my money, one of Tom Cruise's best roles, is the sleazy agent Les Grossman—his name says it all! For years, there have been whispers about a possible standalone film featuring Les Grossman, and it looks like we might be getting more of him. It sounds like it’s going to be "f—ing funny!"

In a recent interview, writer and director Christopher McQuarrie discussed the possibility of bringing the husky but dance-savvy Grossman back for a future project (or projects). McQuarrie, who has long collaborated with Tom Cruise, made these comments during an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast while speaking with host Josh Horowitz. He explained:

When asked whether Grossman would be the focal point of the project, the Top Gun: Maverick scribe points out that leading men have different responsibilities in movies, so this is the ultimate question. What does a return of the character look like? Would Les Grossman work best as a side character or could he lead a movie Michael Scott-style? Too much of a good thing is definitely not what I ultimately want.

The filmmaker explained the process he and Cruise have used for "riffing" on the character. According to the M:I director, it served as a way for both of them to "decompress," while on set for their most recent Ethan Hunt outing. He elaborated:

Honestly, it sounds like the two creators have gotten pretty deep into the Les Grossman possibilities. It makes sense. Cruise basically created and even pushed for the Tropic Thunder dancing and fat fingers, and has a vested interest in making the character work as his time playing Ethan Hunt comes to a close.

At the very least, it seems like both he and his longtime buddy are having a blast talking about what might happen. It would be a real bummer for Tropic Thunder fans if we don’t get to see more of Les Grossman on the big screen. Here’s hoping they figure out a cool way to bring him back!

While we wait for updates on a possible return of the Tropic Thunder OG, we can always check out Tom Cruise’s hilarious character, Les Grossman, since the movie is streaming with a Hulu subscription. As for the Jerry Maguire star and McQuarrie’s latest project, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now in theaters, so don’t forget to look up the showtimes near you!

Tom Cruise has a reputation for being a guy who likes to be in control on movie sets. He’s been known to fire insurance companies that wouldn’t let him do certain stunts. Telling him “No” is clearly not something that goes over well. Even Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie admits he’s only done it once.

Tom Cruise Wanted To Do Even More With Mission: Impossible -The Final Reckoning’s Plane Stunt

McQuarrie and Cruise have worked together as director and star of four Mission: Impossible movies, as well as the first Jack Reacher movie. Over the course of five movies, McQuarrie tells Buzzfeed he’s only told Tom Cruise “No” a single time, after performing the airplane stunt on Mission: Impossible - the Final Reckoning almost 20 times. The director said…

If you’ve seen the trailers for Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, you’ve seen Tom Cruise hanging from a biplane, a major stunt sequence in the new film. It seems that the sequence was done many times to get it just right, but Tom Cruise was up for one more because he had some idea that might make it better.

Under most circumstances, it sounds like Christopher McQuarrie might have said “OK” and done the shot one more time. However, McQuarrie felt strongly that the stunt had been done to the point that there was nothing left to do. McQuarrie says that Tom Cruise didn’t argue with him and ultimately agreed with his director. McQuarrie continued…

Considering how often McQuarrie and Cruise have worked together, they’ve actually worked on nine different projects when you add in McQuarrie’s work as a screenwriter, the pair must have a strong relationship. Tom Cruise may not like being told no, but when McQuarrie says it, Tom Cruise listens.

Tom Cruise Celebrated The Final Reckoning’s Opening Weekend

Whether it was the stunts or simply the fact that Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning appears to be the end of the road for Tom Cruise in the massive franchise, fans certainly turned out for the new movie. The Final Reckoning's opening weekend was the highest the franchise has ever seen, and Cruise took to Instagram to thank everybody who made that happen.

While there may be no more Mission: Impossible movies for Cruise and McQuarrie, the duo are set to work together again on other upcoming Tom Cruise movies. Whether McQuarrie will feel a need to tell his star “No” again remains to be seen, but knowing Tom Cruise, we probably shouldn’t expect it to become a habit.

Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie knows his way around the action genre quite well, with the latest example of this being the 2025 movie release of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning this past weekend. However, he has yet to delve into the sub-genre that is superhero movies, although he came pretty close to doing so. There was a time when McQuarrie was going to helm a Superman movie, and he’s now how this project would have channeled the beloved Pixar movie Up in an “epic way.”

Back when the DC Extended Universe was still going, McQuarrie pitched both Green Lantern and Superman movies to Warner Bros. Pictures. The latter, of course, would have been a sequel to Man of Steel, and the filmmaker had this to say about how his movie’s opening minutes would covered the life of Henry Cavill’s Kal-El/Clark Kent:

Christopher McQuarrie spent time sharing this vision for his Superman movie while appearing on Happy Sad Confused, where he also talked about topics like how he’s already cracked the story for Top Gun 3. I agree this would have been epic. It definitely channels the same kind of vibe of how Up (which can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription) covered Carl and Ellie’s life together. I know I’m not alone thinking it’s still one of the most emotionally-powerful openings to a movie ever.

Going a step further, McQuarrie’s idea reminds me of how Zack Snyder’s Watchmen movie used its opening credits to cover the history of costumed heroes from right before World War II to 1985 to the tune of Bob Dylan “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” In this case though, the sequence would have delved into Superman’s deeper characterization and the reason he uses his powers to protect the innocent. As far as what Supes is most afraid of, I imagine the answer wouldn’t have been something as simple as kryptonite, and instead might have been that even with all his might, he still can’t save everyone.

Alas, Man of Steel 2 never got off the ground, though we did see more of Henry Cavill’s Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both cuts of Justice League and Black Adam. Maybe there’s another universe out there where the DCEU continued and Christopher McQuarrie got to make this Superman movie, which he also described in his interview with Josh Horowitz as “fucking good.” Even though that didn’t work out in our reality, I’m hoping there will come

Meanwhile, a new era of Superman film history is about to begin, with James Gunn’s Superman introducing us to David Corenswet’s version of the Kryptonian hero in the DC Universe franchise on July 11. We’ll also send time with his cousin Kara Zor-El, played by Milly Alcock, next year in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning opened on the 2025 movies schedule over the weekend, once again pairing Tom Cruise with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. Their professional relationship extends far beyond Ethan Hunt’s cinematic adventures, however, with the most recent example outside of that action space being that McQuarrie co-wrote Top Gun: Maverick. Given what a critical and commercial success the sequel was, it should come as no surprise that Top Gun 3 is in the works, and McQuarrie just gave an exciting update on the threequel’s progress.

In an interview on Happy Sad Confused, McQuarrie was asked by podcast host Josh Horowitz if “Top Gun 3 is harder to crack in some ways than Top Gun: Maverick,” and the filmmaker immediately responded:

36 years passed between the release of the original Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick (both of which can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription), but clearly Top Gun 3 can get rolling pretty quickly if/when the time comes. To be clear, Paramount hasn’t technically given the project the greenlight, but per Christopher McQuarrie, he and fellow Maverick co-writer have already figured out how to tackle Top Gun 3, and that wasn’t a difficult process. These two worked with Eric Warren Singer on the Maverick screenplay, but it’s unclear if he’s also involved with the threequel.

Christopher McQuarrie’s update comes after Tom Cruise said earlier this month that he and those involved with Top Gun 3 are “thinking and talking about many different stories and what could we do and what’s possible.” No doubt he’s in the loop on what McQuarrie and Ehren Kruger cracked, although it’s unclear if an actual script has been written. Regardless, this is another positive step towards Top Gun 3 becoming a reality.

Top Gun 3 officially entered development in January 2024, and the following July, Glen Powell, who played Hangman in Maverick, said that he already had a “date” for this film series’ next installment. Powell never clarified what he meant by that, though if he was talking about a production start date, I have to think that this is no longer etched in stone. Jay Ellis, who played Payback in Maverick, also said in February that the powers-that-be are “diligently working on the script and wanting to get it right.”

While I don’t anticipate Top Gun 3 being prepped fast enough for a 2026 release, I’m hopeful that once Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie and the rest of the creative talent involved approve of the threequel’s script, production can get underway pretty quickly. For now, following Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’s release, Cruise can next be seen in Alejandro G. Iñárritu untitled movie that’s opening on October 2, 2026.

While there are a lot of horror films among 2025 movie releases, I have a feeling few will have me holding my breath as much as the upcoming Mission: Impossible - Final Reckoning. As Tom Cruise's co-star, Simon Pegg, recently reminded us all, Cruise does ALL of his own stunts, and they're often jaw-dropping. Given I’m stressed enough seeing them play out on the big screen, I’m amazed about what the movie’s director said about how he has to keep cool while watching them play out in real time.

Christopher McQuarrie, who has helmed the last four Mission: Impossible movies including Final Reckoning, recently shared how bringing these big stunts together creates “a lot of stress.” However, he also admitted to having to check that anxiety at the door when shooting these scenes. As he shared with Deadline:

It sounds like those involved in the stunts for Mission: Impossible have to stay really calm and collected in order to accomplish these scenes at all, and McQuarrie had to follow suit. As he continued:

It’s all about mindset, isn’t it? If you’re stressed out and anxious about something as complicated as Tom Cruise hanging off the wing of a plane while he's 8000 feet in the air with winds blowing as fast as 140 miles per hour, then you probably aren't prepared. (By the way, Cruise actually performs such a plane stunt in Final Reckoning.) With that in mind, it's understandable as to why Christopher McQuarrie has had to ditch his fears. In his words:

While this makes perfect sense on paper, it sounds like an impossible mission to have this much mental fortitude on one of the biggest and most high-stakes movie sets ever. The Final Reckoning reportedly cost around $400 million to make (per The Hollywood Reporter), with production delays including the 2023 Hollywood strikes being partially to blame. Those costs make it one of the most expensive movies ever made. And McQuarrie is in the middle of every decision that has to be made from a production standpoint, and it’s wild to think he had to be so calm and collected.

So far, reactions to new Mission: Impossible movie have been mostly positive, with CinemaBlend’s own Jessica Rawden calling it an “anxiety-inducing” “showstopper." In our own four-star Final Reckoning review, Mike Reyes dubs the film a “fitting finale” and says that aside from some “rough edges” it has all the ingredients you want from the franchise. So I'd say that Christopher McQuarrie's fearless direction and approach weren't for nothing. Check out the movie when it hits theaters on May 23.

Tom Cruise is the biggest movie star in the world. He’s also possibly Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor. The Mission: Impossible actor seems to be romantically linked to every beautiful celebrity he comes in contact with, and this has become the case once again. Cruise has recently been seen in the company of the star of the upcoming John Wick spinoff Ballerina, Ana de Armas.

While we don’t know what the personal status of the couple is, we do know that there is a professional relationship as well. Cruise and de Armas are starring in a movie together, and it sounds pretty exciting.

Tom Cruise And Ana De Armas’ New Movie Sounds Awesome

We have a few details about the new movie and the incredible talent attached. Frequent Cruise collaborators Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie will both be involved, with Liman set to direct and McQuarrie taking a pass on a script originally penned by Bright scribe Max Landis.

The film is called Deeper and will star Cruise as an astronaut on an undersea dive who discovered what Deadline calls a “terrifying force.” How de Armas will fit into the story is unclear, but it appears that at least part of the reason the two have been spending so much time together is that they are undergoing dive training for the movie.

We would certainly expect Tom Cruise to do any required undersea diving for a movie himself, but it seems Ana de Armas is following suit. We’ve seen her getting physical in her preparation for Ballerina, and now it appears she’s going to continue down that path. It certainly gives the two something in common if they are actually dating.

Are Tom Cruise And Ana De Armas Dating?

While there have been no official statements from either party or their people regarding a relationship, rumors continue to swirl that Ana de Armas and Tom Cruise may be involved romantically. To be sure, the pair have been seen together multiple times over the last few months. The first time was reportedly on Valentine’s Day, which is the sort of thing that certainly could be a coincidence, but absolutely won’t be completely overlooked.

The duo also had dinner together on de Armas’ birthday, and they both attended David Beckham’s birthday party in London. The actors were spotted leaving together, which seemed to confirm they attended as a pair and weren’t simply both at the star-studded affair.

Of course, previous Tom Cruise has been linked to Hayley Atwell, his Mission: Impossible co-star, and there was never confirmation that there was anything there. It was once suggested he had eyes for Shakira in a situation where there was almost certainly nothing going on. Just because he and de Armas are spending time together doesn’t mean there’s anything going on... unless there is.

There’s no denying the excitement that surrounds the impending release of a Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible movie, and two years after Dead Reckoning Part One, the sequel — and eighth movie overall — is finally hitting the 2025 movie calendar. With the Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning release date just around the corner, critics have had the chance to see early screenings, and they’re hitting social media with some wild reactions to what may be Cruise’s final chapter.

The upcoming action movie picks up two months after the end of Dead Reckoning, with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) continuing his mission to stop Gabriel (Esai Morales) from obtaining an A.I. program called “The Entity.” Cruise has gotten fans hyped for more stunts, and CinemaBlend’s own Jessica Rawden posts that we’ll be talking about one action sequence for years. In her words:

Austin Putnam writes that if Mission: Impossible 8 is, indeed, the final installment of Ethan Hunt’s story, this is a pretty good way to end it. Putnam says:

While many said Fallout — one of the best action movies of all time — remains their favorite, others think The Final Reckoning might surpass it. Zach Pope says it balances emotion and stunts for a perfect finale, writing:

The Mission: Impossible 8 cast includes Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett reprising their roles alongside Tom Cruise, all of whom contribute to what K.E.V.I.N. Fenix says is possibly the best action flick ever made:

With action sequences that reportedly even made Tom Cruise nervous, the stunts are definitely a major takeaway from early screenings, as Courtney Howard posts:

Several others also strongly suggest moviegoers catch The Final Reckoning on IMAX, if you’re able, to get the full effect of Christopher McQuarrie’s “sphincter-tightening” stunts. as Simon Thompson puts it:

Mark Daniell of The Toronto Sun specifically notes the wild plane scene, but Tom Cruise’s underwater stunts have also been garnering a lot of buzz. Daniell writes:

Landon Johnson joins the others in a glowing first reaction, posting:

I’m excited to see what critics have to say when they’re allowed to expand on these initial thoughts, but I’m mostly just pumped to see some more death-defying action from this nearly 30-year-old franchise. If Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is a mission you choose to accept, you can purchase your impossibly cool popcorn bucket and head to theaters starting Friday, May 23.

Tom Cruise may be 62, yet he still insists on doing his own stunts, from climbing the tallest building in the world to driving motorcycles off cliffs. But in the upcoming Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, hitting the 2025 movie release schedule on May 21, the action icon pulls out all the stops, this time with a high-stakes underwater sequence he’s been building toward for four decades. Naturally, he shared a behind-the-scenes look on social media, and it goes so hard, proving that the Minority Report performer isn’t just making movies, he’s making cinematic history.

In a new Instagram video post, Cruise revealed behind-the-scenes footage of himself prepping, suiting up, and diving into a deepwater tank to film one of The Final Reckoning’s biggest sequences. The post’s caption reads, “It’s all about preparation and communication.” In the clip, which you can watch below, he and director Christopher McQuarrie are shown mapping the dive beat-for-beat, using hand signals and rehearsing underwater maneuvers with precision.

The sequence aboard the submerged wreck of the Sevastopol, a Russian submarine hiding the core of the film’s main antagonist, The Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence. Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt must reach the AI’s housing, a glowing orb hidden in the depths, before it can be recovered and used against humanity. What’s teased in the BTS footage is far from a basic dive. Instead, fans are treated to a set piece involving falling debris, malfunctioning compartments, and torpedoes rattling loose, all while Hunt fights the clock and his oxygen levels.

The Jerry McGuire veteran star has long been obsessed with pushing action filmmaking to its limits, but this latest feat shows a level of ambition even by his standards. With the help of McQuarrie—his collaborator since Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation—the pair crafted what they call “an underwater sequence unlike any other.” The scope is massive, and the execution feels more like a real-world dive mission than a movie set. And unlike previous entries, there’s a rawness to the stunt work that reminds viewers why Cruise remains unmatched when it comes to the best action movie sequences.

It’s also a full-circle moment. In a previous Instagram post, Cruise captioned the work on the water sequences, referencing Legend (1985), one of his early fantasy films, where he first tackled complex underwater shots. The actor wrote:

Forty years later, the Top Gun star has built an entire franchise around escalating physicality. The eighth entry into the series of spy action thrillers might be his boldest leap yet, because he’s seen holding on to the wing of a biplane in the Final Reckoning trailers, but now we know that’s just the tip of things, as we are also getting a death-defying underwater sequence. If the rumors are true that this is Hunt’s final mission, the actor is making sure he goes out with something audiences haven’t seen before—and probably won’t see again.

With the film’s release just weeks away, the buzz around this underwater stunt is heating up. Whether or not The Final Reckoning marks the end of the line for Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise’s commitment to doing it for real reminds us why Mission: Impossible remains the gold standard for action movie franchises.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning releases in theaters on May 23, 2025.

Tom Cruise is known as the man who can do it all on movie sets. It’s well understood that stuntmen can take a month off when working on Cruise-led movies because the actor will be doing his own stunts. That's not all though, as it turns out the leading man also does his own magic. However, it sounds like performing death-defying stunts is significantly easier for Cruise.

Ahead of the release of Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, a clip went viral on the official M:I Instagram page. Said post involved interview that included both Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie on the Light the Fuse podcast. In it, they discuss the Dead Reckoning scene where Cruise's Ethan Hunt meets Hayley Atwell’s character, Grace, for the first time and performs a bit of close-up magic with a key. McQuarrie reveals the scene took quite a few takes because Cruise couldn’t quite get the trick right. He said…

Tom Cruise insists that he does all his own stunts on set. While digital effects may be used to some degree, the stunt itself is always real. This was the case with the magic trick as well, as both actor and director really wanted to capture the trick practically, without the use of camera tricks.

Of course, magic tricks take a lot of practice to pull off and, unless Cruise was performing at children’s birthday parties before he became a movie star, he probably doesn’t have a great deal of experience with such things. Still, Cruise says that as frustrated as he became, he pushed through and eventually made the shot work. However, based on Cruise's comments, his director didn't sound all that enthusiastic when he finally nailed it. Cruise said...

It sounds like the magic trick took more takes than the shot of Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle off a cliff. While one of those shots certainly took a lot of preparation to make sure it worked, the actual filming of it sounds like it was decidedly easier than shooting a magic trick that actually worked.

I'm not sure whether or not fans will seen Ethan Hunt perform any further kind of magic tricks in the latest Mission: Impossible film. However, based on the teases that have been shared about the upcoming 2025 movie release, there are plenty of wild sequences in store for audiences. For instance, there's one scene in which Hunt hangs off a biplane. Cruise talked about filming that sequence, even admitting that he would "pass out physically" at times.

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is set to hit theaters on May 23. Though we'll surely see more Tom Cruise stunts compared to any magic tricks, just know that many of the action sequences are the result of movie magic. In the meantime, you can stream the first seven films in the film series using a Paramount+ subscription.

Ahead of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning's release on the 2025 movie schedule, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie attended CinemaCon to tease the film and award the filmmaker behind it. As part of the festivities, the actor gave a speech while presenting his colleague with CinemaCon's Director of the Year award. After all that, their M:I family member, Jeremy Renner, made the moment even better by reacting to the tribute with a sweet message.

Along with showing a trailer for the highly anticipated M:I 8 during Paramount's panel at CinemaCon, Cruise got to honor his friend. During this special occasion for his longtime collaborator, the Top Gun star spoke at length about their partnership while sharing thoughtful remarks about McQuarrie's skill as an artist. In a clip posted to his Instagram, the Ethan Hunt actor said:

In addition to sharing part of his speech on social media, the Jerry Maguire star also shared photos of himself and the filmmaker from the event, along with one picture of McQuarrie directing one of the Mission films. It’s clear they share a meaningful connection, as the two have continued to work together for years. Even if The Final Reckoning is the last film in the Mission franchise, this likely won’t be the end for this partnership.

The love kept spreading on the Instagram post as many fans and friends commented, expressing support for the duo and M:I - 8. One of these commenters was Jeremy Renner, who appeared in two Mission: Impossible films, including Rogue Nation, which was directed by McQuarrie. He said:

Renner hasn’t appeared in a Mission film since 2015's Rogue Nation, but the Avengers star has said he'd be open to returning. He previously refused to participate in Fallout because they planned on killing his character, so he’s clearly passionate about being able to come back.

He isn’t announced as a member of the Final Reckoning cast, but you never know, cameos happen all the time. He says he misses both Cruise and McQuarrie, so maybe this is a sign for them to work on something together, even if it’s outside the world of the IMF. Personally, I think they should get the band back together and make some movie magic again.

You can see Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning in theaters on May 23, 2025. You can also revisit previous Mission films, including Rogue Nation, by streaming them now with a Paramount+ subscription. Meanwhile, I'll be hoping a new mission comes up for these two and Renner that they choose to accept.

The sequel to the blockbuster hit Top Gun was a movie that was literally decades in the making. Over the course of that time, many writers tried their hand at writing a movie that would become Top Gun 2. In the end, five different people have story and screenplay credits on Top Gun: Maverick, but now we know which one of them is responsible for creating the character of Goose’s son, as played by Miles Teller.

Peter Craig had been involved in Maverick's story from early on, and he received an Oscar nomination for the Top Gun: Maverick screenplay, alongside the four other men who received credits for the final script. Speaking with THR, Craig was very complimentary of what he says was a collaborative process as the team worked together to craft the final film. However, he takes credit for the film’s core, as he apparently pitched the idea of Goose’s son to Tom Cruise. Craig said…

While Top Gun: Maverick’s blockbuster status was thanks to its impressive practical flying sequences, the movie’s heart came from the character conflict between Tom Cruise’s Maverick and Miles Teller’s Rooster. It’s an emotional journey for both characters that carries the rest of the story.

Peter Craig may take credit for the idea, but he’s also giving full credit to both Tom Cruise and co-writer Christopher McQuarrie, who he indicates acted as as managers of a sort for the team. Because of strong leadership, the writing team was able to work together easily putting together a strong story. Not everybody who works on a script ends up getting their name in the credits, and Peter Craig mentions that others deserve at least some credit for helping make Top Gun: Mavertick the success that it was. Craig continued…

A lot of people may deserve some credit, but Peter Craig clearly deserves a lot of credit if Goose’s son was his idea. It’s a move that ties the two films together in a way that makes sense, and that probably creates a connection that will be valuable in whatever Top Gun 3 turns out to be.

After so many delays, it’s difficult to keep track of Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning's release date, but it is nearly here. The project is on the 2025 movie schedule, and that means we’re only months away from seeing whatever insane things Tom Cruise gets up to in his latest outing as Ethan Hunt. He and director Christopher McQuarrie are promising the new film will push the boundaries of what Cruise has done before, and based on what they’re describing, it’s hard to disagree.

For a long time Mission: Impossible was Tom Cruise’s only franchise until the long-awaited sequel to Top Gun finally arrived. Fans of both franchises will probably want to be on hand for the actor’s new movie as Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning has an incredible moment with Tom Cruise in a plane that Christopher McQuarrie thinks will top any of the actor’s previous onscreen stunts. The director told Empire…

Topping what came before has been a major goal of each Mission: Impossible movie, but that bar has certainly been raised to an incredible height. Cruise has climbed sheer buildings, a move that required him to fire an insurance company, and ridden motorcycles off cliffs. It’s hard to imagine how they outdo any of that.

The one stunt we know about in the new Mission: Impossible, which McQuarrie is talking about here, involves Cruise hanging off a biplane as it flies through the air. Hanging off things from a dangerous height isn't unusual for the actor, but as Tom Cruise very well knows, airplanes can move in ways that trains and helicopters can't, and one assumes the new film will take full advantage of that fact.

While I’m sure there were plenty of precautions taken to make sure the actor didn’t fall off the thing, Cruise revealed that wasn’t the only danger he faced. At 10,000 feet he actually passed out due to lack of oxygen while filming the stunt. The actor said…

Considering Tom Cruise once did a HALO jump, he likely understands the risks that come with a lack of oxygen. Of course, at that time he had all sorts of equipment to make sure he didn't pass out. Still, the stunt looks wild in the footage that Cruise posted to Instagram.

A sequence like this could certainly be the highlight of the movie from a practical stunt standpoint, but Christopher McQuarrie makes it sound like there might be even more incredible stunts on offer. So, I think we're in for something truly wild when The Final Reckoning hits theaters on May 23.

While it’s almost hard to believe, we are a few months out from seeing what could be Tom Cruise’s last Mission: Impossible movie. On the 2025 movies calendar for May is the release date for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and while that definitely sounds like the name of a movie that could conclude Ethan Hunt’s nearly thirty years in the IMF, what does Tom Cruise have to say?

A couple of months ago, The Final Reckoning teaser trailer oozed an upcoming M:I goodbye, between its callback to Cruise’s iconic scene of him hanging from the ceiling from the first movie, and Hunt ending the trailer by asking someone off camera to trust him “one last time.” When Cruise was recently asked about this, here’s what he said:

Hey, if there’s one thing Tom Cruise is going to do, he’s going to convince you to go out and see a movie in theaters. It sounds like it’s too soon for the actor to really unpack whether the Mission: Impossible movie is his final sendoff because the ending has yet to be revealed. During their interview with Empire, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie perhaps had a more straightforward answer with these words:

The last two Mission: Impossible movies have been a massive undertaking and labor of love from Cruise and McQuarrie since they started production just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to spread in early 2020. This particular movie reportedly began filming back in 2022 and wrapped production this past November with a $400 million production budget under its belt – making the movie one of the most expensive ones ever made.

In the interview, Cruise also called The Final Reckoning an “epic, emotional journey of the entire franchise” that he compared to The Odyssey, calling it “Homeric.” The Mission: Impossible 8 cast will include all sorts of actors from prior films, including Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Bassett and Hayley Atwell. When the latter actor was asked about whether The Final Reckoning will be the end of things, Atwell pointed out the obvious of the title before saying she both “wouldn’t be surprised” if Cruise leaves the door open and moves on from it, considering all that he has in the works.

The last Mission: Impossible movie, 2023’s Dead Reckoning, was regarded as a commercial disappointment. We have to wonder how that movie’s response may affect how the filmmakers approached this movie and how much audiences will turn out for what could be Ethan Hunt’s last ride. While we wait for The Final Reckoning’s release on May 23, you can prepare by watching all the Mission: Impossible movies in order.

The Mission: Impossible franchise is always pushing the envelope in regard to what's possible with big-screen spectacle. Tom Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie and more are at the wheel, and they've dreamed up incredible stunt sequences, like when Cruise strapped himself to a plane for Rogue Nation or when he climbed the Burj Khalifa for Ghost Protocol. Now, it seems for the upcoming eighth film, The Final Reckoning, McQuarrie is teasing a sequence that was "suffocating" for one viewer, and I think I know where this one is going.

During a recent interview with Empire, Christopher McQuarrie teased that the latest film would feature one of the most difficult sequences he and his team ever had to orchestrate, which by M:I standards is saying a lot. The director was clearly excited to get the film on the big screen, and feedback from a recent test screening proved that the team had something incredible -- and gripping-- on their hands. The filmmaker said (via GamesRadar):

This is a pretty great tease and, now, I’m dying to see the scene the audience member is talking about. My theory is that this is an underwater sequence of some kind, hence the “suffocating” comment. The M:I franchise is known for some high intensity underwater scenes that are nerve-racking to watch.

Rogue Nation, in particular, featured an aquatic sequence that required Tom Cruise to hold his breath for a record-breaking six minutes while his character tried to unlock a door underwater. As far as underwater sequences on film, it’s one of the best and I’m curious to see how this could possibly be topped in M:I 8. However, Christopher McQuarrie seems confident that his team has outdone itself.

Almost all signs, in general, are pointing to an underwater sequence, as the promotional material for the film has showcased underwater footage. One BTS pic shows Cruise underwater in some pretty lofty gear for a dive, and the trailer for The Final Reckoning shows several images of the movie star in said gear preparing for a plunge. Additionally, at the end of Dead Reckoning, the Entity’s key sinks down to the bottom of the ocean, which suggests that Ethan Hunt will need to find some way to retrieve it.

Of course, this is still just a theory, as there are several sequences these creatives could dream up that could create a “suffocating” experience for audience members. Hunt may find himself in a situation where all the walls are closing in on him and he needs to figure out how not to get crushed. Also, other high-altitude stunts like the ones Tom Cruise has done in the past may also elicit a similar visceral response. When it comes to M:I, there are no limits, and McQuarrie teasing these Final Reckoning sequences is making me even more pumped to check out the film!

You can see Mission: Impossible— The Final Reckoning, which hits theaters nationwide on May 23, 2025. In the meantime, fans can check out previous installments in the M:I franchise now, as they're all streamable with a Paramount+ subscription. For more information on other exciting titles heading to cinemas and streaming this year, make sure to consult the 2025 movie release schedule.

It’s a well-known fact Tom Cruise does his own stunts. This is included but not limited to things like driving a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff, hanging off the side of an airplane and, oh yeah, an Olympics stunt that took a year to put together. Which is why I was surprised to hear claims Tom Cruise's stunt double on the set of the latest Mission: Impossible movieThe Final Reckoning filled in during one scene so Ethan Hunt could turn pages while ensuring the a-lister avoided a papercut.

Speaking on Capital FM’s “Capital Breakfast” program, co-host Siân Welby opened up about the rumors surrounding The Final Reckoning filming and how one scene simply had Ethan Hunt turning pages in a book. Instead of shooting the scene himself, the actor reportedly had his stunt double do it for him.

A separate report over at The Mirror seems to indicate this did happen and there was a reason Cruise asked his stunt double to fill in for the seemingly mundane scene. Per an insider connected to the movie:

To be clear, the longtime actor is known for doing pretty much all the heavy lifting while playing Ethan Hunt. Not only that, but he’s financially a part of the franchise and produces, too, reportedly paying extra money during Covid to keep Mission going and helping with decisions related to the franchise. It's a heavy load, and filming for the last two Mission installments has been going for years and years.

Accordingly, his Mission: Impossible director Christoper McQuarrie previously said “the challenge” to filming a Tom Cruise movie is almost the opposite of all other action films, telling CBS News:

Sounds like a good problem to have, and it’s one that keeps audiences interested and coming back to see the 62-year-old actor in theaters. Welby might have been a little incredulous in her comments, but she did go on to say the audience takes “for granted” all of the stuff Cruise does to make his movies cinematic, and she did note “how hard it is” for the actor to do what he is doing.

Ultimately, unless McQuarrie, Cruise or someone close to production confirms, I don’t have any idea if this is a yarn or something that really happened on the set of the new movie. However, I will say that if Tom Cruise wants to skip a scene where he has to turn pages, he’s probably earned that right.

The Mission: Impossible movies have been summertime staples to see on the big screen for nearly 30 years. Following Dead Reckoning Part One’s release just a week shy of a year ago, I’ve been looking forward to what action-packed scenes are headed our way in the eighth Mission: Impossible movie. I’m finally getting excited about Tom Cruise’s next big stunt now that the cast is starting to share that they are finishing up their time on set. 

Simon Pegg, who has been a favorite character of mine from the IMF team since he first joined the crew in 2006’s Mission: Impossible 3, announced that he had wrapped on the latest M:I film. Check out what he said about his work on M:I 8 in his Instagram story: 

While speaking right to fans in a video message on the social media account, Simon Pegg updated that after nearly four years working with Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie on the seventh and eighth Mission: Impossible movies, he’s finally said goodbye to the set.

While the two Mission: Impossible movies were originally set to be filmed back-to-back with a much earlier release date, that was reportedly changed when McQuarrie decided to rewrite the script for the eighth film. 

The cast started shooting in March of 2022 in the UK (including the production shutting down a famous location in London for a sequence) before moving the production to Malta, South Africa and Norway. However, when the SAG-AFTRA strike began in July, production was halted again before picking back up in March of this year. 

Simon Pegg’s words about Mission: Impossible 8 being a “fucking incredible spectacle” has me absolutely on the edge of my seat regarding what’s to come in the sequel. While I wasn’t super high on the seventh movie, I have a really good feeling about McQuarrie learning from the mistakes of Dead Reckoning, along with taking the extra time they had to craft something incredible. Plus, no matter what, Cruise always delivers when it comes to presenting the action-packed “wow” factor. 

When it comes to 2025 movies, there’s a lot I’m already looking forward to. Mission: Impossible 8’s May 23 release will come a couple of weeks after Thunderbolts* and a week before the next Karate Kid movie. In a packed summer that will also involve the next Superman film and 28 Years Later, I know I can bet on some really fun scenes between Ethan and Benji when it comes to what’s in store for their next mission! 

In addition to clashing with Esai Morales’ Gabriel and the AI system known as The Entity, 2023’s Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning saw Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt being pursued across the world by Jasper Briggs and Degas, intelligence agents respectively played by Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis. Among the things we know about Mission: Impossible 8, previously known as Dead Reckoning Part Two, is that both these characters will be back, and for Whigham in particular, it sounds like shooting the upcoming 2025 movie was especially enjoyable. That’s because director/co-writer Christopher McQuarrie “delivered” on a request the actor had for Mission: Impossible 8, and I’m pumped to see it onscreen.

While talking about his new movie Lake Gorge with THR, Shea Whigham spent some time discussing Mission: Impossible 8, which began filming in March 2022 and is still rolling cameras, in part due to the delays caused by the SAG-AFTRA strike. During his time on Dead Reckoning, Whigham asked McQuarrie to craft a specific kind of scene for him to perform in the follow-up, which he described as follows:

We won’t know what exactly this scene between Shea Whigham and Tom Cruise entails until Mission: Impossible 8 comes out, but it was gracious of Christopher McQuarrie to fulfill this request to shoot something in the style of The Usual Suspects. It is, after all, one of the best movies of the 1990s, so I don’t blame Whigham for shooting his shot and trying to get something with that kind of vibe thrown in. This scene was shot towards the end of the actor’s time on the production, but that didn’t mark his last interaction with Cruise.

As Shea Whigham continued below, after he and Cruise shot the scene, they had dinner together, and the latter talked about how he still had a long ways to go until he was finished with Mission: Impossible 8:

By the end of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, it’s unclear if Jasper Briggs’ view on Ethan Hunt has softened or if he still considers him a threat. However, given this new information Shea Whigham has provided, I’m inclined to think it’s the latter since if you’re looking to emulate The Usual Suspects, there needs to be some tension between the two characters. That’s not to say that they won’t be on good terms by the end of the movie, but I’m betting Jasper and Degas will continue to complicate Ethan’s journey to defeat Gabriel and The Entity.

Mission: Impossible 8 opens in theaters on May 23, 2025. All of the released Mission: Impossible movies can be streamed with a Paramount+ subscription. In addition to Dead Reckoning, last year also delivered Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which featured Shea Whigham as the voice of George Stacy and is accessible to Netflix subscription holders.

When Alec Baldwin’s Alan Hunley was introduced in Mission: Impossible — Rouge Nation, he was initially depicted as the CIA director who instigated the shutdown of the Impossible Mission Force and was no fan of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. By the end of that movie though, he’d changed his tune, to the point that he became the new IMF Secretary and one of Ethan’s biggest supporters. Sadly, Hunley was killed in the next movie, Fallout, but filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie has revealed that he crafted an intriguing way to feature Baldwin’s character in Dead Reckoning Part One, one of the more recent 2023 new movie release.

McQuarrie stopped by The Empire Spoiler Special Film Podcast to talk about his work on Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh installment in this film series. On the subject of Alec Baldwin, the writer/director who’s been leading the charge on the Mission: Impossible franchise since Rogue Nation said these words about how he’d thought about incorporating Alan Hunley despite the character being dead (via Comicbook.com):

For those in need of a refresher, Alan Hunley met his demise at the hands of Henry Cavill’s August Walker, the CIA assassin who was revealed to be the extremist known as John Lark. Hunley attempted to stop August from escaping from one of the IMF’s safe houses, and he was fatally stabbed for his trouble. With his dying breath, he instructed Ethan Hunt to chase after August with a simple “Go” (which Cruise himself wrote and was literally phoned in). Remind yourself what happened in the rest of Fallout by streaming it with your Paramount+ subscription.

Interestingly enough, back in January 2019, six months after Fallout was released, it was rumored that Alec Baldwin and Henry Cavill might appear in Mission: Impossible 7, and now we know the former was at least accurate. Although there are many fantastical elements at play in this franchise, resurrection isn’t one of them, so Christopher McQuarrie instead envisioned looking in at a moment between Hunley and Ethan pre-Fallout. Going off the filmmaker’s description, it doesn’t sound like we would have seen a “spirit” version of Hunley next to Ethan after the flashback was over, but the late IMF leader still would have been on our main protagonist’s mind throughout the Dead Reckoning Part One story.

The fact that McQuarrie went into so much detail about his scrapped Alan Hunley plan arguably suggests he has no intention to recycle it for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two, which opens on June 28, 2024. Should that not be the case, or if the eighth Mission: Impossible movie finds a different way to squeeze in Alan Hunley, we’ll let you know. Until then, Dead Reckoning Part One’s theatrical run is wrapping up, and it will reportedly be available to buy digitally starting October 10.

Fans of Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible franchise were left with a lot of questions regarding what’s going to happen next as Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One ended and the wait for Part Two began. While we don't know much about the upcoming sequel, we do know the franchise's star had to wear a wig for reshoots for M:I 7, and I think this may be a bit of a spoiler for M:I 8.

As is the case in most Mission: Impossible movies, the world is dealing with an imminent threat that only the IMF can stop. One would expect that Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part Two would pick up right where Part One left off, as the threat was not stopped. However, that may not be the case if we read a bit into the events surrounding the end of production on the first movie. Director Christopher McQuarrie revealed that Tom Cruise had to wear a wig during some reshoots for the first movie, some of which took place in Tom Cruise's garage, because they were already filming the second part when the reshoots took place. But that means that Ethan Hunt’s hair is going to be significantly different in next year’s film.

This would seem to indicate that Dead Reckoning Part Two won’t pick up immediately after the end of Part One, but instead, there will be a time jump, and a fairly significant one, as it will need to be long enough to explain why Ethan Hunt’s hair has changed. Tom Cruise has gone back and forth between short hair and longer hair within the Mission: Impossible franchise. So, it won’t be the first time Ethan Hunt has decided to grow his hair out, assuming that’s what is going to happen here, because the actor currently has longer hair. 

Of course, the apparent time jump itself leads to several questions. What exactly has been happening in the period between the two movies? Has time passed because things have been quiet and nothing much has happened? Ethan Hunt did prevent the bad guys from getting what they were after in the Dead Reckoning Part One ending, and maybe that’s enough to keep chaos at bay for some period of time. Or will we be jumping into a world that is already in chaos and finding Ethan Hunt in a very different place than where we left him?

Christopher McQuarrie certainly isn’t going to include a time jump for no reason at all, he clearly had a plan going into all this. So, there’s a method to it all. Perhaps when we see the first trailers for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two it will all make sense. But, for now, with this news about Curise's wig for M:I 7 reshoots, I can't help but think we should expect a time jump in M:I 8. 

Warning: a huge SPOILER from Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is about to be discussed. If you want to avoid ruining this latest IMF mission, you’ve been warned.

Some huge swings make up the story that co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has set to to tell across his next two Tom Cruise-led blockbusters. With Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part One acting as the big setup, some large choices had to be made to get things underway. For the longtime steward of this Paramount-based franchise, the gravity of the situation was best conveyed through the death of one of Ethan Hunt’s most valued team members. It's a death I’m still pretty mad about, if I’m being completely honest. 

I am, of course, talking about Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, who gave her life valiantly in combat engaging Dead Reckoning villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) in hand-to-hand combat. During a chat on one of Empire’s podcasts (via EW), McQuarrie admitted that as early as the production of Top Gun: Maverick, he and Tom Cruise were discussing this huge moment. In the middle of that conversation came the rationale for sacrificing Ilsa, which, according to the filmmaker, went something like this: 

Stakes are definitely important when you’re dropping a purposefully-constructed two-part Mission: Impossible epic as the seventh and eighth entries of a franchise. This series can’t merely rely on throwing Tom Cruise into dangerous real-life stunts to keep the energy up. Sometimes our hero needs to lose someone to make it all feel real, and in this case, Rebecca Ferguson’s Rogue Nation standout was the one on the chopping block.

Quite frankly, I think you could have still had a sacrifice in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, while also having Ilsa along for the ride. Hayley Atwell’s Grace could have been lost in that very same sequence, and it would have served the same purpose and created a greater shock. 

With the guilt for losing Marie (Mariela Garriga) at the beginning of Ethan Hunt's IMF journey still nagging at him, losing Atwell’s newbie would have been even more tragic. Former MI:6 operative Ilsa signed up for this life, where as professional thief Grace didn't, which technically makes her a relatively innocent party. 

My opinion aside, Christopher McQuarrie went into deeper detail into the specifics of Ilsa’s selection for extinction. While I still don’t think Ms. Faust needed to die, this deeper explanation does go quite far when hammering home why this “had to happen.” According to McQuarrie, here’s the ultimate purpose of Ilsa Faust’s Mission: Impossible demise: 

I’m not the only person who saw Ilsa’s death as a major Dead Reckoning Part One misstep, as our own Jessica Rawden voiced her concerns with that moment in a more longform manner. Sadly, what’s done is done, and Ilsa is now probably resting in the same limbo that Marie and even Kristen Scott Thomas’ Sarah Davies occupy in Ethan Hunt’s tortured psyche. I see the reasoning and I get the dramatic weight of what was done, but I still don't have to like it.

Of course, there's still room for more details to flesh out this heinous act. How that gambit pays off in the end will be decided in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, which currently sits on the 2024 movie schedule with its June 28th debut. In the meantime, you can revisit Dead Reckoning Part One while it's still playing in theaters.

The success of co-writer/director Greta Gerwig’s 2023 movie release Barbie feels reminiscent of that moment 15 years ago when Iron Man first put the MCU on the map. Toy-based movies, especially ones based on Mattel products, are now starting to head up in development, and Hot Wheels is the next project that could be revving up at the starting line. 

As this potential major motion picture saw producer J.J. Abrams jump on board last year, a new report from THR has noted that a director is now being sought out for development. If Warner Bros. wants to strike it rich again, there are a couple of parties they should be considering to jump into the Hot Wheels driver’s seat.I have a solid list of competitors for the job, so without any further delay, here’s my lineup of directing talent intended to give this automotive saga the boost it deserves.

The Wachowskis

With Hot Wheels already set up in development at Warner Bros, it’d be nice for someone with a home court advantage to be involved. Not to mention, it helps if whoever’s being considered has experience with the sort of kinetic action and racing drama this Mattel IP will surely inspire. 

On both of those fronts, it feels like a no brainer to enlist Lana and Lilly Wachowski as the brains to bring these toy cars to life. As if decades of working with this particular studio wasn’t enough of a reason to have these talented ladies sign on the dotted line, they’ve practically auditioned for the gig already. 

In the 15 years since its release, the world has found reasons to support Speed Racer, an under-appreciated film that is slowly getting its due. While this isn’t quite the sequel they’d already had planned for that 2008 thrill ride, Hot Wheels is a chance for The Wachowskis to revive their hyper colorful “car-fu” aesthetic for another spin on this new track.

Neill Blomkamp

The more anyone talks about Hot Wheels as a movie, the more opportunities come up for people to doubt just how you’d make a movie based on this lore-less toy brand. It’s a challenge that sees two solid options as a start: either find a real-life story that somehow has a clever tie into the toys, or dive head first into an imaginative pitch. Luckily, director Neill Blomkamp could do both.

In my Gran Turismo review, I celebrated Blomkamp’s efforts to not only tell a grounded true story, but also to honor the Sony PlayStation game to which it was connected. So if there’s a hook in either of those respects, you could see Neill succeeding at making these tiny cars into a big deal. 

In this scenario, I’d personally hope for Neill Blomkamp to go for the more imaginative fiction route. That's thanks to his District 9 sensibilities suggesting some neat racing drama and killer track designs with some sci-fi flare to them. Either case would be a win, as Neill brings the same hunger and precision to either side of the reality spectrum. 

Joseph Kosinski

Looking at the qualifications I feel are required to make this sort of project work, another familiar name popped up in consideration. Thanks to his work on movies like Tron: Legacy and Top Gun: Maverick, director Joseph Kosinski is another gold star candidate to shape this universe into something that’d be a true delight to see.

Maverick feels especially important in this case, as that Tom Cruise blockbuster was a perfect blend of speed, heart and white knuckle suspense. Mr. Kosinski is even brushing up his automotive action chops at the moment thanks to his Formula 1 movie that allegedly has Brad Pitt driving some real race cars. 

As work on that project is more than likely stalled thanks to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes currently in place, Joseph Kosinski might not have room on his dance card for Hot Wheels. Then again, developing this idea to take off as soon as he’s able to complete that Apple original film might be a good move for his future self. 

Lexi Alexander

Speaking of those early Marvel Cinematic Universe days, there’s another creative talent who could very easily make some excitement in the burgeoning world of toy-based movies. Director Lexi Alexander oversaw the underrated Marvel movie Punisher: War Zone, delivering a fresh take on costumed heroes long before the market even knew it needed such a thing.

Hot Wheels is just the sort of project that could use her various sets of skills to its advantage. As an experienced director of television episodes from the Arrowverse, as well as being a veteran stunt performer herself, Ms. Alexander could develop a truly bonkers version of this movie that delivers the thrilling experience that producer J.J. Abrams wants to deliver. 

On the wild chance that Warner Bros could want a harder edged, but still PG-13 movie on its hands, Lexi Alexander is a fantastic choice for that sort of aim. Though even in the realm of safe for network action, her prowess would still be able to wow the crowd while dialing down the carnage.

James Mangold

How do you discuss racing movies without at least mentioning Ford v. Ferrari’s James Mangold? Considering how well received that racing biopic happened to be, I feel like I’d be a fool for not mentioning Mr. Mangold in this line of contention. 

As the Logan director has tackled plenty of blockbusters and indie films in his time, the greatest asset James brings to the table is his ability to work with any era of this landmark brand. If Warner Bros wants a retro Hot Wheels caper, that Ford v. Ferrari and 3:10 to Yuma magic can shine again. 

Should the studio want something more modern or futuristic, James Mangold’s time in the X-Men universe would be the key to that project. Then again, all caution could be thrown to the wind, allowing Mangold to tackle the whole toybox. There’s a chance that he just might make us all cry while delivering the goods. 

Christopher McQuarrie

Another busy bee who might not have the bandwidth to get into Hot Wheels, despite being a perfect fit for it, is Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’s Christopher McQuarrie. As a writer and director on the last few installments of Tom Cruise’s ongoing espionage thrill ride, McQ’s efforts to deliver hard driving action and engaging storytelling is another formula that could run this toy-based world. 

Though he’s continuing to drive the bus for the adventures of Ethan Hunt, with ideas for Mission: Impossible 9 already in mind, McQuarrie is still a prime choice to put into this sandbox. It may have to be a more effects-driven shoot, as the world of Hot Wheels isn’t totally rooted in reality, but you can be assured that Christopher McQuarrie would get as practical as possible with the Mattel IP. This would admittedly give a certain edge to those crashing fantasies every kid would play out with their own set of these miniature motor vehicles.

Edgar Wright

For my final choice in this challenge to find the right director for Hot Wheels, I'm going with another heartfelt favorite. Edgar Wright is a director that grabs from all of the bags mentioned throughout the rest of the pack. 

He’s worked with colorful IPs like Scott Pilgrim that have become colorful cult favorites, as well as had experience with the MCU machine thanks to his cancelled version of Ant-Man. And yet again, the ace in deck for Wright’s potential hiring comes from his practical experience with adventurous car stunts thanks to Baby Driver. 

Combining his past experiences with his unique voice, Edgar Wright could turn Hot Wheels into a subversively pulp journey. Plus, the Cornetto Trilogy mastermind wouldn’t skimp on the color or the soundtrack to help drive what would be insane thrills. If Mr. Wright were ever to consider trying to make a massive blockbuster again, Hot Wheels is the sweet spot that would allow him to make it his own while also staying in the lane of this particular brand.

As we’ve now crossed the finish line, it’s time for me to remind you all that sadly, everything above is pure speculation. How long that will remain a reality is a mystery, as Warner Bros. sounds pretty set on finding a director for Hot Wheels as soon as possible. In the meantime, fans can enjoy Barbie’s finished product, as it’s still dominating the box office at a theater near you; a fact that could only intensify this search even further in the days to come.

The Mission: Impossible franchise took on its toughest challenge when it made the decision to film two M:I movies back-to-back. The decision was only made more difficult by the global pandemic that first delayed Mission: Impossible 7 entirely and then caused shooting to run at a snail's pace once it could begin again. This caused a lot of new and unexpected complexities in production, including the fact that Tom Cruise needed a wig for some scenes.

We already know that the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning reshoots were a little wild, with some shots taking place at Tom Cruise’s garage because director Christopher McQuarrie realized he needed some new shots at the last minute. But speaking with the Empire Spoiler Special Movie Podcast (via ScreenRant), he also reveals that reshoots required Tom Cruise to be in a wig for a few scenes, including the final moments between Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Haley Atwell’s Grace. McQuarrie explained…

Apparently the first of the two Mission: Impossible movies being filmed evolved enough over time that by the end the original version of the farewell scene wasn’t right, so it needed to be redone. The problem was, Tom Cruise had very different hair by that point.

The issue was the reshoots for Dead Reckoning Part One were taking place while principal photography for Dead Reckoning Part Two was happening, and apparently Cruise has very different hair in that movie, so it needed to be covered in order to work in the earlier scene. McQuarrie continued…

Tom Cruise has gone back and forth between his Top Gun-style short hair and a shaggier style throughout his career, and even within the Mission: Impossible franchise.  It sounds like he may be doing that even within the two parts of Dead Reckoning. 

This is actually a potentially interesting detail as it would seem to confirm that Part Two isn’t going to pick up immediately after the events of Part One, or at least there will be a significant time jump at some point in the film. How else will Cruise's hair be changing so much? It makes a certain amount of logical sense. When you’re busy saving the world, who has time to get a haircut? 

The following contains minor spoilers for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

The Mission: Impossible franchise is known for going to beautiful locations all over the world so Tom Cruise can climb the world’s tallest building or otherwise put his life at risk in some exotic location. But apparently a few shots of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One were not shot in Venice or Norway or Abu Dhabi. Instead, they were filmed in Tom Cruise’s garage. 

Appearing on the Empire Spoiler Special Film Podcast (via DigitalSpy), director Christopher McQuarrie explained that a few insert shots from the Mission Briefing scene early in the film were shot in Tom Cruise's garage because when McQuarrie was editing the film he realized there were a handful of pieces he needed but did not have. According to McQuarrie…

Dead Reckoning Part One gives us a peek at Ethan Hunt's backstory before he joined the IMF. It turns out that he, and a lot of other agents, ended up there as a way to escape some amount of trouble they had gotten into. There's a lot that we still don't know about Ethan's story, and there will likely be more explained in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two. Ethan is believed to have killed his girlfriend, and he joined the IMF to escape the law.

Apparently, test audiences had trouble understanding the flashback sequences that showed what had happened to Ethan’s old girlfriend. They had filmed the insert shots that were meant to help explain things better on the last day of filming, and the director admits they rushed through them trying to get everything done. 

The result was footage that McQuarie admits looked like “shit” as well as at least one shot that the director realized he needed but didn’t have, a mugshot of Ethan Hunt. So needing to shoot a handful of brief scenes, and needing to do it quickly and cheaply, Tom Cruise apparently volunteered his garage. McQuarrie continued…

It's all a little funny that some of the new Mission: Impossible movie was filmed in Cruise's garage because of just how much work went into the new film shooting on location all over the world. Dead Reckoning took literally years to finish because production was quite slow due to filming under strict covid protocols. Production was shutdown due to covid more than once and filming saw numerous delays for required quarantines as production moved from one country to another. All that to end up shooting at your lead actor's house.

Shooting a movie in Tom Cruise’s garage is probably a lot different than shooting a movie in most other garages would be. One can imagine it’s a lot bigger and thus setting up a mini film shoot is probably a lot easier. But now you won’t be able to look at those scenes in Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One quite the same way again. You know which scenes are from Tom Cruise’s garage. 

The Mission: Impossible franchise has always found new ways to surprise us when it comes to the practical stunts Tom Cruise will perform, but the announcement of the most recent project also surprised fans when it was announced that the next Mission: Impossible story would be divided in half, requiring two movies to complete. While one has to assume that the studio had little problem greenlighting even more Mission: Impossible, director Christopher McQuarrie says it was the story, not the box office that required Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning to be two movies.

Mission: Impossible movies have always been showcases for incredible action. But especially in the time that Christopher McQuarrie has been at the helm, they certainly haven’t skimped on the story either. And because Ethan Hunt works with a team, these are movies with a lot of characters. Speaking with Collider, McQuarrie says that it was ultimately the characters that drove the idea of breaking Dead Reckoning in two because he simply needed more time to create the characters and give them emotional stories. He explained… 

There certainly are a lot of characters in the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One cast. In addition to Tom Cruise and his regular team (including Simon Pegg and Ving Raimes), we see the return of characters we haven’t seen since the first entry in the franchise, as well as several new characters who clearly have stories to tell. One can only imagine how difficult it would be to give all of them enough to do, in a way that would be emotionally satisfying, if they tried to cram it all into a single film.

Dead Reckoning Part One is already a nearly three-hour movie, so a plot that moved twice as fast would have so much story to cover that it’s hard to imagine we’d get to know the characters at all. McQuarrie has said that he specifically wanted to the new movies to have less plot in them because that let the action tell more of the story, and clearly, it also gave us more time with the various characters.

What will happen to our heroes in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two is anybody's guess right now. However, with so much groundwork already done to introduce characters and plot ideas, one can imagine it will hit the ground running, and with another two or three hours of story to tell, it certainly will have the ability to come to a very emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Reading the headline, the similarities between the Mission: Impossible movies and Top Gun: Maverick I thought of first were the death-defying action and of course the leading man of both franchises, Tom Cruise. However, these franchises have something else in common as the actor and Christopher McQuarrie spoke about the importance of creating singular stories within a franchise.

What I mean by singular stories is, the movies are able to be comprehended without seeing the films that came before them. As the director and actor released Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, they spoke about what the seventh M:I movie has in common with Top Gun's legacy sequel. While speaking with Film4 Christopher McQuarrie, who directed M:I 7 and co-wrote and produced Maverick, explained this major similarity between the two series, saying:

As a casual fan of the M:I franchise specifically, I think these two have accomplished this goal every time. I have never seen the Mission: Impossible movies in order, and I watched all seven over the course of many years. So, the overarching plot is not something I can really recall. However, as McQuarrie said, it’s not necessary. 

As shown in the moderately reviewed Dead Reckoning, the IMF is recontextualized, and we’re reintroduced to Henry Czerny’s Kittridge, who was only in the first Mission: Impossible before appearing in the seventh film. However, his importance is explained in the Dead Reckoning. Even if you haven’t seen the 1996 movie in years (like me), you’ll still understand his role in the story. McQuarrie continued to speak about this example, explaining: 

Not only did McQuarrie and Cruise effectively bring back a character in a way that didn't require viewers to see the six movies prior, this isn’t the first time they’ve done it. Not only does the Mission: Impossible franchise focus on making individual stories for each installment, the same thing was done with Top Gun: Maverick. 

Tom Cruise had to be convinced to make Maverick, and it was the story between his pilot and Goose’s son Rooster that sold him. While the film is deeply linked to its predecessor through this relationship, it added scenes that explain the connections. It’s not necessary to have seen Top Gun before seeing the sequel. While it would help, it’s by no means required. The same can be said about M:I. 

Along with this similarity, Cruise also noted how he wants these franchises to have longevity because he wants to keep making Mission: Impossible movies and pushing what’s possible. The actor said:

Clearly, what Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie are doing works, because Maverick was a massive success, and M:I 7’s sequel Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two will appear on the 2024 movie schedule. This method of making movies understandable for all audiences is fantastic. It also makes it so you don’t necessarily have to do homework before making your way to the movies to catch the latest action flick from this dynamic duo. 

Spoilers for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One lie ahead, so read at your own risk.

It honestly feels like there’s no feat Tom Cruise hasn’t attempted for a film at this point in his career. He’s scaled the side of a building, piloted real fighter jets and most recently, jumped off a cliff with a motorcycle. Cruise has also done a number of underwater scenes, which were likely thrilling for moviegoers. However, it would appear that the leading man isn’t done being submerged in H20, as Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie is teasing another underwater sequence for him. And in crafting that scene for the upcoming eighth film in the series, McQuarrie and Cruise hope to rectify their past work. 

Christopher McQuarrie has worked with the A-lister on several films over the years, two of which are Edge of Tomorrow and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. Both critically acclaimed movies saw the Oscar nominee work with water. Believe it or not, McQuarrie and the Rain Man actor himself weren’t all that happy with how both experiences panned out. This may be surprising to some, but the filmmaker provided a valid reason as to why they were underwhelmed with the final results:

I personally enjoyed watching Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust infiltrating a submerged vault in Rogue Nation. The same is true of the final battle with Omega in Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, which Christopher McQuarrie co-wrote. However, the comments McQuarrie shared with Collider are understandable. When those sequences were done, he and Cruise were (figuratively and literally) dipping their toes into the water. In short, they didn’t have as much knowledge about it from a production standpoint, apparently. 

These sentiments give the impression that the Way of the Gun helmer and his colleagues are wiser now, though, and that bodes well for whatever they have planned for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two. Anyone who’s seen Part One would probably agree that it makes sense for a water-based scene to take place in the upcoming sequel. The latest installment saw Ethan Hunt and co. attempt to combat The Entity, an antagonistic and seemingly omnipresent A.I. system. By the end, Hunt learned the program can be destroyed (or controlled) through its source code. That early version is located in the sunken remains of the Sevastopol vessel, and Ethan and ally Benji Dunn are keen on finding it. So you can probably imagine that Hunt – and maybe a few others – will have to descend to the depths to reach the submarine. 

That’s an exciting prospect, as Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie truly know how to pull off world-class action sequences. Dead Reckoning Part One alone is sheer evidence of that fact. That motorcycle stunt, which they kicked off filming with, is nothing short of incredible as is the Fiat car chase. McQuarrie and actress Hayley Atwell even explained to CinemaBlend that the latter was a technical nightmare. Nevertheless, the cast and crew really seem to grab the bull by the horns and commit to the work. 

One would think that approach to production flowed into production on DR Part Two (which has currently halted amid the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes). I’m excited to see what kind of water-centric sequence the actor and his lead cook up for their next M:I movie. Expect an over-the-top moment that shows they’ve learned from any past mistakes.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is now playing in theaters, and look out for Part Two, which opens on June 28 as part of the 2024 movie schedule. If you’re interested you can also check out M:I: – Rogue Nation using a Paramount+ subscription and Edge of Tomorrow with a Max subscription.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1's excellent cast is filled with stars who appeared in previous installments of the action-forward series – including Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Henry Czerny – but one familiar face missing from the ensemble is Angela Bassett. There were plans to bring the Oscar-nominated actor back as Erika Sloane, the character she played in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately prevented that from happening.

So what was her part going to be? That's a question that has been asked of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, and answered. Speaking with Variety, the filmmaker spoke about the return of Erika Sloane that didn't come together, and he explained that she was going to be featured in the early scene in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 where members of the intelligence community gather to discuss the dangerous artificial intelligence known as The Entity. Said McQuarrie,

Angela Bassett's Erika Sloane surely would have fit right into that meeting alongside Henry Czerny's Eugene Kittridge and Cary Elwes' Denlinger, and it would have been fun to have her presence enhance the depth of canon in the scene given her history in the franchise. If one wants to look at her absence from the most positive point of view, however, it can be pointed out that she gets spared being knocked unconscious by the smoke bomb that is activated by an infiltrator (that's as spoiler-y as I'll get for those of you who have not yet seen the film).

Fortunately, just because Angela Bassett's Erika Sloane isn't in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 doesn't mean that her time with the franchise is at an end. Obviously there's at least one more title on the way (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 2, which is presently scheduled for release in June 2024), and there is no plan to have that film be the finale. Addressing the potential to see Sloane again in a future Mission: Impossible sequel, Christopher McQuarrie said,

For now, fans can go see Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 and at least appreciate the Angela Bassett Easter egg that comes in the form of a portrait that can be spotted hanging on the wall during Denlinger's meeting. The movie is now playing in theaters everywhere, and you should certainly make an effort to see it on the biggest screen possible to get the most out of it.

Warning: mild SPOILERS for Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One are in play. If you’re not current on the adventures of Ethan Hunt, you’ve been warned. 

As Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One represents the latest step in storytelling from one of the best action movie franchises around, it seems that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt was always bound to confront his past. This massive two-part narrative has been half told, and in the opinion of co-writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, it was the right time to play that card.

Part of that notion was expressed through bringing back Henry Czerny’s Eugene Kittridge from the 1996 origin of Ethan Hunt’s Mission: Impossible story. With that seed in mind, McQuarrie went one step further, as he revealed to our own Sean O’Connell during the Mission: Impossible 7 press day. And as he told CinemaBlend during that very sitdown, Esai Morales being cast as the villainous Gabriel also cemented that plotline through a very personal connection: 

Heading up the franchise since 2015’s Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, the man some call “McQ” has a pretty unique insight into how this saga works. As the writer/director who has stuck around for the longest stretch in the entire franchise, Christopher McQuarrie has brought the concept of serialization to the world of Ethan Hunt.

Tying in pretty much every Mission into one cohesive whole, marathoning each of the previous entries with a Paramount+ subscription is about to feel like even more of a necessity. Further building on that foundation, Esai Morales’ antagonist Gabriel is a presence that was literally present for Ethan Hunt’s origins.

While he’s technically a new character for the Dead Reckoning Part One audience, Gabriel is revealed to be a pre-existing evil, as well as a key player in showing us all how to become an IMF agent. So having Esai Morales' relationship with Tom Cruise fuel that development made for some exciting, and borderline method acting, madness when seeing the two clash on screen. However, based on McQuarrie’s comments above, it sounds like that wasn’t always the case. 

Indeed, one has to wonder what this villain would have been like if actor Nicholas Hoult had stayed on the project. As Hoult’s role on The Great led to him dropping out of this summer tentpole, those conflicts lead to Esai Morales’ Mission: Impossible 7 casting. That said, if it wasn’t for Gabriel, we might not have seen the return of one of the greatest frenemies in Ethan Hunt’s life: CIA Director Eugene Kittridge.

Henry Czerny’s legacy character made a hell of a splash when Christopher McQuarrie announced his return for Mission: Impossible 7, as well as its direct sequel. As he was last seen negotiating the deal that helped Maxine Mitsopolis (Vanessa Redgrave) pave the way for her daughter Alana (Vanessa Kirby) to keep the family arms business running, that thread apparently became something that McQ was eager to develop.

Explaining how his work on Mission: Impossible - Fallout also stoked the fires of past sins, Christopher McQuarrie brought it all together with the following details, also shared with CinemaBlend:

Though we’re not totally sure what Eugene Kittridge has been doing in the years since Mission: Impossible, Czerny has his own notes on his Dead Reckoning backstory that make total sense. It all adds up to a mission so great, it had to be split between the seventh and eighth installments, creating a massive reckoning for Ethan Hunt and his IMF team. And the best part is, we’re only halfway through that story’s course of events.

For now, we’ll have to wait and see how Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two further develops Esai Morales and Henry Czerny’s characters. The grand finale to this duology is currently scheduled to debut on the 2024 movie schedule on June 28th. Dead Reckoning Part One, on the other hand, is currently showing at a theater near you. 

SPOILER warning: details about the ending of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One lie ahead.

Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1 is one of the biggest movies of the summer. Featuring high-flying stunts and unbelievable action sequences, the latest addition to the franchise has audiences at the edge of their seats. One of those scenes is the train sequence towards the end of the film, where Ethan Hunt and companion Grace are tasked with climbing up a train suspended in air off of a cliff. Some fans noticed the scene had some similarities to the Uncharted video game, and now the director of M:I 7 is weighing in. 

M:I director Christopher McQuarrie has recently been active on Threads, responding to fan questions about his influences and other technical questions audiences have about the making of some of the intense sequences in the franchise's latest movie. In a recent exchange, one fan asked if the director at all was influenced by some of the gameplay in the Uncharted video game. McQuarrie responded, indicating that the scene in question did not have video game influences. He answered:

Uncharted is a treasure-hunting adventure game similar to the likes of Indiana Jones. Players follow Nathan Drake as he travels around the world discovering various historical treasures. The Uncharted similarity question is not unfounded, as one of the sequences in Uncharted 2 features the protagonist trying to climb a train dangling off of a cliff. It even has a shot of the character hanging off of the train, just as Tom Cruise does in Mission: Impossible 7. Even one of the directors of the game made the connection. 

In addition, Uncharted's premise isn’t dissimilar from the M:I franchise. While Ethan Hunt isn’t a treasure hunter, he does travel across the globe trying to accomplish a variety of missions, and that sometimes involves hunting down objects. In this particular adventure, Hunt is tracking the cruciform key that unlocks important mysteries of a powerful AI program. 

I guess great minds just think alike, and McQuarrie just has similar visual sensibilities of the Uncharted team The sequence in Dead Reckoning is awe-inspiring, featuring Hunt and Grace climbing the falling structure, while trying to navigate the falling objects as they climb. This is followed by an epic fight on top of the train. The physical performances by Cruise and Hayley Atwell are sensational, making the moment one of the most impressive, nail-biting scenes in the franchise’s history. Hopefully we get the same top-notch action when Part 2 is released in 2024.

You can check out Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1 in theaters now. The visuals are worth the theatrical experience, so make sure to see it on the big screen while you can. In addition, you can play the Uncharted games on PlayStation consoles, as well as watch the movie adaptation of the game with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other films heading to cinemas and streaming this year, check out our 2023 movie release schedule.

Following the success of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, there was little surprise when it was confirmed that more movies were on the way. What was perhaps a little surprising was that two Mission: Impossible movies were confirmed at the same time, and that they would be two halves of a single story. While splitting a story across more than one film is certainly not entirely unheard of, it’s a rare decision for a number of reasons, and it sounds like Tom Cruise wasn’t always a fan.

Speaking on the official Mission: Impossible podcast Light the Fuse, Tom Cruise explained that the idea of splitting Dead Reckoning in half, which was done in order to literally allow each movie to have less plot so that the visual storytelling could be a greater focus, was the right thing to do. However, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie took issue with Cruise’s positive comments, saying that during filming, the actor wasn’t always quite so positive. McQuarrie said… 

The pair have a good laugh, but the production of Mission: Impossible 7 was an absolute herculean task that took literal years. While a lot of the time that was taken was due to the slow production required by a global pandemic, it’s not surprising that there were times that Cruise might have wished the movie was just bloody done. However, Cruise counters by saying McQuarrie sometimes felt the same way, and the actor would prod his director by pointing out they never had to do all this. Cruise said…

At this point, it’s not exactly shocking to say that the reason people go to see Mission: Impossible movies are for the impressive visuals, like watching Tom Cruise ride motorcycles off cliffs. But the nature of the franchise, full of spies and subterfuge, always required a significant amount of plot that then needed to be laid out and explained. McQuarrie felt that by splitting Dead Reckoning in half, they could explore everything a bit more deeply. And even though the two-part story isn’t done yet, McQuarrie believes he made the right call, saying… 

With movies like the last two Avengers films and the recent Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, we’re seeing more movies make the decision to cut a story in half. While the jury is still out on how successful the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning saga will be, I’m sure both Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie hope all their hard work will pay off.  

Spoiler Warning: Details about the ending of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One lie ahead.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One opened this week and fans and critics are absolutely loving the new installment in the 30 year old franchise. Full of incredible stunts and chase sequences bound to put you on the edge of your seat, M:I 7 is the perfect summer movie. With so much to enjoy and the promise of another film in the title, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie struggled with how to end the movie. Finding the perfect ending was so important to the action star, that it kept him up at night.

In a recent interview with our sister site GamesRadar, McQuarrie opened up about the importance of finding the perfect ending for M:I 7. The title hints at a Part Two, so the creative team wanted to find a way to conclude it as its own movie, while also getting fans excited for another Dead Reckoning around the corner. It took a while to get there, and was a source of stress on Cruise’s part. The filmmaker detailed:

While it may have been tempting to end Part One with a cliffhanger (literally and figuratively), the director really wanted viewers to be satisfied with the ending, rather than the film just acting as a lead up to M:I 8. They wanted audiences to be excited to see the next movie, rather than just feeling like they have to. McQuarrie continued:

Thankfully for Tom Cruise’s sleep schedule, the filmmakers found the perfect ending for Mission Impossible 7. Ethan Hunt and his brazen new team member, Grace, obtain the cruciform key from Gabriel. Grace agrees to join the IMF officially, and Hunt parachutes off the falling train, disappearing with the key. For audiences, we get to see a real conclusion to the stakes and objectives established for the film. The movie still leaves fans with many questions about the power of the Entity, and what Hunt will do with a key that holds so much power. Not only did Ethan Hunt accomplish his mission, McQuarrie and Cruise also accomplished theirs. 

Cruise’s passion for movies and giving audiences the best moviegoing experience possible is well documented, and not unique to Mission: Impossible. He would not agree to make Top Gun: Maverick until they got the story right, and it was important to him that they used real fighter planes as it was more realistic visually. Within the M:I franchise, he has participated in numerous death defying stunts for audience enjoyment, like strapping himself to a plane taking off, and jumping off of a massive cliff with his motorcycle. He loves the theatrical experience so much that he would sneak in the back of movie theaters just to observe audience reactions. The man is truly committed.

You can check out Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One which is in theaters nationwide now. Fans of the franchise who want to revisit the other M:I films ahead of the latest addition can do so now with a Paramount+ subscription. For more information on other much anticipated movies heading to cinemas and streaming later this year, make sure to consult our 2023 movie release schedule. 

The Mission: Impossible films are best known for their death-defying stunts, often performed practically by the virtually ageless Tom Cruise. We covered, extensively, the amount of prep that Cruise put in to filming the motorcycle jump into a freefall base-jump cliff stunt for the new movie Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One. But if you ask director Christopher McQuarrie, he’ll tell you that the Fiat car chase around Rome is the scene that he’s most proud of, and for good reason.

You have seen the scene teased in the trailers. Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell are running for their lives, escaping some heavy hitters (including Pom Klementieff, acting like a lunatic). They escape in a series of vehicles. Motorcycles. Cars. And they end up in a tricked out yellow Fiat… handcuffed together. 

That should be challenging enough, right? Well, no. While speaking with Christopher McQuarrie regarding the planning and execution of that chase scene, he talked alot about how Rome, and the conditions of the location, dictated what they could do… and not do. As McQuarrie told CinemaBlend:

But there’s a technical element to the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One Fiat car chase around Rome that might go unrecognized unless you know to look out for it. Because as Hayley Atwell went on to explain that throughout the chase sequence, she and Tom Cruise are framed by McQuarrie in a two shot. Meaning, the take of the scene that the director could use had to be good for both actors, and not something that could be covered up by quick edits. Atwell went on to say:

That’s saying a lot. But that’s what happens when you team with Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie on a Mission: Impossible movie. They are technical exercises that warrant being seen on the biggest screen possible. And make sure that you watch the Mission: Impossible movies in order, to truly track Ethan Hunt’s progress. You also have to keep up to date with this most recent MIssion: Impossible so that you are ready when the second half of Dead Reckoning plays out … even though that might not be the end of the franchise, if you believe what Tom Cruise is now saying. Stay tuned for more, and go see Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One while it’s still in theaters!

The Mission:Impossible series of action movies has become synonymous with its daredevil antics, but it seems that the filmmakers almost took a page out of Indiana Jones' de-aging playbook for the latest M:I adventure, Dead Reckoning - Part One. In a surprising revelation, director Christopher McQuarrie shared that there were plans to use the technology on franchise star Tom Cruise for a pivotal sequence set in 1989. But ultimately, the director decided it probably wasn’t the best idea for the series, which puts so much emphasis on practical effects.

According to the filmmaker, he and his team initially looked at the de-aging process for a cold open that would have been a flashback. Speaking to our sister site GamesRadar+ and Total Film, McQuarrie disclosed that he found himself less focused on the story than the technology, which gave him pause. He explained:

The longtime Cruise collaborator says he was distracted by how his friend looked after the de-aging process, but he thinks he knows the best way to handle it in the future. For McQuarrie and the Top Gun: Maverick star, never say never because, according to the director, there is still a possibility they could explore a younger Ethan Hunt in the future. He elaborated:

Cruise continues to defy age as he effortlessly performs his iconic run and stunts, like the insane halo jump, like someone in their 40s. Unsurprisingly, there's no necessity to de-age him at this point, though it would be kind of fun to see the actor return to the era of the beginning of the franchise. A M:I film set in the 90s could be so much fun.

The film does incorporate a blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it scene featuring the de-aging effect, but the film's antagonist, played by Esai Morales, is the one who undergoes the transformation. Fortunately the shot is fleeting, preventing the unsettling and distracting uncanny effect that can sometimes occur with de-aged scenes. While Ethan Hunt doesn’t appear in the flashback, one can infer that this was probably when his younger self was meant to show up in all his 1989 glory. 

You can catch 61-year-old Tom Cruise, sans de-aging, still bringing it in Mission:Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One, which has finally landed in theaters. For those with a Paramount+ subscription, all six previous franchise missions are available for streaming. Don’t miss out on what is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated titles among the exciting lineup of 2023 new movie releases. 

Stunts are part of what makes a movie like Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One a potential crowd pleaser. However, that’s not where Chrisopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise stopped when it came to literally pleasing some crowds ready to watch the latest entry in this franchise of action movies. Because of course Cruise and his Mission director visited four cities within the course of 24 hours, just to surprise fans at their early screenings. 

A whirlwind tour of Toronto, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Miami took place recently, as the Cruise/McQuarrie charm offensive took its show on the road. In the exact order listed above, those Mission: Impossible boys hit those destinations, and put together the clip reel of their journey. You can see the whirlwind trip for yourself down below:

While some people get their fill of flying by making their way to only one of those destinations, Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie hit up four separate major locations on the east coast in a marathon of merriment. Keep in mind, this all happened not too long after the Mission: Impossible 7 cast toured various nations of the world to attend several premiere events. 

And as McQ himself highlights in the video to prove it, reaching the final stop of Miami came roughly 12 and a half hours after beginning this grand tour. Though when it came to popping up at these random venues, our traveling titans opted for some low-key threads. So if anyone thought they were getting Hayley Atwell levels of premiere glam, that wasn’t exactly the case. Then again, that wasn’t the point of these Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One appearances.

A massive gala premiere represents a way different kind of mission than showing up to thank the fans who showed up to a theater near their relative location. Though Tom Cruise still looked sharp at these pop-ups, as did Mr. McQuarrie, it wasn’t about showing off. It was about showing up and showing gratitude to those who have probably been with the series since the beginning of Ethan Hunt’s M:I story.

As this goodwill tour more than likely winds down in the coming week, it’s pretty amazing to see just how much Tom Cruise has stumped for other summer movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer. Channeling the sort of gesture he put into the world when Tenet was first released at the beginning of the pandemic, the man hasn’t stopped expressing his love for the cinematic experience. 

And he probably never will, especially when the results include wholesome, meme-worthy shots such as this one taken from the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One promo above:

A very happy Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One opening day to all who celebrate. With the movie now released into theaters, everyone can dig into Ethan Hunt’s latest adventure, popcorn in hand. Though that’s not the only way to celebrate, as all six previous missions are currently streaming through a Paramount+ subscription. Oh, and make sure to not forget the popcorn when you see the latest flick, which is one of the biggest titles on the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.

In the post-trilogy era of the Mission: Impossible franchise, the films have found tremendous success by simply doing specific special things with skill and flair. The plots are straightforward and mostly forgettable, and the characters and dramatic performances aren’t made to be particularly complex, but the blockbusters blow minds with astonishing set pieces, well-established stakes, charismatic stars, and spectacular cinematography. In reflection, elements from the movies feel interchangeable between them, but they each have had an awesome, captivating power on the big screen.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1, however, is the first installment in the series where the adventure has felt monotonous. Presented with no reason to alter course, director Christopher McQuarrie and star Tom Cruise stick to the formula and provide extended periods of thrills and spectacle, but not since Mission: Impossible II has a Mission: Impossible movie felt so hollow and bereft of foundation. There are interesting elements of story sprinkled in, such as showcasing the path one takes to become a Impossible Mission Force agent, but it’s a near-three hour blockbuster that is overlong despite it never dragging or feeling exhausting. At its best, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, but in between, it’s hard not to notice that characters have the exact same conversation over and over again.

This time around, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his cadre of close colleagues find themselves pitted against not a sinister international agency or treacherous moles in the IMF, but instead what is called The Entity: an artificial intelligence that has the capacity to seize and manipulate the entire world’s financial institutions and military capabilities. It’s understood that to harness The Entity would allow for global domination, but this can only be accomplished if two halves of a special key can be found and properly utilized.

Believing that nobody should possess the power of The Entity and aiming to destroy it, Ethan reteams with colleagues Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) for a globetrotting adventure to track down and assemble the key. One half is fortunately with an ally – namely Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who has gone on the run after being disavowed by MI6 – but the other proves to be more difficult to hold on to. This is specifically because of the intervention of Grace (Hayley Atwell), a gifted thief and con artist who is also after the powerful MacGuffin, and Gabriel (Esai Morales), a deadly individual operating on behalf of The Entity with antagonistic ties to Ethan’s past.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is surprisingly generic and repetitive. 

Because of his connection to The Entity, Gabriel is the only person on Earth who actually knows how the assembled key can be utilized to control the artificial intelligence… and if this is a detail that you miss the first time it’s mentioned, the good news is that you’ll get plenty more opportunities to grasp the idea as it’s constantly repeated. The same goes for discussions of the danger that the artificial intelligence represents, that you can only tell if one half of the key is fake by having both halves, and that Gabriel once killed someone that Ethan cared about (which is paired with flashback footage that is shown multiple times). With the story as thin as it is, stakes are turned into padding for the film’s quieter scenes – packaged along with the information about the next far-flung destination to which the protagonists will fly for the next big chase and/or battle.

As noted earlier, none of the Mission: Impossible movies since Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol have featured cerebral and complicated plots to complement the death-defying stunts orchestrated by Tom Cruise, but the narrative lacking is more prominent here, and one can’t help but wonder if it’s in part because what would normally be enough story for one Dead Reckoning film is being stretched into two.

Hayley Atwell's Grace is an exciting newcomer in the Mission: Impossible franchise.

Paired with the generic artificial intelligence plotting is the introduction of two generic two prominent characters in Grace and Gabriel – and though wanting for depth, they do add energy to the film thanks to the skills of the performers. Hayley Atwell plays the former with an impressive mix of rogue’s confidence and fear that comes from being out of her depth in the world of tradecraft, but also (most importantly) she has a sharp on-screen rapport opposite Tom Cruise. Esai Morales has the harder job, if not especially because of the rough retcon job the film does trying to establish Gabriel as Ethan Hunt’s old archnemesis, but the turn has all the sinister and suave energy required for the part.

Unfortunately, there are franchise newcomers who end up being far more let down by the shallowest aspects of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1’s script. Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis, as two vague law enforcement officials on Ethan Hunt’s tail, ultimately add little more to the film than being tagalong pursuers in chase sequences and waving guns in the air. Pom Klementieff, meanwhile, gets to exhibit a lot of ferocity as Gabriel’s number one soldier, but the character lacks any kind of special signature to help her stand out.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is an excellent spectacle, but it doesn't raise the bar for the franchise.

As for the special signature of the general Mission: Impossible franchise, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 delivers on its biggest promise (a lot of Tom Cruise running and personally performing jaw-dropping stunts), though fans should tamper expectations a smidge – particularly those who have learned all about the sequence where Ethan Hunt rides a motorcycle off of a cliff. Christopher McQuarrie orchestrates a number of bombastic, cheer-worthy set pieces in the blockbuster, including a tremendous romp through Rome and an intense third act fight set on top of an out-of-control train, but it also can’t be said that the movie ups the game for the franchise, which is something that was expertly done by the previous three sequels in the long-running series.

Following on the heels of the cinematic triumphs that are Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation and Fallout, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 is a poorly timed disappointment in that it doesn’t inspire overwhelming excitement for the story’s conclusion (scheduled for theatrical release next summer), though it’s also far from a disaster in that one still can’t help but be wowed by the spectacle that is on display. The blockbuster’s biggest problem is that it shines a spotlight on the franchise’s greatest weaknesses, but we can hold out hope that Part 2 will deliver where its predecessor underwhelms.

Director Christopher McQuarrie and the cast of “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One,” including Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Vanessa Kirby, Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis, sat down to discuss the making of the franchise's seventh installment. They tackle the debate on the use of A.I. in the moviemaking business, the incredible feats met while shooting a car chase with Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise handcuffed to one another, and more.

Video Chapters

00:00 - Intro
00:28 - ‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1” Cast On The Impact Of A.I. In Storytelling
03:08 - Shooting A Chase Scene While Handcuffed To Tom Cruise
05:44 - Is Simon Pegg Ready To Say Goodbye To Benji?
06:41 - Where Did The Cast Have The Most Fun Shooting On Location?

Over the past decade, Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible series have gone hand in hand. They’ve also become synonymous with the most satisfying franchise action in Hollywood at the moment, with Cruise pushing the envelope from film to film to make sure that he’s performing stunts that keep audiences on the edges of their seats. Soon, we all will be heading back to theaters for the latest chapter in the saga, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One, and while the action set pieces help to sell a lot of tickets, but it’s not the main thing that helps to make the franchise so great. 

We got the opportunity to sit down with Mission: Impossible director Christopher McQuarrie, who has been at the helm of the Mission movies since Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (which you can watch if you have a Paramount+ subscription). Over the course of discussing the Fiat chase scene that has been a major part of the film’s marketing, I mentioned a comedic character moment that can be found in the chase. And with that reveal, McQuarrie opened up about what Tom Cruise brings to the franchise, that might go overlooked. He told CinemaBlend:

We make a lot of noise regarding Tom Cruise and his commitment to the stunts in Mission: Impossible. All through production on Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One, we covered the prep that Cruise put into the motorcycle-off-a-cliff sequence. It’s magnificent. But we keep coming back to this franchise because we care about Ethan Hunt. And the reason that we do is because Cruise comes up with those emotional moments in between the stunts, helping us to invest in this skilled spy as he embarks on each new mission. It helps him plan for the unexpected in a scene. Like cobblestones creating physical headaches during the Fiat chase. And it helps him develop this mysterious character with each new film.

In Dead Reckoning, Part One, there is a threat from Ethan’s past that returns to haunt him, and while the cast of the Mission: Impossible series understands that Tom Cruise risks his life for them with each new stunt, Hunt can’t accept that… and will go to great lengths to protect his team. The critics already have weighed in, and soon you will be able to see Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One on the biggest screen possible beginning July 11. It’s one of many upcoming 2023 films on our radar for the weeks to come.

Precious few film franchises can claim to have their own official podcast. Sure, there are shows like Franchise Me, which dives into multiple series from Hollywood’s history. And saga’s like the James Bond movies or some horror staples have attracted dedicated podcasters and rabid followings. But they don’t compare to the audience built by Light the Fuse, a podcast created by Charles Hood and Drew Taylor in service of the ongoing Mission: Impossible series. And the show just announced – in preparation for the arrival of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One – that it is relaunching as the official companion podcast for the Mission series, and will kick off its next phase with a Tom Cruise interview.

Paramount confirmed that Light the Fuse will join the Paramount Audio library, becoming the official companion podcast for the franchise. The show will join the Audio slate on July 11, one day before ahead of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One arrives in theaters on July 12. Critics already have weighed in on the sequel, and McQ has been teasing stunts for Part Two already… even though he’s still filming. 

To date, Light the Fuse already has assembled an impressive guest list of Mission: Impossible veterans, including frequent director Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise, composer Lorne Balfe, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird, original director Brian De Palma, and more. But Paramount now says that the program will be able to get more access to talent, helping fans celebrate their favorite film franchise. 

Speaking on the collaboration, Charles Hood and Drew Taylor said:

In the first new episode of the relaunched series, Hood and Taylor will be joined by Mission: Impossible star and producer Tom Cruise. That, alone, should be enough. But Cruise will be joined by Christopher McQuarrie, making for an iconic episode. Don’t worry that the show will peak with episode one. Light the Fuse already can confirm that Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, and more have been scheduled to appear on the podcast. So fans will have virtually every angle of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One covered. 

You finally will get to see that massive motorcycle stunt that Cruise and McQuarrie have been teasing for months when Dead Reckoning, Part One lands in theaters. At the same time, new episodes for Light the Fuse will debut every Tuesday on all major podcast platforms, and are a must for Mission fans around the globe.

Moviegoers were first introduced to Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt over 25 years ago, and he’s kept us entertained over the course of six mind-blowing movies with some truly great action sequences. Following the success of 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Cruise will return for two final films to close out his character’s story. The first of those, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, is set for release in July, and critics who've been able to catch an early screening are hitting social media with the reactions. Let’s see what we should expect from the beginning of the end of this action-packed series.

Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed this seventh installment, which unsurprisingly will see Ethan Hunt on his most dangerous mission yet, according to the plot description. The movie will see his team attempts to track down a weapon that threatens humanity. Joining Tom Cruise on the Dead Reckoning cast will be some other familiar faces from the franchise, including Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg and Henry Czerny, as well as some new additions, who include Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff. Early reactions to the movie should make fans excited for what’s to come, as Collider’s Perri Nemiroff calls it a win for the franchise, praising Atwell’s “captivating” performance: 

Mike Ryan of Uproxx calls Mission: Impossible 7 an "ambitious" meditation on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence and also says it's nice to see Henry Czerny back in the franchise. However, the inherent nature of this being the first half of a bigger story makes this installment less satisfying as its predecessor. Ryan tweets:

Germain Lussier of Gizmodo says the upcoming movie's final action sequence ranks in the top 2 or 3 of the whole series and says the story is not only "dynamite" but appropriate for the times we're living in. Like others who were able to catch an early screening, Lussier compliments the new characters, writing:

Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail calls the new Tom Cruise blockbuster a "behemoth-sized spectacle," agreeing with others that the set pieces are ridiculous. Hertz says Dead Reckoning comes close to Fallout but he stops short of saying it exceeds the sixth movie:

Film critic Scott Mantz, however, has no issues with calling this one the best Mission: Impossible offering yet, with a great story, impressive cast and incredible action. Mantz continues:

While some say the ending feels less than complete, as it leads into next year's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two (assuming the writer's strike isn't delaying production), Fandango's Erik Davis has no issues, saying that Part One gives a satisfying conclusion while leaving the audience dying to know what happens next. Davis tweets: 

Fans who have been waiting for years for the seventh Ethan Hunt movie should be bolstered by these first reactions. Though it's no surprise that Tom Cruise and co. would go to all lengths to ratchet up the action for each ensuing Mission: Impossible movie. 

We'll learn even more when the reviews for Dead Reckoning Part One are released on July 5, so be sure to check back to CinemaBlend for continued coverage. In the meantime, you can start planning your next trip to the theater with our schedule of 2023 new movie releases, or see how to stream all of the Mission: Impossible movies in preparation for the latest installment's July 12 release date.

Amidst a packed summer of 2023 new movie releases headed our way in the coming weeks is the seventh Mission Impossible film, Dead Reckoning Part One. The movie promises some incredible action sequences throughout, including a wild motorcycle stunt that is reportedly the “most dangerous” thing Tom Cruise has done in the franchise. But among other big challenges on set, who knew cobblestone streets were a major one too? 

Dead Reckoning Part One features a thrilling car chase sequence that was shot on location in Rome, Italy, where Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Mission: Impossible newcomer Hayley Atwell are handcuffed to one another as they try to get off the trail of some undisclosed enemies. In the featurette above, a closer look at the sequence shows that it was a particular challenge for the production. As writer/director Christopher McQuarrie shared: 

The streets of Rome, Italy are paved with cobblestone streets, which have proven to be quite unsafe over the years. The cobblestones can come loose as cars drive over them, become very slippery when wet and have even been known to send cyclists flying from bikes. So when Dead Reckoning Part One decided to film its massive car chase scene there, that element of the environment became a major obstacle for the production. As McQuarrie continued: 

There's also the fact that Tom Cruise has to drive in the sequence with one hand, given that in the scene his character is handcuffed to Atwell’s character. As the video from Paramount Pictures YouTube shows, the pair go from driving one car to a yellow FIAT 500 which was built to be faster than a typical car of that model. Plus, as the movie’s second unit director/stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood pointed out, one could “barely control the car, it was treacherous.” McQuarrie summed up their experience filming the sequence quite well, also saying this: 

Even though it sounds like the Rome car chase was borderline terrifying for the cast and crew to figure out, from what we see of it, it looks like a super fun sequence that’s going to have us on the edge of our seats. The specific sequence was even shown at CinemaCon, which you can check out our reaction for when CinemaBlend experienced it. 

If you can believe it, Dead Reckoning Part One started filming right when COVID-19 shutdowns first began in early 2020. The movie was finally finished last week, three years and four months later ahead of its theatrical release date on July 12, 2023. Here’s to seeing the mission accomplished when the seventh Mission: Impossible finally comes out next month. 

Due to the life cycle of the movie business, the ongoing WGA Writers strike was not going to have bring the entire industry to a halt immediately. But everybody understood that the longer it went on, the more projects would be impacted. We’re now starting to see significant delays in film and TV; some movies that were planned to start filming being delayed, and release dates being pushed back. But apparently one report of a movie halting itself mid-production, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two, may not be entirely accurate.

Mission: Impossible 8 has currently taken a break in filming, and in a recent interview director Christopher McQuarrie said that production on the film saw challenges due to the current strike, and this apparently led some to connect those dots and assume that the pause in filming was due to the strike. But Deadline reports that the current break was always part of the plan, as everybody is currently focused on promoting Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, which is set to hit theaters in less than a month.

That’s not to say that the WGA strike might not present future issues for that project. The Deadline story specifies that when Dead Reckoning Part Two resumes filming later this summer, there are hopes that the strike will have been resolved. If that isn’t the case, there very well could be complications. No changes of any kind can be made to a script without a WGA writer to make them, and right now there are no writers working in productions due to the strike. 

Film productions frequently need to make allowances for their stars to take a break from filming one movie in order to promote a different film. And certainly when the decision was made to shoot two Mission: Impossible movies back-to-back, it was understood that would be an issue here. While the actual filming of Mission: Impossible 7 was delayed by years due to the global pandemic, the decision to shoot the movies together and release them about a year apart never changed. 

We are starting to see the WGA strike have a real impact on film productions. Disney just made major changes to its release calendar, and it’s difficult to believe the strike didn’t play a part in some of that. While some major productions, like Deadpool 3 are shooting during the strike, many believe that movie will benefit from the fact that so much of Ryan Reynolds' voice is handled in post-production, and thus shooting the script without changes now won’t be an issue as a lot can still be changed later. 

At this point, it does look like most of the serious delays are over, and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two will have a production schedule more like what we were used to seeing pre-pandemic, but movies get delayed all the time for all sorts of reasons, so the possibility that the two-part Mission: Impossible adventure might have a wider gap between entries than planned will remain possible right up until the end.