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12 of tom cruise’s most jaw-dropping stunts.

From scaling a skyscraper to hanging on to the outside of an airplane as it takes off, here are some of the actor's most death-defying stunts.

By Carly Thomas

Carly Thomas

Associate Editor

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Tom Cruise has never steered away from challenging himself in his roles for projects. Especially since 1986’s  Top Gun , he has continued to push the limits of his body and acting, taking on his own stunts in most of his top films, including Mission: Impossible ,  The Last Samurai  and  Jack Reacher .

Most recently, Cruise took on several death-defying stunts in  Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , including speed-flying down a mountainside as well as driving a motorcycle off a cliff and parachuting to safety.

The actor has previously said during an appearance on  The Graham Norton Show  that he has been “doing different stunts” since he was a child and that once he got into acting, he wanted to keep doing it to help with the “storytelling.”

“I feel that [when] acting you’re bringing everything, you know, physically and emotionally, to a character in a story,” he explained at the time. “And I’m able to do it [stunts], and I’ve trained for 30 years doing things like this that it allows us to put cameras in places where you normally are not able to.”

More recently, during a  conversation at Cannes  in 2022, Cruise reiterated that he enjoys performing his own stunts despite the danger, only this time he referenced one of the best athletes of Hollywood’s golden era.

“No one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance?’” the actor said. “Why do you do your own dancing?’”

Below, The Hollywood Reporter has compiled a list of some of Cruise’s wildest stunts, some downright death-defying, throughout his decades-long career.

'Mission: Impossible' (Aquarium Scene)

In the first installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise in 1996, Cruise reportedly never swapped out for a stuntman in one particular scene involving an aquarium. In the sequence, Ethan Hunt, who would become one of Cruise’s most well-known characters, intentionally blows up a giant aquarium that stretches the length from the floor to the ceiling to help get away quickly. The explosive was so powerful that another person was sent flying through a glass panel, while Cruise went running with 16 gallons of water following right behind him.

'Mission: Impossible II' (Rock Climbing Scene)

In 2000’s Mission: Impossible II , Cruise showed no signs of plans to stop testing his limits. In the opening scene of the John Woo-directed film, the actor can be seen climbing and hanging off giant rocks on the side of a cliff. During filming, Cruise reportedly had only a safety cable to help soften any impact, which led to Woo actively sweating throughout the entire sequence because of how dangerous it was.

'Top Gun' (Parachute Scene)

In 1986’s  Top Gun , Cruise began seeking the thrill of doing his own stunts. But the scene when Maverick (Cruise) and Goose (Anthony Edwards) are ejected from the jet and parachute into the water (leading to his co-pilot’s death) nearly didn’t go as planned. Top Gun ‘s Barry Tubb told the  New York Post  on the film’s 25th anniversary that “Cruise came as close to dying as anybody on a set I’ve ever seen.” During filming, when Cruise was lifting up Goose’s body from the ocean, Cruise actually began to sink due to water building up in his parachute. According to Tubb, Cruise would have drowned if it was not caught early enough to get him out.

At the time of filming Top Gun , it was also reported that a veteran fighter pilot  died while shooting aerial footage for the movie.

'The Last Samurai' (Samurai Sword Scene)

In 2003’s  The Last Samurai , Cruise once again nearly avoided a tragic accident while doing his own stunts. While filming a fight sequence between Nathan Algren (Cruise) and Ujio (Hiroyuki Sanada), the two were riding on what were actually mechanical horses, in which one was supposed to stop moving before Sanada takes a swing at Cruise with a real samurai sword. But the horse didn’t stop, and Cruise reportedly came within an inch of the sword before Sanada was able to pull back, avoiding contact with Cruise.

“Tom’s neck was right in front of me, and I tried to stop swinging my sword, but it was hard to control with one hand,” Sanada previously told the  Daily Mail .  “The film crew watching from the side all screamed because they thought Tom’s head would fly off.”

'Collateral' (Car Crash Scene)

At this point, on-set accidents are nothing new to Cruise, and the same goes for an incident while filming an action scene with Jamie Foxx for 2004’s  Collateral . During an interview at the time , Foxx thought he nearly killed his co-star when he smashed into Cruise’s Mercedes-Benz during a chase sequence. “I hit the gas, the cab goes straight head on into [Cruise’s] Mercedes, and the Mercedes lifts off the ground and goes off the set,” he explained. Cruise added that although he was OK, he was tossed around the car. “I was hitting the roof,” he said. “I was down on the ground.”

'Edge of Tomorrow' (Another Car Crash Scene)

While filming 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow , Emily Blunt confirmed to Conan O’Brien on  Conan at the time that Cruise “really does everything and wants to do everything” when it comes to doing stunts. But she revealed that during one scene, his luck was tested once again. The actress said in one action sequence when she was driving and Cruise was in the passenger seat, the stunt coordinator tasked her with driving really fast down a road and then taking a sharp turn. She noted that the first take went well, but during the second, she took a turn too late and “drove us into a tree and I almost killed Tom Cruise.” Thankfully, Cruise was OK, and Blunt added that he was actually laughing afterward.

'Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol' (Scaling a Skyscraper Scene)

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol director Brad Bird said watching Cruise take on death-defying stunts is “just another day at work” for the film’s crewmembers. Specifically for the 2011 movie, the actor scaled Dubai’s 163-floor Burj Khalifa. In behind-the-scenes footage, Cruise can be seen climbing, swinging and running up and down the building, with only a wire keeping him from falling.

'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation' (Plane Scene)

In 2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation , Cruise decided to take his intense stunts to the sky. In the film, the actor can be seen dangling on the outside of an Airbus 400 as it takes off. Robert Elswit, director of photography, told The Hollywood Reporter  at the time what went into making the stunt a reality while keeping Cruise safe.

“Tom was in a full body harness and he’s cabled and wired to the plane through [its] door. Inside the aircraft was an aluminum truss that was carefully bolted to the plane, which held the wires that went through the door, which held Tom,” the cinematographer said of the safety measures. “He was also wearing special contact lenses to protect his eyes. If anything hit him at those speeds, it could be really bad. They were very careful about cleaning the runway so there were no rocks. And we took off in certain weather conditions; there were no birds. And he’s sort of protected by the way the air moves over the wing.”

'Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation' (Underwater Breathing Scene)

In the Christopher McQuarrie-directed film, Cruise went from doing stunts in the sky to doing them underwater. For the said sequence in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation , the actor actually had to undergo training to be able to hold his breath underwater for six minutes. For comparison, professional divers hold their breath for anywhere between four and seven minutes,  according to the American Physiological Society , but even that can be very dangerous and could cause brain damage. Although Cruise scared crewmembers a few times by testing his limits underwater, in the end, he successfully completed the mission.

“It’s something I have always wanted to do,” Cruise said during an interview with USA Today at the time. “We’re underwater and we’re doing breath-holds of 6 to 6-1/2 minutes. So I was doing all my training with the other stuff (on-set). It was very taxing stuff.”

'Mission: Impossible – Fallout' (Building Jump Scene)

While filming a building jump scene in 2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout , Cruise actually got hurt, which shut down production for six weeks while he recovered. During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show , the actor not only detailed exactly what went wrong but shared a video of the moment he broke his ankle during the stunt.

In the scene, while attached to two safety wires, Cruise’s character is meant to jump from one high-rise to another when chasing Henry Cavill’s character. Although he was meant to miss the landing and hit the side of the wall, his foot actually slipped and bent upwards on impact. The actor noted that he “knew instantly it was broken.” Cruise also revealed that his ankle was still healing while he was on the press tour for the film.

‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ (Speed-Flying Scene)

In the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Tom Cruise shows that he has no plans to stop doing death-defying stunts anytime soon. For Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , the actor learned how to do what director Christopher McQuarrie called “one of the most dangerous sports in the world.” Speed-flying, which is similar to paragliding, combines elements of parachute swooping to allow people to fly at high speeds down mountainsides while maintaining close to the slope. And Cruise did just that for one of the scenes in the latest installment of the action franchise. McQuarrie even noted that when Cruise was “flying very close to rocks,” the filming crew was in “absolute terror” behind the cameras. 

‘Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One’ (Motorbiking Off a Cliff Scene)

For Mission: Impossible 7 , Tom Cruise said he got to do a stunt that he had wanted to do “since I was a little kid.” And that stunt was riding a motorbike off a cliff and parachuting down to safety. Director Christopher McQuarrie explained that there were many elements needed to actually make it happen, as well as years of different types of training. Once Cruise felt like he was comfortable with each aspect of the stunt, that’s when the crew built the film’s final ramp on a cliff in Norway. A crewmember added that Cruise did a total of six takes of one of the “biggest stunts in cinema history.” 

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Tom Cruise's 10 best stunts of all time, ranked

• Tom Cruise does his own stunts and it's remarkable what he's been able to pull off.
• Hanging on the side of a plane, skydiving, climbing the world's tallest building — he's done it all.
• Here's a recap of his greatest stunts.

10. For the cargo-plane crash in "The Mummy," Cruise did the stunt inside a NASA plane that trains astronauts for zero gravity.

In 2017's "The Mummy," Cruise finds himself stuck in a cargo plane as it crashes. To pull off a scene like this, actors would typically film it in a controlled setting like a sound stage surrounded by a green screen.

Not Cruise, though.

The star shot the scene in a plane that NASA uses to train astronauts .

The scene was filmed in the plane which had to go up to 25,000 feet to get the look that Cruise was in zero gravity. The plane then did a free fall for 22 seconds.

Cruise did the flight four times to pull off the scene.

9. Cruise flew a helicopter in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout."

For the thrilling helicopter-chase scene in the finale of "Fallout," Cruise spent 16 hours a day training to get to the required 2,000 hours to fly a helicopter on his own.

But Cruise didn't just fly the helicopter. He also pulled off a 360-degree corkscrew dive in it, which would challenge even the most veteran pilot.

8. Cruise is really in a F/A-18 jet for the flight scenes in "Top Gun" Maverick" and had to deal with the G-forces.

When you see Cruise and the cast looking like they are battling G-forces in the jets, complete with distorted faces, it's because they really were.

Cruise and the cast went through training so their dogfight scenes could look as realistic as possible — which meant sitting in the F/A-18 jets as they were spun around and took dramatic dives.

7. Cruise climbed a 2,000-foot cliff in "Mission: Impossible 2."

In the opening scene of 2000's "M: I 2," Cruise is seen climbing a cliff. And yes, that's really him.

Cruise scaled the cliff in Utah with nothing but a safety rope . He also did a 15-foot jump from one cliff to another.

6. Cruise held his breath for six minutes for an underwater stunt in "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation."

In one scene, Cruise's Ethan Hunt has to dive into an underwater safe to retrieve the computer chip that will lead him closer to the villain.

Along with having to hold his breath the whole time , he must keep away from a large crane that's circling around the safe.

For the scene, Cruise first jumped off a 120-foot ledge. Then, in a 20-foot deep-water tank, Cruise held his breath for six minutes.

5. Cruise broke his ankle jumping between buildings while making "Mission: Impossible — Fallout."

Tom Cruise loves to run in his movies; it's become his trademark. But his ability to continue running came into question after a stunt went wrong on the set of "Fallout."

While jumping from one one building to another, Cruise hit the wall of the building the wrong way and broke his ankle.

The accident halted production for months and doctors told Cruise his running days might be over. But, six weeks later, Cruise was back on set doing sprints .

4. Cruise climbed the tallest building in the world for "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol."

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world, and Cruise climbed it.

For "Ghost Protocol," the actor's climb got him up to 1,700 feet in the air .

He also fell four stories down by rappelling on the surface of the building.

3. Cruise did 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps for the thrilling motorcycle stunt in "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1."

For the latest "M:I" movie, Cruise once again pushed himself.

And one stunt in particular is definitely up there as one of his craziest ideas yet: driving a motorcycle off a cliff.

The star did 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps to prepare for the stunt. And that wasn't just so Cruise had the skill and comfort to pull off the stunt; the training also made it possible for director Christopher McQuarrie and his crew to map out camera angles to capture it. 

The stunt was then done on the first day of principal photography.

"We know either we will continue with the film or we're not. Let's know day one!" Cruise told "Entertainment Tonight" on why it was done on the first day.

Cruise ended up doing the stunt six times on the day of shooting.

2. Cruise hung on the side of a plane as it took off for "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation."

Cruise clung to the side of a massive Airbus A400M plane as it took off and went up to 1,000 feet dealing with speeds of 100 knots.

To protect the actor, he was secured with a wire attached to the plane. He also had special contacts on to protect his eyes from debris.

Cruise did this stunt eight times.

1. Cruise did 106 skydives with a broken ankle to pull off the HALO jump in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout."

While Cruise was healing the broken ankle he sustained earlier in the "Fallout" production, he went and pulled off the most amazing stunt he's done in his career so far.

In the movie, Cruise's character and CIA tagalong August Walker (Henry Cavill) decide to do a HALO jump — a high-altitude, low-open skydive, in which you open your parachute at a low altitude after free-falling for a period of time — out of a giant C-17 plane to get into Paris undetected.

Cruise did this for real by executing the jump 106 times over two weeks , many of them done during golden hour, a very brief period of perfect lighting that occurs just before sunset.

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Screen Rant

Tom cruise's 14 mission: impossible stunts ranked by most dangerous.

Tom Cruise continues to perform his own dangerous stunts for the Mission: Impossible movies, each death-defying sequence upstaging the last.

Both the Mission: Impossible franchise and its lead actor and producer Tom Cruise have become synonymous with blood-curdling, dangerous stunts. With each new film, Cruise insists on doing his own stunts , taking it upon himself to risk his life in increasingly, treacherous sequences for the quality of the finished product. At this point, Cruise is a bona fide stunt performer whose bravery in dangerous stunts allows the capture of unique moments not seen in other movies.

Luckily, Cruise's training, dedication, and ambition, coupled with experts' guidance, film direction, and stunt coordination make these sequences as safe as possible so that Cruise's stunts can get even bigger. Nonetheless, unpredictable elements and variables and there being nothing Cruise won't do for a Mission: Impossible stunt make them life-threatening. Here are 14 of the most dangerous times Tom Cruise has risked everything to make Mission: Impossible's audience's pulse race.

14 Helicopter-Train Jump in Mission: Impossible

Seemingly shot before Cruise had a death wish, the stunts in Mission: Impossible seem tame compared to that of the franchise's later entries. However, that's not to say there weren't a few perilous moments, and one that stands out is during the film's climax. After tussling with Jon Voight's villain Jim Phelps on top of a TGV bullet train and jumping onto a helicopter that soon explodes, Cruise's Ethan Hunt then jumps back onto the train.

This stunt was filmed on a sound stage in Pinewood Studios using a wind generator firing dangerous winds of 140 mph to emulate the blast. Considering his stunt career trajectory, Cruise was initially reluctant to include the stunt. Therefore, this stunt could be the origin story of his passion for doing his own Mission: Impossible stunts. After completing the jump four times, Cruise was bleeding, bruised, and cut; however, it was a sign of even more danger to come.

13 Cable Drop in Mission: Impossible

One of the most iconic scenes, not only in the Mission: Impossible franchise, but in spy movies, sees Hunt rappel down from the ceiling into a locked-down room. Breaking into Langley, the CIA's headquarters, Hunt is lowered into the room to avoid triggering alarms. As if this weren't dangerous enough, Hunt's wire lifeline is also let go by Franz Kreiger, causing him to plummet to the ground and stop just inches from the floor.

The stunt was all about balance, as Cruise discovered quickly, repeatedly overbalancing and thwacking his head on the floor. Brian De Palma was about to shoot the scene differently when Cruise filled his shoes with pound coins for counterbalance and got the shot. Though this sequence is not one of Cruise's most dangerous stunts, hanging and falling 40 feet from the ceiling for days and repeatedly enduring blows to the head isn't exactly health and safety conscious.

12 Aquarium Explosion in Mission: Impossible

Another entry from the movie that started it all, this stunt involves Cruise outrunning 16 tons of water bursting out of an exploding aquarium. After learning that he's been double-crossed, Hunt makes his escape from his untenable position by throwing a piece of exploding gum at a fish tank in a Prague restaurant. After stunt specialists delivered underwhelming attempts, de Palma grudgingly let Cruise undertake the sequence.

It says something about Cruise's body of stunt work that this one is low down the list. The aquarium sequence was incredibly dangerous when taking into account the water, shattering glass, and miscommunication regarding the exact timing of the stunt. Although Cruise limped away with a hurt ankle (not for the last time), the stunt made for a spectacular scene.

Related: Mission: Impossible Movies Ranked - From The 1996 Original to Fallout

11 Casablanca Bike Chase in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

In a movie with such iconic stunts, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation's bike chase is somewhat eclipsed. The thrilling sequence sees Hunt racing after Rebecca Ferguson's Isla Faust, first by car and then on a BMW S1000RR motorcycle. Although Hunt's chase is unsuccessful and Faust escapes, this sizzling pursuit around the extreme turns of the Casablanca highway put Cruise's life firmly in danger.

Having started riding motorcycles at the age of 10, it is no surprise that Cruise is keen to use them in his stunts. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie even wrote the script around this motorcycle chase, and it pays off as it injects a high-octane punch brimming with raw danger. Cruise rides up to 130 mph and leans over sometimes just inches from the ground, and all without a helmet.

10 Paris Bike Chase in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Mission: Impossible - Fallout somehow managed to outdo its predecessor's motorcycle chase, but this time Hunt becomes the hunted. For this sequence, Cruise and his fellow biker stunt performers abandoned their safety rigs, meaning that did the whole chase by free riding. All the turns weaving in and out of oncoming traffic and going well above the Parisian speed limits executed by Cruise, were all as dangerous as they look.

Hurtling through the streets at over 100 mph with cars and bikes pursuing and coming at him head-on sounds like enough to deal with, but McQuarrie revealed Mission: Impossible - Fallout's motorcycle chase was more perilous than it seemed. Between numerous automotive variables, slippery wet cobblestones, and cameras seeking close-ups at stomach-turning speeds just inches away from his head, it's amazing Cruise escaped from shooting this sequence without a scratch. Further, a miscommunication problem with the local stunt drivers meant they sometimes failed to hit their mark.

9 Free Climbing Cliffhanger in Mission: Impossible 2

The opening of the franchise's second film establishes that even in Hunt's time off between missions he enjoys getting his heart pumping. It is during some R&R mountain free climbing at Dead Horse Point in Utah that Hunt gets his mission that sets up M ission: Impossible 2 . Despite safety precautions taken by the film's production, it shows what Cruise is made of.

Unlike his adrenaline junkie character, Cruise wore a safety rope throughout the sequence, however, the margin of error was so chillingly slim that even director John Woo had to look away. The only scene where the free climber in the shot isn't Cruise is when Hunt almost slips and tumbles between two cliffs. Other than that, it's really him hanging off the red rocks, 600 feet above a talus slope and a further 2000 feet from the ground. It's a precarious, impressive feat and a great opening sequence.

Related: Every Time Tom Cruise's Hunt "Died" In The Mission: Impossible Series

8 Roof Jump in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

One of the most famous stunt accidents in recent years, Cruise's ankle break occurred while filming a relatively straightforward stunt in London for Mission: Impossible - Fallout . As he leaps from one building to another, misjudging it horribly, Cruise clatters into the building's side and bends his foot nine ways to Sunday.

Though it might not seem as dangerous as the other stunts on this list, as anyone who has seen the nauseating footage of the injury can attest, this jump looked very painful. It was also an expensive injury, as Cruise was unable to continue filming it halted production for seven weeks and cost the studio $80 million. This was of the few times a Mission: Impossible stunt has gone wrong, and it shows how real the stakes are and that Cruise is, in fact, human.

7 Eye-Watering Knife Fight in Mission: Impossible 2

A similarly disturbing stunt that features in Mission: Impossible 2, and the risk was even higher. During the third-act battle, Dougray Scott's villain Sean Ambrose tries to sink his very sharp knife into Hunt's eye. To ensure maximum realism, Woo wanted Scott to genuinely push down with all of his force onto Cruise's eye. During the stunt, the blade gets as close as a quarter-inch away, Cruise being protected only by a steel cable attached to an overhead rig. Needless to say, if these cables malfunctioned, the consequences could be at the very least life-changing and at the very most life-ending.

6 HALO Jump in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The mission in Paris in Mission: Impossible - Fallout begins with a high-altitude low-open jump that goes awry when Henry Cavill's character August Walker's oxygen supply malfunctions. The sequence is breathtaking and its realism is palpable with Cruise's face alight as he exhibits both expert skydiving and high-caliber acting. It's the fruit borne by hard work and sheer nerve in the face of danger, and not just from Cruise.

Falling from 25,000 feet, Cruise, Cavill's stunt double, and a videographer jumped 106 times (including rehearsals) and shot the sequence in three-minute takes, once per day, to ensure the dusk lighting was perfect. The scene is three takes stitched together, each more dangerous than the last. Jumping out of the plane is hazardous enough, and there was a serious risk of colliding with Cavill's double when filming Hunt plummeting to Walker's aid. Finally, during the take in which Hunt saves Walker, Cruise had to judge the height at which to stop providing him oxygen and deploy his parachute.

5 The Airbus Scene In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

During the comic opening scene and plane stunt of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Benji Dunn fails to remotely open the door to let Hunt onto a plane in Minsk, Belarus. This gave Cruise the opportunity to perform a stunt in which he clings to the side of an Airbus A400M plane as it takes off. The scene follows Hunt ascending thousands of feet into the air; as the seconds elapse the danger proliferates.

Considering Cruise was bolted to the plane via a harness, at speeds of 260 mph, birds and debris became the biggest dangers. Indeed, the actor was actually injured by a pebble at high speed. The stunt is even more terrifying considering that, according to McQuarrie, Cruise was wearing earplugs and contact lenses, meaning he couldn't see or hear. Further, the toxic fumes from the engine added potential long-term effects to the mix.

Related: Tom Cruise’s New Cliff Stunt Creates A Big Mission: Impossible 8 Challenge

4 Helicopter Chase in Mission: Impossible - Fallout

During the Mission: Impossible - Fallout helicopter chase stunt , Hunt finds himself on a rope hanging from a moving helicopter, eventually crawling up the rope to fly it and chase Cavill's character. Again, all that stands between Cruise and certain death, as he hangs out of the side of the helicopter, is a harness. That said, what makes this sequence especially dangerous is the proximity to which the two helicopters come to each other.

Cruise piloted the helicopter himself after becoming certified in an unusually accelerated timeframe and training hard for 16 hours per day. Moreover, flying in dim seasonal light Cruise got as close as a few feet from the other helicopter's rotor blades. It was so dangerous that director McQuarrie has said that he wouldn't have begun filming the sequence had he known beforehand what it took to capture.

3 Underwater Heist in Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

In Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation , Hunt and his team are tasked with swapping a file in an underwater database. When he fails to open the escape hatch, Faust must come and save him to prevent him from drowning. This extremely dangerous stunt had real stakes; both Cruise and Ferguson risked their lives holding their breaths while exerting themselves, burning through oxygen at a rapid rate.

Cruise's underwater Rogue Nation heist stunt was filmed in a succession of continuous shots, meaning the actors had to train to hold their breath for over six minutes. According to McQuarrie, by the end of the stunt's 10-day shooting schedule, Cruise was spent, with nitrogen in his blood and brain fog so bad that he couldn't memorize his lines. As if this life-threatening sequence weren't enough, Cruise also had to perform a jump off of a 120-foot ledge to get Hunt into the subaqueous security system.

2 Climbing the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The franchise's most memorable stunt saw Cruise climbing the side of the Burj Khalifa , the tallest building in the world. In Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Hunt had to 11 floors of the 2,722-foot skyscraper to get to the 130th floor with only adhesive gloves, one of which fails. Though secured with a harness, Cruise actually performed this climb almost half a mile in the air, including the part where he plummeted when the glove failed.

Both the scene and the shoot itself were a race against the clock. It was time sensitive to film, as Cruise's harness was at risk of cutting off the actor's circulation, and it doesn't tend to be easy to breathe at that height. This stunt is the epitome of danger, a truly petrifying feat; nevertheless, the sensational scene speaks for itself.

1 ​​ Motorcycle Jump in Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Cruise himself has labeled the marquee motorcycle cliff stunt Mission: Impossible 7 as the greatest in cinema history. It's a stunt he's wanted to perform since he was a child, and is the most dangerous yet. It certainly delivers the wow factor in the film's trailers.

Shot in Norway, the stunt involves Cruise riding his motorcycle off of a cliff, propelling into a nosedive, and deploying a parachute. Cruise performed 13,000 training jumps for the sequence to ensure he could execute it with the precision required. This Evel Knievel-like jump that's been all over the marketing campaign has unquestionably piqued fans' interest in the eagerly anticipated next Mission: Impossible installment.

Sources: The New York Times , The Independent

Key Release Dates

Mission: impossible - dead reckoning part one, mission: impossible - dead reckoning part two.

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Tom Cruise's Craziest Stunts – and the Toll They Took on His Body

A collection of the craziest stunts the 55-year-old has performed over his long career

Tom Cruise is notorious for pushing the limits with his stunt work, often performing high-flying action sequences by himself.

Just last month, heinjured his ankle while filming a scene for Mission: Impossible 6 in London, where he had to jump between two buildings.

Below is a collection of the craziest stunts the 55-year-old has performed over his long career, along with the toll they’ve taken on his body – and his coworkers’ anxiety levels.

1. Hanging Off the Side of a Flying Plane in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Described by Cruise himself as “undoubtedly the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done,” the incredible plane stunt that kicks off the opening sequence of the fifth Mission Impossible film has become one of his most iconic onscreen moments.

The stunt was so outlandish that, according to director Christopher McQuarrie, the idea for it originated with a joke. “While searching for different locations, the production designer James Bissell bought me a model of this Airbus airplane and presented it as something we could use in the movie,” he told Yahoo UK . “ I suggested to Tom, ‘What if you were on the outside of this thing when it took off?’ I meant it as sort of a half joke, but he said back to me, ‘Yeah I could do that!’ ”

Despite the obvious dangers of hanging off the side of a plane as it takes off, Cruise said he was mostly concerned about making sure his body was situated correctly for the cameras. He did open up about one close call, however, telling reporters , “I remember one time we were going down the runway and there was just a little particle that just hit me, it was smaller than a finger nail. I was thankful it didn’t hit my hands or face, if it did I’d have a problem because those parts were exposed, but it still could have broken my ribs!”

Speaking about the stunt, he admitted to PEOPLE at the film’s premiere in 2015, “It was intense. I’m not going to lie.”

2. Holding His Breath for 6.5 Minutes in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation

After conquering the sky during the film’s dramatic opening, Cruise later made audiences squirm as he went under water, learning to hold his breath for 6.5 minutes for one scene.

In the scene, Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, needs to break into an underwater storage facility – and of course, there’s no room for an oxygen tank.

To make the sequence seem as realistic as possible, Cruise and his costar Rebecca Ferguson trained with professionals to learn how to hold their breath for long periods of time.

But Cruise took things a step further: “Normally in underwater sequences, people hold their breath for 10 seconds, 15 seconds max,” a nonchalant Cruise explained on the film’s DVD extras.

“So I had to prove to everyone that it was actually safe, and spend time with the safety guys and the safety officers to show them, look, not only is it safe, it’s better that I know how to hold my breath because I’m going to be very relaxed. No one’s going to have to rush in, no one’s going to have to panic.”

Watch Cruise explain the stunt further to a very nervous Graham Norton on The Graham Norton Show above. He also goes over some unintended side effects of the training – like forgetting to breathe normally when back on land.

3. Scaling the World’s Tallest Building in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Cruise once again went to great heights to entertain his audience when he dangled off Dubai’s Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building at 2,722 feet – for a scene in the series’ fourth installment.

“I think I probably aged 10 years,” the film’s stunt coordinator, Gregg Smrz, later told NY Daily News of the scene, which required the film’s star to hang 1,700 feet in the air with a wire as thick as a piano cable for support.

Besides the obvious problem of gravity, Cruise faced extreme winds and temperatures as the desert sun baked against the building’s reflective glass surface.

And, as the clip above from The National shows, Cruise was doing a whole lot more than just hanging out up there.

“One night, after one of the earliest shooting days, I bolted up in bed realizing that we had our star dangling about a mile up in the air on a thin wire and my brain was screaming, ‘What the hell are we doing,’” director Brad Bird told the NY Daily News . “The whole thing was one, extended, hair-raising moment but we planned well.”

Asked what went through his head when he first stepped outside of the building, Cruise later told reporters, “I hope I don’t fall.”

4. Swordplay on Mechanical Horseback in The Last Samurai

Cruise trained for eight months to prepare for the swordplay and martial arts scenes in The Last Samurai – but a small technical failure almost cost him his life.

“One day we were shooting, I was on a mechanical horse and Hiro (Sanada) was on one too,” Cruise told reporters, according to Yahoo .

“He was approaching me and then suddenly his horse hit me and his sword was right here,” he added, pointing about an inch from his neck. “Luckily Hiro is trained in martial arts. I trust him.”

Even without the technical problems, The Last Samurai’s action sequences were intense enough to push a veteran like Cruise to the edge. Speaking about another intense moment in the film, Cruise reportedly said, “We shot the scene from the first swing all the way through to the end. There were over 70 points of contact where you could potentially lose your eye, your ear or your nose.”

5. Riding with the Bulls on a Motorcycle – with Cameron Diaz on the Back

Sometimes Cruise’s enthusiasm for stunt work can be contagious, like on his 2010 film Knight and Day with Cameron Diaz .

During one of the film’s most memorable sequences, the duo ride together on a motorcycle while being chased by a team of bad guys. As they’re driving away from a hail of bullet fire, Diaz’s character flips around on the motorcycle to face their assailants and fires off some shots of her own.

The idea for Diaz’s stunt, Cruise later told Access Hollywood , was all his – and to her credit, the actress agreed to perform it without a double.

But when it came time for another stunt – in which the two ride side-by-side with a pack of bulls – Cruise admitted he got a little nervous.

“I always thought I wanted to run with the bulls until I was on a motorcycle doing it, running and getting ping-ponged into walls with big bulls in front of us,” Cruise said, according to Yahoo . “I was just thinking to myself, ‘Do not go down on this motorcycle with Cameron [Diaz] on the back.’”

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The Nine Wildest Mission: Impossible Stunts, Ranked By the Danger They Posed to Tom Cruise

By William Goodman

Over the last 27 years, the Mission: Impossible franchise has continued to establish itself from other movies in the spy genre by being synonymous with two things: Tom Cruise and insane stunts. With the subsequent release of each Ethan Hunt adventure comes another behind-the-scenes featurette about how far out there—read: how close to actual death—Cruise went to entertain and enthrall the audience, whether it’s learning how to hold his breath underwater for six minutes, or scaling the exterior of the world’s largest building.

With the release of the seventh installment in the series, Dead Reckoning Part One , Hunt states to a character that their life “will always be more important to me than my own,” which feels like a declaration of Cruise’s guiding philosophy for stunt work. To wit: Matt Damon recently recalled a conversation he had with Cruise about a stunt in Ghost Protocol —which started with Cruise deadpanning that he fired the film's first safety coordinator who deemed the stunt too dangerous.

Cruise fulfills his mission statement in the latest film by driving a motorcycle off a cliff and then parachuting down a ravine—establishing a new landmark in Hollywood stunt work. As the franchise reaches this new height, we’re looking at some of the most dangerous stunts from the Mission series and ranking by degree of danger, from least to most.

Danger Level: Mild

An exploding fish tank feels like small potatoes in the larger scope of the Mission series, but Cruise has said the stunt was indeed “very crazy.” Talking to Graham Norton in 2018, Cruise recalled that he and the stunt coordinator couldn’t get on the same page about the timing of the explosion, resulting in a Who’s On First -like back and forth about whether the go was on the count of three or the count of one. Considering the sequence involved a detonation, glass, and plenty of water, the potential for danger was high, but hardly life-threatening. miscommunication is enough for someone to get seriously injured if it wasn’t timed correctly.

Danger Level: Unnecessarily High

Cruise’s wholehearted approach to dangerous stunt work began in earnest with John Woo’s Mission: Impossible 2 . The actor put Alex Honnold to shame with an extensive free solo climbing stunt in the film’s opening . "I was really mad that he wanted to do it, but I tried to stop him and I couldn't," Woo told Entertainment Weekly back in 2000 . "I was so scared I was sweating. I couldn't even watch the monitor when we shot it." Woo’s nervousness stemmed from the fact Cruise was insistent on not only doing the climb himself but only wearing a thin safety wire through the staggering seven different takes it took to get the shot as he climbed over the constructed cliff face. His dedication comes through in the final product and is easily the highlight of an otherwise lackluster installment in the franchise ( despite my editor’s attempts to convince me otherwise ).

Danger Level: Probable Death

By Daniel Riley

By Abe Beame

By Alex Hoyt

After Ghost Protocol —more on that later—the Mission franchise shifted into featuring a signature, outrageous stunt for each of its installments. For his first Mission , Christopher McQuarrie conjured up the idea of Cruise strapped to an A400 cargo plane—an image so memorable it became the central focus of the movie’s marketing. McQuarrie recently stated the fear around A400 stunt wasn’t so much about Cruise falling off (he was strapped into the door through a rigged vest) but external factors beyond their control, like a rock on the runway or a bird strike while the plane was taking off. With so little protection, the timing had to be perfect.

Danger Level: Technically Low, made higher by insane repetitions

While still extremely dangerous, the challenges around the HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump in Fallout were mostly logistical. McQuarrie and crew had to create a new style helmet for the sequence that not only provided oxygen for Cruise (who is the first ever actor to perform the jump typically reserved for military operations) but also had lighting in the interior so audiences could see his face. The timing of the natural lighting made it so the jump could only occur in a three-minute window, so the jump required over 100 attempts to get it right. The real risk came from ensuring Henry Cavill, Cruise, and the cameraman all hit their marks so they wouldn’t collide in midair while falling at 200 miles per hour. In any other movie, this would be the showstopper. And yet, in Fallout , it’s just the aperitif.

Danger Level: Navy Seal levels of difficulty

Much of the pre-release marketing of Mission films in the last decade typically includes Cruise discussing his training to execute on a stunt accordingly. Rogue Nation leaned into the fact he learned how to hold his breath underwater for a staggering six minutes to shoot the underwater vault heist sequence as practically as possible—and all in one long take despite the fact the finished sequence is intertwined with multiple cuts. Legend has it that safety and compliance teams on set were extraordinarily nervous about the whole thing, and it wasn’t until Cruise convinced them otherwise that it was safe and that he could handle it accordingly.

Danger Level: Low, but it’s always the one you least expect

For all the dangerous stunts in Mission movies, it’s odd that something as simple as a broken ankle is the only major injury to befall Cruise. While jumping from one building to another, Cruise sustained that injury and knew immediately he’d messed something up, as the take in which he broke it is the one McQuarrie used in the final cut. Filming on Fallout was subsequently delayed while he recovered, but Cruise seemed to take it in stride; a behind-the-scenes clip shows him shrugging it off like he forgot to grab something at the grocery store.

Danger Level: Extremely High

There are approximately three different “holy shit” moments throughout Fallout ’s third-act helicopter setpiece: Cruise jumping onto the rope as the helicopter takes off, free-falling off the helicopter, and then piloting the chopper himself while performing a 365-degree corkscrew dive. The scariest bit of all included the drop—Rebecca Ferguson declared that she thought Cruise actually fell from the helicopter. If you remember, Cruise falls and hits the accompanying load dangling at the bottom so hard that it knocks the wind out of him each of the several times he performed it. Not to mention, the corkscrew dive was so dangerous that “most pilots wouldn’t attempt it,” per stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood .

Danger Level: Technically Very High…(but less blatantly flirtatious with death than the movies that followed?)

In other movies, a stunt involving scaling the side of the Burj Khalifa would have taken place on a set with a replica or with CGI. Not in the world of Mission . For Ghost Protocol , Cruise climbed the world’s tallest building with only a single safety rope. A single misstep and everything could go south very quickly. The stunt set the tone for everything else that’s followed, as dedicating himself to the reality of it all makes it one of the defining stunts of the Mission franchise.

Danger Level: Trolling death at this point

In comedy, there’s the concept of putting “a hat on a hat,” which means that layering one joke on top of another different joke leads to the whole thing falling flat. In less-skilled hands, the now legendary cliff bike jump in Dead Reckoning could feel like a hat on a hat. It combines elements of previous Mission stunts, notably the HALO jump and the Paris bike chase from Fallout , but it’s accomplished and shot in such a way that it feels breathtaking at every single stage. The fact that Cruise performed the stunt several different times, despite its high risk, is stunt work at its very best.

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Tom Cruise’s 10 wildest movie stunts, ranked

Superstar actor, lover of jumping on sofas, and subject of many tooth-related conspiracy theories Tom Cruise is a famous adrenaline junkie, and just has done many of his own stunts throughout his long career. Basically, if you’re ever watching one of his films and wondering if a scene is real or CGI, the answer is likely that it’s really Cruise. While the daredevil Hollywood icon (and the studios who are terrified about potentially killing a bonafide action star) obviously makes sure everything is as safe as it can be, and trains endlessly for the stunts, that doesn’t change the fact that many of them are still unbelievably dangerous, even for seasoned stunt actors, let alone a normal performer. But which of his many incredible acts are the most insane? Here’s our list of Tom Cruise’s 10 wildest movie stunts, ranked in order of how crazy they are!

10. Climbed the Burj Khalifa

In Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol , IMF agent Ethan Hunt appears to free climb the world’s tallest building, the 830m tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai, aided only by “special gloves” given to him Benji Dunn ( Simon Pegg ). While in real life Cruise was secured to the building via harnesses, that doesn’t make the incredible heights he scaled any less real, which is why the Mission: Impossible team knew leaking this stunt would be an incredible marketing move (which it was). The cables were removed in post-production, and on a big enough screen you can see Cruise bend the windows with the pressure of his hand, and even watch traffic going by being reflected on the glass.

9. Jumped between buildings

During the filming for Mission: Impossible — Fa llout , Cruise had a scene where he was jumping between buildings. In his customary style, he did the stunt himself, and while this might not seem like it’s more adrenaline spike inducing than climbing a building that’s over half a mile tall, during the scene the actor managed to shatter his ankle thanks to the force of the impact of his land. Ever the pro, the superstar Scientologist was still able to grab onto the correct building, even carrying on for a few moments before the pain became so bad that a determined Cruise couldn’t keep going. Filming had to stop for eight weeks at a cost of $80 million, and that was with the star coming back earlier than expected.

8. Held his breath for three minutes (and possibly more)

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation was Christopher McQuarrie’s first time behind the camera of a Mission: Impossible film, and alongside the two leads Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson managed to craft an absolutely brilliant fifth installment in the franchise. One of the scenes in the film showed Hunt being submerged underwater and holding his breath for around three minutes, and predictably (although still impressively) Cruise trained himself to survive that long in the deep without breathing too. The scenes were filmed in the U.K, and the actor trained with a diving specialist named Kirk Krack to help him to achieve his goal. Even more impressively, the sequence was filmed in a singular take (from multiple angles), which is cool enough. But a stunt coordinator on the project said Cruise had managed to go beyond six minutes of holding his breath, which is near-unbelievable for any actor who isn’t him.

7. Letting a real knife get uncomfortably close to his eyeball

The plot of Mission: Impossible 2 involves Ethan Hunt chasing a rogue IMF agent named Sean Ambrose ( Dougray Scott ), who’s in possession of a dangerous bioweapon that has the potential to cause a devestating global pandemic. This all culminates in a classically outrageous Mission: Impossible fight scene, and at one point Ambrose has Hunt on the ground, and tries to stab him with a knife. Cruise, ever the showman, insisted that a real knife be used, and that Scott utilize as much force as he could when stabbing the knife down to get a realistic take for the scene. The weapon was on a very specifically measured cable, but that doesn’t change the fact that one small movement or a slight prop failure could have led to Cruise being blinded — or worse.

6. Flew numerous planes

While taking the dangerous risks that Cruise has in his career is admirable, many of the stunts he’s done were more about willpower than skill. However, for Top Gun: Maverick , the actor went full method and genuinely flew many of the aircraft he was in during the movie. There was one exception, though: he was not at the controls of the F-18 fighter as the U.S Navy didn’t give him permission to fly it (a jet would have cost around half of the film’s gigantic budget, although it did gross over $1bn at the box office , so maybe for the next Top Gun film we’ll see Cruise with one). However, the scenes of his face being contorted into strange shapes by G-force were very much real, as he was in the cockpit of the jet, just not at the controls. I guess that, even for someone with the star power of Cruise, there’s a limit to what you can achieve.

5. Zigzagged through the sky in a helicopter

Mission: Impossible — Fallout culminated in an outrageous helicopter chase between Ethan Hunt and August Walker ( Henry Cavill ), as the IMF agent chases the villain in order to take a bomb detonator from him. Not only did Cruise actually fly the helicopter in question (a matte black Airbus H125) through the mountainous scenery, but also jumped from the chopper, albeit with a cable attached. However, even that wasn’t as safe as it seems, as the cable was only supposed to help guide his fall, not stop it completely. Many of the crew were unaware that Cruise was supposed to drop down, which apparently led to some really intense reactions on set.

4. Did over a hundred sky dives to get one just right

Fallout gets its second mention in two entries here, and given what Cruise did for the sake of filming, it seems pretty fair. In order to perfect a scene where Cruise does a HALO (High Altitude, Low Opening) jump from a plane, the dedicated star allegedly did 106 practice jumps. Again, while this might not seem so wild compared to other entries on this list, the fact is that McQuarrie and the rest of the crew could only film this scene in the U.A.E, as they were the sole country who’d allow them to do a stunt so dangerous. Add in the fact they wanted to film at dusk (so only a few minutes of being able to capture something), and you have a crazy story.

3. Scaled a sheer cliff face

In the opening scene of Mission: Impossible 2 , Cruise is seen climbing up an almost 90 degree cliff with what seems to just be his bare hands, before jumping over a dangerous chasm, hanging from a rock ledge, then hauling himself up to safety. He insisted on utilizing just an ultra-thin safety cable, and going up a bigger rock face than the one constructed by the set department. Cruise did relent and had two rock climbing specialists to guide him, but that was the only concession the superstar made, much to the chagrin of director John Woo. Even worse for Woo? It took seven shots. Cruise apparently didn’t mind though.

2. Skydives and motocross jumps

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One sees Cruise take on one of his wildest stunts yet , by riding a motorbike off a cliff before skydiving to safety. And, to prepare, he did over five hundred skydives, as well as nearly a thousand motocross jumps. The sequence is absolutely stunning, and required multiple experts on hand to not only teach Cruise correct techniques, but make sure everything went right when they filmed what director McQuarrie called “the most dangerous thing we’ve ever done.”

1. Held onto an actual Airbus A400M

We know many of the above entries into this list could have made it to the top spot, but for Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation , the Scientologist had a scene where Ethan Hunt held onto the side of an Airbus A400M, and frankly for us that just takes the cake. Sure, he was secured to the aircraft in a number of ways, but at the speeds he was going, even a stray pebble crashing into him would have broken a bone (or worse). Even more impressive was the fact the crew only had two days to film it because of time and price constraints. An absolutely wild stunt.

The 10 Most Iconic 'Mission: Impossible' Set-Pieces, Ranked

Is there anything Tom Cruise won't do to get the shot?

For six films and more than 20 years, Tom Cruise  has dangled from wires, scaled buildings, and dodged explosions for our entertainment in the  Mission: Impossible  franchise. It's not only one of the best action franchises running right now, it's the one with an outrageous among of the best stunts in cinema history, and defying all reasonable understanding of biology and physics, Cruise just keeps getting more impressive and physically daring.

With Mission: Impossible - Fallout now in theaters, I'm taking a stroll back through the most iconic set-pieces of the franchise and ranking my favorites. There's no shortage of favorites, because Cruise has spent the last two decades working with some of the best filmmakers and filmmaking crews in the industry, and they keep leveling up the game with each new installment. Which is why you'll find a mighty long list of honorable mentions attached to this list, and why I encourage you to sound off in the comments with your favorites.

Honorable mentions: The Classic Woo Shootout ( Mission: Impossible II ), The Shanghai Skyscraper ( Mission: Impossible III ), The Vatican Heist ( Mission: Impossible III) , The Prison Break ( Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protoco l), The Morocco Chase ( Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation ), The Halo Jump ( Mission: Impossible - Fallout ), The Paris Chase ( Mission: Impossible - Fallout )

10) Battle of the Motorcycles; Mission: Impossible II

Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous, but so damn entertaining. We all know that  John Woo 's  Mission: Impossible II is the least cohesive installment in the franchise (and I'd be lying if I didn't say I love it anyway), but damn does Woo know how to deliver some batshit crazy action. The first Mission: Impossible sequel also features a classic Woo shootout that's pretty damn good, but he saves the full-tilt bonkers action for the climactic motorcycle battle, which pits Ethan against the villainous former IMF agent Sean Ambrose ( Dougray Scott ) in a battle of motorcycle jousting and beachside hand-to-hand combat. It's so extra, in all the best ways, and seeing Ethan Hunt embroiled in a peak-bananas John Woo action scene is a gift way too many people take for granted.

9) The Fish Tank Explosion; Mission: Impossible

A pivotal, big-action moment in the first Mission: Impossible film, the ol' fish tank explosion practically looks quaint compared to the stunts the franchise has become known for in the years since, but it still holds up as a breathless experience thanks to Brian De Palma 's filmmaking. It's classic De Palma, through and through. Instead of relying on physical feats, De Palma builds tension through his knack for paranoia and dawning dread, giving us what is still to this day the most unhinged and panicked version of Ethan Hunt we've seen. Dutch angled to filth and brewing to an explosion of frantic jazz horns, the practical explosion was quite something in its time and the torrent of blue waters is so beautifully shot that the sequence still holds up (which is more than I can say for the unfortunate-looking train climax). It really just ends with Tom Cruise outrunning some water, but it gets the heart pumping and damn, it looks good.

8) The Bridge Assault, Mission: Impossible III

Mission: Impossible III 's banner action moment doesn't have the grace and elegance of some of the finer Mission: Impossible set-pieces, but no one can say J.J. Abrams didn't come out guns blazing in his feature directorial debut. The highway attack is one of the highest-octane, explosive set-pieces in the entire franchise history, an assault on the senses that's so bullet-ridden and sun-drenched it's practically ripped out of the Michael Bay playbook. That's not an insult, it's a testament to the sheer immersive, over-the-top action on display in the scene. What's more, Abrams is wise enough to root the scene in real stakes and danger, ending it with the gut-punch escape of Owen Davian (the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman ) -- still the most haunting villain in the franchise -- which mean Ethan and his team fail, and Davian is coming for Ethan's wife. Bombastic and extreme, with one of the best "Tom Cruise running" moment sin the franchise, the highway attack is a somewhat unusual set-piece for the franchise, hinging more on explosions than outstanding feats, but even with its thick layer of mid-2000s orange lighting, it holds up as a visceral, pulse-pounding scene.

7) The Diving Heist, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Tom Cruise, what are you doing?! This won't be the only time I mention that Cruise is a little bit crazy for what he's willing to do to get the shot. In  Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation Cruise took things to the next level in several scenes, but the underwater heist represents such a unique set of filming challenges -- and a singular visual experience as the reward -- that it's stunning the thing ever got made. Honestly, what is Cruise's insurance like? To film the gorgeous, literally breathless underwater sequence, Cruise learned to hold his breath for six and a half minutes -- an extreme length that allowed him to hold his breath while exerting the energy required for the two-minute takes. This has easily got to be one of the most dangerous things Cruise has done for entertainment value, and it paid off with a hell of a scene.

6) The Bathroom Fight, Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Instantly iconic for Henry Cavill's arm reload alone, the bathroom fight scene in  Fallout  also happens to deliver the most brutal hand-to-hand combat in the franchise to date. After Halo diving into a Parisian night club, Ethan and newcomer August Walker (Cavill) wind up locked in a battle royale with one seriously bad terrorist, played by stuntman and coordinator Liang Yang . Fallout establishes Ethan as a scalpel and Walker as a hammer, and that motif plays out with some real beauty during the fight scene. Cruise fights with grace and tactical maneuvering, but Cavill moves like a damn tank. And they're both outmatched in the fight by the singular Yang, who moves with a speed and efficiency that makes two of cinemas finest action performers look like school children being dragged by the ear. The scene ends with a pool of blood that defies Hollywood's squeaky clean standards and sets the stage for one of the darkest, most dangerous films in the franchise yet.

5) The Opera Assassination, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Elegant orchestration in all its glory, Rogue Nation 's Vienna Opera House sequence is the most beautiful and precise set-piece in the franchise to date. It also has some of the best Ethan personality moments as he tries to stop the assassination of the European diplomat, while getting his ass soundly kicked meters above the ground in the fly system of the grand opera house. Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie layers new obstacles with a refined hand, always giving Ethan some new challenge to overcome -- usually while he's got a giant henchman with his hand around his throat. The fight choreography is balletic at moments, and Rebecca Fergusson 's Ilsa Faust brings an Old Hollywood elegance to every moment on screen, making for a downright lovely, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, and consummately entertaining sequence, staged to the high drama of Puccini's  Turandot .

4) Prepare for Takeoff, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

I think this is the moment a lot of us started to realize that Cruise's dedication to stunt work had veered into the realm of possible insanity. The opening sequence of Rogue Nation established McQuarrie as a writer-director with a firm grasp on what makes the Mission: Impossible franchise (and Ethan Hunt) so damn delightful, and a creative partner for Cruise who's willing to go as far and as hard as his actor. Punctuated by a string of catch-your-breath humorous beats, the sequence finds Cruise dangling from the side of an Airbus A400M during takeoff, flapping around in the wind like some fearless rag doll. This has easily got to be one of the most dangerous things Cruise has ever done for audience entertainment -- sure he was harnessed, but throw any number of curveballs and that harness ain't gonna do shit. It's pure insanity, drummed up for your pleasure, and sets the tone for the heights of action about to unfold.

3) The Langley Heist, Mission: Impossible

A brilliant inversion of what we expect from action scenes, the Langley heist is all about silence and stillness. Firmly on the opposite end of the spectrum from the gunfights and explosions that the franchise would become known for, this indelibly iconic set-piece finds Ethan and his team breaking into CIA headquarters to retrieve a file and sends Ethan repelling into a room that requires a key card, a retinal scan, voice ID, and rapidly changing codes — oh and once he’s in, he has to remain utterly silent and calm because the room is decked out with sound and temperature monitors that tigger alarms with the slightest elevation. Are you sweating yet? Because Hunt does, and in the clean white room, where every minute and gesture matters, that single bead of sweat becomes as dangerous as the ticking clock on a nuclear bomb. De Palma made the brilliant call to play the scene without a score, in anxiety-inducing silence, and he uses every shot to build piano-wire tension while Cruise executes impeccable physical control to put the audience right in his shoes. To this day, the image of Tom Cruise dangling in that white room remains the most iconic and imitated sequence in the franchise, and for damn good reason.

2) Battle of the Helicopters; Mission: Impossible - Fallout

I'll keep this one brief and spoiler-free since Fallout just hit theaters, but suffice it to say that the climactic helicopter battle in the sixth Mission: Impossible film is a breathtaking parade of "holy shit" moments from start to finish. This is one of those set-pieces that baffles the mind and leaves you thinking, "How did they  do that ?" It's the kind of cinematic sorcery you only get with a performer like Cruise, who actually piloted the helicopter, earning his pilot certification in just six weeks. You also need a filmmaker like McQuarrie and his remarkable camera crew, who capture shots that seem all but... well, impossible. McQuarrie is also a master of the ticking clock, layering impending doom on impending doom, from the literal ticking bombs on the ground to engine failure in the sky, and an unstoppable stream of obstacles for Ethan to overcome. Fallout's third-act chopper battle leaves you prying a white-knuckle grip off the armrest and scraping your jaw off the floor in wonder and disbelief at just how elegant and outrageous Mission: Impossible stunts can be.

1) The Burj Khalifa Climb, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The GOAT. The most perfect set-piece in a franchise full of perfect set-pieces, Ghost Nation 's Burj Khalifa climb sends Cruise dangling from obscene, stomach-churning heights (the building is more than 2700 feet tall and they reportedly shot the scene at 1700 feet) in a stunning spectacle that inverts the Mission: Impossible trope of hanging Tom Cruise from wires in favor of watching him scale an impossibly flat, impossibly tall surface with only a pair of failing magnetic gloves to get him across. The sequence is expertly designed by director Brad Bird -- who sets up the scene with a gorgeous slow pan down to the ground that knots your stomach and reveals the breath-taking height -- not only to build tension with each passing moment, but to showcase Cruise's remarkable performance and athleticism as each new unreasonable obstacle comes his way.

And Cruise, reliably, performs the hell out of it; from the dawning moment of dread as he realizes his life in the hands of two enhanced pieces of fabric to the utmost exasperation as he dangles thousands of feet in the air and screams "No shit!" Beautifully constructed and executed to perfection, employing that classic Mission: Impossible score at just the right moment, the Burj Khalifa climb makes gold out of every camera move, reaction shot, and lilt of Cruise's body to deliver one of the most thrilling and satisfying stunts ever filmed.

The Most Insane Mission: Impossible Stunts Where Tom Cruise Actually Risked His Life

The guy really earns his paychecks.

Whether you love them or not, you have to admit that Tom Cruise really earns his paycheck for every Mission: Impossible movie. Whenever he's hanging from the tallest building on Earth, drowning himself or doing a wheelie on a motorcycle at top speed—Cruise always insists that it's really him in the scene, and not a stunt man. He's been through hell in these movies—and even broke his leg in the latest film. He's terrified his directors, and impressed the hell out of stunt coordinators making some of the most impressive action films of all time. These are Tom Cruise's greatest stunts from the Mission: Impossible series.

10. Sexy Free Climbing ( Mission: Impossible 2 )

9. underwater vault heist ( mission: impossible — rogue nation ).

In the fifth film, Ethan Hunt is forced to break into a submerged security vault. According to Business Insider , after jumping off a 120-foot ledge, Cruise held his breath underwater for over 6 minutes. "On two or three occasions I brought him up because I felt he was down for too long," said the stunt coordinator on the movie. "He was like, 'What are you doing? I was right in the moment. I'm acting.' And I was like, 'I know, it was just too real for me and I wasn't comfortable.'"

8. Motorcycle / Helicopter Chase ( Mission: Impossible 2 )

The critics might not have liked the movie, but Woo can film a hell of a chase scene. Mission: Impossible II is best known for this explosive bike chase, during which Cruise does the insane wheelie jump fight.

7. Exploding Aquarium Escape in Prague ( Mission: Impossible )

Brian De Palma’s beloved first entry to the franchise is home to several legendary stunts. The exploding restaurant aquarium scene was created almost completely without digital effects. That's actually Tom Cruise running from 16 tons of water. Early in this film, director Brian De Palma established what they were going to do with this series.

6. Biker Chase in Morocco ( Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation )

At this point in the franchise, the stunt crew is more than comfortable putting Cruise in control of the vehicles. After nearly drowning, Hunt chases down a gang of bikers in the streets of Morocco.

5. Missiles on the Bridge ( Mission: Impossible III )

Directed by JJ Abrams, Mission: Impossible III gave the series the modern update it needed. Though the missile was CGI, Cruise actually ran full speed and got slammed into that car. And he did it multiple times to ensure perfection.

4. Hanging from the Ceiling ( Mission: Impossible )

Perhaps the most iconic sequence in the entire series, most of this stunt was actually performed practically. According to a behind-the-scenes featurette , Cruise was really balancing himself above that floor.

3. Halo Jump ( Mission: Impossible — Fallout )

For the sixth film, Cruise became the first actor to ever perform a halo jump, or a high altitude sky dive. What's bonkers is this high risk military maneuver requires an oxygen mask, and since they didn't want to cover up Cruise's face during the stunt, they actually invented a prop that kept him alive and showed his face. Cruise had to keep acting during his fall from 25,000 feet in the air until he opened his parachute only 2,000 feet above the ground.

2. Catching a Real Plane ( Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation )

Rogue Nation ’s biggest stunt features Cruise hanging from a real plane as it takes off. Cruise, always committees to authenticity, is said in a featurette to have done the stunt eight times.

1. Climbing the Tallest Building on Earth ( Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol )

In the fourth film, directed by Brad Bird, Ethan Hunt is forced to climb the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth. Of course, since this is Mission: Impossible , they actually filmed Cruise hanging 2,722 feet above the ground. As Cruise later recalled : "Some of the crew couldn’t even go on the floor [of a room where the window had been taken out] just because of the height issue, it was too much for them. When I’m swinging from the building, I have crosswinds, and, when you see the shot, you’ll see that I’m actually flying. I had to figure out how to do that, I’m on a single rope at that point and when I leave the building and catch that wind, I am actually flying and trying to figure out how to move my feet like a rudder to move across the whole arc of the building."

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Tom Cruise’s most insane stunts in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ franchise

A knife near his eye, holding his breath for six minutes, and riding a motorcycle off a cliff—these are some of the most dangerous and insane stunts Tom Cruise has ever pulled off in the Mission: Impossible  franchise.

You can call him a genius or you can call him insane, but you cannot deny that Tom Cruise puts his life on the line for the sake of the audience’s enjoyment. The man trains in so many different ways just for the sake of his craft and to deliver an authentic performance. The result is a number of films that are truly made to be seen in cinemas, which is something he has always advocated for. 

His latest film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I , involves one of his most dangerous stunts yet, but we’re looking back at some of his other dangerous and death-defying acts in the franchise. Whether it’s holding his breath for six minutes to riding a motorcycle into oncoming traffic, Tom Cruise truly is the master of making our anxiety go through the roof.

The craziest Tom Cruise stunts in the Mission: Impossible franchise

Knife point – mission: impossible 2.

It should say a lot about Tom Cruise that the bottom of this list is him having a knife a mere inches from his eyeballs. The John Woo–directed sequel, which strays considerably from the tone of the first film, sees Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and antagonist Sean Ambrose fighting with Ambrose nearly stabbing Hunt in the face. Of course, the whole thing could have been filmed in a safe and conventional way, but this is Tom Cruise. That was a real knife, with only a cable holding it back, and Cruise asked his co-star to really try and pull it towards his eye because y’know, realism. 

The Rooftop Jump – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

This is probably the easiest and least dangerous stunt on this list, but it deserves a palace here considering it resulted in an injury for Cruise. The stunt was simple: Cruise had to run and leap across a gap between two buildings. He had safety cables so there was no risk of him falling to his death. Everything should have gone smoothly, but as the replay on The Graham Norton Show revealed, Cruise’s ankle landed in a… peculiar way. It was definitely broken but Cruise still finished the shot. In fact, it was the shot used in the film. If you watch carefully, you can see him visibly limp as he goes off frame. 

Motorcycle Chase – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Tom Cruise has trained to do a number of things, and perhaps riding a motorcycle is the tamest on the list. That doesn’t mean this stunt from Fallout isn’t impressive or dangerous though. Ethan Hunt finds himself on the run from the Paris authorities on a motorbike and he speeds around the city. At one point, he even rides into oncoming cars in the roundabout of the Arc de Triomphe. He does all of this by himself, at a really fast speed, with no helmet. Cruise mentioned that at one point, they had a safety rig but it didn’t work, so in true Tom Cruise fashion, he did it without the rig. 

Breath Hold – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Holding your breath underwater isn’t that impressive… unless you do it for six minutes, which is exactly what Tom Cruise did for Rogue Nation . In an interview on the Graham Norton Show , he did admit that it was quite uncomfortable (we can imagine), but he was trained and conditioned so much that there would be times he would actually forget to breathe. 

Free Solo Climb – Mission: Impossible 2

The second film of the franchise reintroduced Ethan Hunt in the most Tom Cruise way possible: free soloing thousands of feet off the ground. Director John Woo was actually angry about the whole thing as per Entertainment Weekly , but Tom being Tom, he insisted on doing the whole thing for real. Aside from a “thin safety cable”, Cruise did all the climbing himself, jumping from one part of the cliff to the other and even resting by putting his knees into a rock cleft at one point and just chilling without holding on to anything. 

Running Across the Burj Khalifa – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

If you’re going to go and see one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world, you might as well do it in style. Actually, Tom Cruise saw it in style two different ways. The actor was able to climb up the very top—and I do mean the very top—and snapped a casual photo, but he also filmed a sequence for Ghost Protocol where he was running across the windows of the iconic building. Unlike the second film, Cruise did have proper harnesses this time around, but even with cables, this was still pretty harrowing. 

The Helicopter Fall – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

This is yet another stunt that seemed to be simple and much less dangerous than the other stuff Tom Cruise had done, but at one point, the crew thought they had actually lost the actor due to the stunt. The shot invovled Ethan Hunt grabbing onto a rope carrying a net bag attached to a helicopter that was taking off. As it lifted off the ground, Ethan’s grip would falter and he would fall, hit the net, and grab it at the last possible second. Of course, there was a cable attached to Cruise to actually keep him from falling to his death in case he missed grabbing the net—which is exactly what happened during one take. Because he was just a speck in the view of the crew at base camp, they thought they had just seen the demise of Hollywood’s most fearless actor. Thankfully, Cruise was just dangling by the cable, but still a thousand feet above ground and at the mercy of gravity and winds. 

Hanging Off a Plane – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Leave it to Tom Cruise to come up with the insane idea of hanging off a plane that’s taking off. He was strapped on the plane and wasn’t just holding on by the sheer strength of his grip, but the plane did actually take off and Cruise had to literally hang in there until it landed. The plane took off a total of eight times before they got the shot and Cruise even got hit by a pebble. Normally, that’s nothing, but at the rate of speed the plane was going, it could have been very dangerous. 

The HALO Jump – Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Tom Cruise is the very actor to have ever done and film a High Altitude Low Opening jump, otherwise known as a HALO jump. Aside from already being a risky manoeuvre in and of itself that only the military ever do, there was also the intricacies of how it was going to be shot. But much like any of his high-risk stunts, the result was well worth the risk. 

The Bike Base Jump – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part I

For Ethan Hunt’s latest outing, Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie pulled off the most insane stunt in the franchise so far: Cruise rides a motorbike off a cliff and transitions into a BASE jump. Again, it seems so simple, but strong winds had to be taken into account and Cruise also had to make sure that he wasn’t going to hit the drone that was trying to capture the shot. In the end, he had to do the jump multiple times to get the shot. 

[Hero image: Mission Impossible FB]

Eric E. Surbano

Eric can be found lost in his own world jamming with headphones on while writing when he's not prepping for a DnD session or researching 'Star Wars' galactic history on Wookiepedia. A proud Ravenclaw, he loves playing (and writing about) video games, humming the 'Doctor Who' theme under his breath, and rewatching 'Friends', 'New Girl', and 'The West Wing'.

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Tom Cruise did that motorcycle stunt in ‘Mission: Impossible’ on Day 1 — here’s why

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More than half a year before the release of the upcoming movie “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,” Paramount Pictures made sure audiences got to see Tom Cruise once again risking his life.

Cruise’s mind-blowing stunts have become a signature of “ Mission: Impossible ” films, each one seemingly topping the next. The key stunt in the franchise’s seventh installment involves Cruise driving a motorcycle off the edge of a cliff, dismounting and parachuting into a Norwegian valley. With the drop of its behind-the-scenes footage in December , the studio billed it as “the biggest stunt in cinema history.”

Though the moment has already been watched on YouTube more than 13 million times, and 30 million more times in the film’s trailers, it’s among the film’s most anticipated scenes. After all, we still don’t know how the stunt fits within the plot — What could be so dire that agent Ethan Hunt must jump off a cliff?

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While answers won’t come until the movie’s theatrical release July 12, we now know that the risky stunt was the first thing Cruise did on Day 1 of filming, which began in 2020. And it was all about risk assessment.

In a recent interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Cruise said they started with the scene, in part, to allow the cast and crew to see whether he would be able to star in the $290-million film. After all, he could either get injured or die — or both.

“Well, we know we’re either going to continue with the film or not,” Cruise said, letting out a laugh. “Let’s know Day 1, what is gonna happen: Do we all continue, or is it a major re-run?”

Cruise added that he wanted to make sure his mind was clear enough to focus solely on the stunt.

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Aug. 4, 2020

“You have to be razor sharp for something like that; I don’t want to drop that and shoot other things and have my mind somewhere else,” Cruise said. “You don’t want to be waking up in the middle of the night, ‘It’s still, I still, I still,’ and it has that effect.”

Cruise is no stranger to aerial stunts with a high probability of death. The “Top Gun” actor said preparing for the recent stunt “was years of planning,” a culmination of all the training he’s done with motorcycles, cars and aerobatics.

In the franchise’s last film, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout” (2018), Cruise jumped into a helicopter in midflight , taking the controls to chase another helicopter. In the same movie, he parachuted from a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III from 25,000 feet, close to five miles up, becoming “the first actor” to do so in a major motion picture, according to Paramount (most skydiving attempts occur at 10,000 feet).

In 2011 for “ Ghost Protocol ,” the “Jerry McGuire” actor climbed along the exposed walls of the world’s largest building, the Burj Khalifa of Dubai. And in 2015 for “Rogue Nation,” Cruise hung off the side of an Airbus A400M Atlas as it was taking off, a stunt that veteran stunt coordinator and frequent Cruise collaborator Wade Eastwood called “a stressful experience.”

The recent motorcycle stunt, which Cruise had apparently repeated six times, was no exception. Though the film’s computer-generated images make Cruise appear to be jumping off the rocky surface of the cliff, the scene required a large ramp to be built.

While Cruise is seen atop the motorcycle in the behind-the-scenes video, accelerating off the ramp, a helicopter and drone fly overhead to gather footage. The film’s crew, including director Christopher McQuarrie, are huddled in a nearby tent, faces glued to a set of monitors. After he abandons the bike and hangs in the open air, Cruise releases his parachute and the crew erupts in cheers.

“The only thing you have to avoid when doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death,” Eastwood, who has managed stunts for the last three “Mission Impossible” films, said in the BTS video. “You’re falling. If you don’t get a clean exit from the bike and you get tangled up with it, if you don’t open your parachute, you’re not gonna make it.”

Review: Tom Cruise returns, crazy stunts and all, in ‘Mission: Impossible — Fallout’

See Tom run. See Tom jump.

July 13, 2018

The scene wasn’t the only stressful one to shoot: Cruise said he also worried about a car chase that involved him handcuffed to a small car, steering with one hand while drifting along the cobblestone streets of Rome, with his co-star Hayley Atwell in the passenger seat.

“It’s plenty of challenges,” Cruise said with a wide grin, laughing once again.

“Dead Reckoning” had its world premiere Sunday at the Auditorium Conciliazione in Rome with Cruise and other cast members, including Atwell and Vanessa Kirby , in attendance. “Part Two” is expected to be released in June 2024. Filming wrapped in September for what has been rumored to be Cruise’s final appearance in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.

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Tom Cruise, Who Is 60, Shares Video And Backstory Behind Insane Mission: Impossible Stunt

I shouldn't be so shocked. But I'm shocked.

Do you know that primal element that kicks in when danger is near, warning us to flee in order to avoid bodily harm? Yeah, Tom Cruise doesn’t have that. I’m not breaking any news when I tell you that Cruise is a maniac when it comes to his stunt work. I mean that in the best way possible. The man puts his life on the line – literally – to accomplish eye-popping stunts, all in the name of entertaining his audience. We have already gone to some lengths to document the amazing sequences he’s pulling off in the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One . But a new video that was attached to the Avatar sequel , Avatar: The Way of Water , so that audiences could see it in IMAX has now been released, and it’s the wildest thing you will see today.

The video , posted above, shows all of the preparation that Tom Cruise and the Mission: Impossible crew have to put in just so that they can pull off one sequence from the highly anticipated sequel. The stunt, which we were able to see at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, shows Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt riding a motorcycle off of a ramp that sends him over a cliff in Norway… plunging him into a base jump where a parachute (we think) will take him onto a train down below. It’s intending to top the HALO jump featured in Mission: Impossible – Fallout , and is described by Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One director Christopher McQuarrie in the following way:

This is far and away the most dangerous thing we have ever attempted.

When McQ calls it that, you know this is something serious. He has been directing Mission: Impossible movies with Tom Cruise since the magnificent Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation , so he has guided Cruise through incredible plane stunts , motorcycle sequences that shut down the streets of Paris , and more. Cruise and McQuarrie feel a need to continuously top themselves with each new Mission: Impossible movie. After a motorcycle ride off a ramp into a base jump, however, I’m not sure what else these two can cook up… short to Tom Cruise taking Ethan Hunt to space , which has been the running joke for some time now.

This might be my favorite part of the video, to be honest. The look on Christopher McQuarrie’s face as he watches his A-list leading man performing death defying stunts proves that he is just as shocked and amazed by Cruise’s commitment as we all are. The joy of filmmaking is a delight to see.

We don’t know a ton about the plot of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning , or why this story needed two installments. It feels, to me, like Cruise and McQuarrie are bringing a chapter of Ethan Hunt to a close, with old characters showing up and Hunt being told that he needs to choose a side in a growing conflict. Also, as I have pointed out, Cruise is 60. How much longer will he be able to pull off stunt work on this level. He’s already a Hall of Fame GOAT when it comes to on-screen stunts. He has nothing left to prove. But if he feels like the story needs it, Cruise will do it. And we love him for that.

Look for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One when it opens in theaters on July 14. It’s one of many upcoming 2023 movies that we have circled as Must See in the coming year.

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This Is The Worst Tom Cruise Cameo, According To Movie Critics

Tom Cruise has been in over 40 movies, but it's his uncredited 1988 role that's being called his worst cameo.

• Tom Cruise's short cameo in Young Guns was not well-received, but the movie was still a box office success.
• Even in his uncredited role in Young Guns, Tom Cruise displayed his early interest in performing stunts.
• Known for his daring stunts in Mission: Impossible, Cruise's early days of heart-stopping action started with Top Gun.

Tom Cruise has delivered many memorable roles over his four decades on-screen. He's not just known as a leading man, he has also made numerous cameos and uncredited appearances in movies.

Despite successful cameos in Tropic Thunder, Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Outsiders , not all his minor roles have landed. His appearance in 1988's Young Guns is one of Cruise's less successful appearances. Although it allowed him to showcase his love of stuntwork and starred some of the hottest actors of the generation, the film was poorly received.

With just 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, Young Guns was considered a disappointing Western that chose style over substance. Despite the less-than-stellar reviews, the movie grossed $45.7 million in the US and Canada and was a box office success.

In the following, we take a look at Tom Cruise's uncredited role in Young Guns and why movie critics say it's Tom Cruise's worst cameo. We also reveal how Cruise's small role in Young Guns was actually major for his career performing his own stunts.

Tom Cruise's Worst Cameo In 1988's Young Guns

Tom Cruise makes a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Young Guns . The 1988 film is a fictionalized version of Billy the Kid's adventures during the Lincoln County War. Due to its star-studded cast, which featured Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, and Charlie Sheen, the film is associated with the brat pack.

For a brief moment, the Tom Cruise appears as a henchman for Jack Palance's character Lawrence Murphy. Cruise is on screen for a short time, hidden behind a mustache and a cowboy hat , before he is shot down. If you didn't know it was the Mission Impossible actor in the role, he would be easy to miss.

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Tom Cruise's appearance in the movie is uncredited. It is thought that Cruise was just on set visiting when the director, Christopher Cain, thought it would be fun to add him to the movie for the final battle. Although his cameo adds nothing to the story, it's a nice little slice of trivia for movie fans.

Compared to his Tom Cruise's other cameos , Young Guns is an insignificant addition to his filmography. His other cameos use Cruise's star power and charisma to make an impression. In Tropic Thunder, he plays a morally corrupt Hollywood exec; in Austin Powers in Goldmember , he appears as a meta version of himself; in Rock Of Ages , he briefly appears as a flamboyant rockstar.

Although Young Guns was met with mixed reviews, the 1988 movie did well at the box office, and a sequel was made in 1990 with the principal cast returning.

Why Tom Cruise's Young Guns Cameo Was Important To His Career

Although Tom Cruise's role in Young Guns is unremarkable and far-fleeting, it does display his early interest in stunt work . Since his appearance in the movie about gunslingers seeking revenge, Cruise has become known for his dangerous stunt work.

Cruise admitted that he has always loved doing dangerous things , spending his childhood doing "flips off of [his] house into the snow" and performing precarious bicycle jumps over ditches.

Tom Cruise Refused To Discuss His Worst Box Office Film Ever After The Final Version Differed From The Director's Cut

Cruise explained to Graham Norton on his chat show that he has "always loved fast cars, motorcycles, hiking, and climbing."

“I feel that [when] acting you’re bringing everything, you know, physically and emotionally, to a character in a story, And I’m able to do it [stunts], and I’ve trained for 30 years doing things like this that it allows us to put cameras in places where you normally are not able to.”

During an appearance at Cannes in 2022, Cruise admitted he doesn't intend to give up the dangerous stunts anytime soon .

“No one asked Gene Kelly, ‘Why do you dance? Why do you do your own dancing?’”

How Tom Cruise's Stunt Work Has Grown Over The Years

Tom Cruise has become known for performing death-defying stunts in many of his movies, most notably the Mission: Impossible franchise. Over the last two decades, the Minority Report actor has climbed the world's tallest building, hung from helicopters, and held his breath underwater for a significant amount of time.

Even before he took on the role of Ethan Hunt, he was doing his own stunts in 1986's Top Gun . The scene in which Maverick (Cruise) and Goose (Anthony Edwards) are ejected from the jet and parachuted into the water nearly caused the Rain Man star serious injury.

Actor Barry Tubb told the New York Post on the film’s 25th anniversary that “Cruise came as close to dying as anybody on a set I’ve ever seen.” Cruise almost drowned during the scene as his parachute filled with water, and the actor started to sink.

“They were refilling the camera or something, and luckily, one of the frogmen in the chopper saw his chute ballooning out,” Tubb, who played Wolfman in the movie, explained.

“He jumped in and cut Cruise loose right before he sank. They would have never found him. He would have been at the bottom of the ocean.”

Tom Cruise Pushes For ‘Top Gun 3’ After Nearly Losing His Life During 'Mission: Impossible' Stunt

One of Tom Cruise's earliest Mission Impossible stunts involves his character, Ethan Hunt, blowing up a huge aquarium in the 1996 film. The stunt saw the actor running with 16 gallons of water following behind him. He followed this up in the sequel with his rock climbing stunt, where the actor had only a safety cable to help soften any impact.

In Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, director Brad Bird referred to watching Tom Cruise take on death-defying stunts as “just another day at work." Most noticeable on the set of the 2011 movie, the actor scaled Dubai’s 163-floor Burj Khalifa.

Tom Cruise's love of doing his own stunts has also caused him some issues over the years . When filming Mission: Impossible Fallout, the actor broke two bones in his ankle when leaping between two buildings. The video footage of the accident soon went viral, with many praising him for the lengths he goes to for cinema.