Tom Cruise on ‘Mission: Impossible’ Stunt: "It Isn't Just Flying—It’s Preparing for the What-Ifs"

Twenty-nine years ago, Mission: Impossible exploded onto the scene with Tom Cruise dangling from wires, outrunning fireballs, and redefining what it meant to be a Hollywood action star. Almost three decades later, he's still doing the unthinkable—and in The Final Reckoning, Cruise proves once again that impossible isn’t in his vocabulary.

The Final Reckoning is exactly what the title hints at: a high-stakes, high-speed climax that not only pushes the franchise’s limits but also pays homage to everything that came before it. Fans are treated to callbacks, flashbacks, and emotional tie-ins that thread all the way back to Ethan Hunt’s very first impossible mission. It's action-packed, it's cinematic, and it still somehow feels fresh in a world that's changed a lot since 1996.

I sat down with Cruise to talk about the film’s mind-bending stunt work—because yes, he’s still doing his own—and what it took to pull off one of the wildest sequences yet: a low-level flight through narrow mountain canyons, with him clinging to the wing of a plane. No cables, no green screens, just Tom Cruise versus gravity.

"You have to picture it like a ravine, with air moving like water over rocks," Cruise explained, describing the challenges of flying close to canyon walls. "We spent years developing this. It’s not just about flying the aircraft. It's preparing for the what-ifs—and knowing if something goes wrong, where do I go?"

When it comes to Cruise and stunts, preparation is practically a character of its own. For this particular sequence, he trained both himself and the pilots; and there were no radio communications once they were airborne—only experience, instinct, and a whole lot of spatial awareness keeping things from going sideways.

"I had to not only be acting, but perceiving the airflow of the wing, knowing if we're in trouble, and estimating how fast I could move to minimize damage," he said. "If the aircraft starts to stall, if the engine sputters, if a downdraft hits—you can’t talk, you just have to know."

It's this meticulous attention to every single detail—plus an almost absurd willingness to risk it all—that’s kept the Mission: Impossible franchise in a league of its own. While other action movies lean heavier on CGI, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie double down on practical stunts that leave audiences actually feeling the danger.

And The Final Reckoning doesn’t just lean into that ethos—it launches it to another stratosphere. From the very first frame, it’s clear that the stakes are personal this time. Ethan Hunt faces enemies not just from today, but from the ghosts of his past, with familiar faces, old grudges, and world-ending stakes colliding across continents.

And yet, despite all the chaos, the heart of the story remains the same: one man willing to risk everything for the people he loves.

For fans who've been on this ride since the '90s, The Final Reckoning delivers what feels like a love letter to the franchise. It honors the original films without getting stuck in nostalgia, blending the classic espionage-meets-stunt spectacle that defined the early days with a more modern, emotional edge.

"I'm always trying to look into the future and anticipate something that could go wrong—and be prepared for it," Cruise said, almost as if he were talking about his career, not just the stunt.

At 62, Cruise’s commitment to the craft is more awe-inspiring than ever. He’s not just starring in action movies—he's still out there doing the action itself, redefining what’s possible for an entire generation of actors and filmmakers.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning reminds us why Tom Cruise remains one of the last true movie stars: because for him, the mission has always been personal.

And he’s still not slowing down.