Tom Cruise's action franchise has become known for its spectacle, and these are Mission: Impossible's most dangerous stunts. The movies and their star have made a conscious effort in recent entries to raise the levels of danger to new heights. This has not only meant bigger threats for Ethan Hunt and the IMF with each new installment but the Mission: Impossible stunts have also continued to become more elaborate and death-defying. While the action movies feature plenty of actors who do their fair share of fighting and stunts, Tom Cruise is at the forefront of Mission: Impossible's most dangerous stunts.
The challenging action scenes performed in each new Mission: Impossible movie have become all the more impressive to watch thanks to a commitment from Cruise and the franchise's directors and stunt teams to do them practically. While even some Mission: Impossible stunts require help from CGI occasionally, real danger is present throughout many of the franchise's biggest sequences. The increasing interest in and praise for the movies shows that the peril Tom Cruise goes through is paying off. The result is complicated filming and prolonged training for Cruise to make the most Mission: Impossible stunts possible.
8 Mission: Impossible 1's CIA Rappel Stunt
1996's Mission: Impossible is arguably best ed for its tense rappel stunt performed by Tom Cruise. The sequence revolves around Ethan Hunt and his IMF team breaking into the CIA to get the NOC list. To avoid setting off a series of alarms, this means rappelling from the ceiling through a vent to use the computer and access the data. The rather ordinary rappel stunt becomes more dangerous thanks to a slip that sends Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt falling to the floor, only to be caught at the last possible second, where he is only centimeters off the ground.
While this is certainly not the most dangerous Mission: Impossible stunt in the movies, the rappel stunt still put Tom Cruise in harm's way. He repeatedly smacked his face on the floor while trying to do the scene practically. It got to the point where director Brian De Palma planned on changing the scene and splitting the fall and balancing act into two shots. Cruise begged for a final attempt and put coins in his shoes to help balance himself. With the last take, the star managed to hold himself suspended above the floor as he fell, allowing the Mission: Impossible stunt from coordinator Greg Powell to happen.
7 Mission: Impossible 2's Cliff Rock Climbing Stunt
Tom Cruise's return for Mission: Impossible II kicks off with a grueling and impressive stunt. It shows Hunt enjoying his time between missions by practicing his rock climbing skills on the side of a cliff in Moab, Utah. Instead of playing it safe with a harness and other rock climbing gear, the Mission: Impossible stunt shows IMF's agent in a free climb that tests his strength, flexibility, and endurance as he scales. It is a very memorable sequence from the film that immediately puts audiences in a position where they can worry about the well-being of Cruise's character, especially as he hangs on with only one hand.
Filming Mission: Impossible 2's rock climbing stunt was slightly less dangerous than presented in the movie. Tom Cruise did wear a safety harness to ensure that the movie star would not fall hundreds of feet to his death if he slipped at any point. However, the sequence from coordinator Keith Campbell is almost entirely done by Cruise, and the harness is only there for safety measures. The Mission: Impossible stunt was so daring that director John Woo would not watch each attempt. It also injured the franchise lead, as Tom Cruise tore his shoulder while performing the jump between cliff sections.
6 Mission: Impossible 4's Burj Khalifa Stunt
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol's Burj Khalifa stunt is highly regarded as one of the most impressive and dangerous sequences in the entire franchise. Taking place in the movie's second act, the sequence revolves around Ethan Hunt climbing up the tallest building in the world: the Burj Khalifa, which stands 2,722 feet tall. The Mission: Impossible stunt scene sees Hunt travel 11 stories up the side of the building using adhesive gloves, only for one of them to malfunction mid-climb. It features a terrifying fall for Cruise after he attempts to cut through the glass windows, only to run down the side later and jump through the air to safety.
The danger factor in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is fairly high for the Burj Khalifa climb. Tom Cruise did have a safety harness attached to him the entire time while filming the Mission: Impossible stunt in real life, even if the movie presents Hunt's ascension as a plan with no room for error. Still, climbing up, running down, and jumping off the side of the tallest building in the world while nearly half a mile above the ground is inherently dangerous. It was only after detailed training that Tom Cruise was able to successfully pull off one of Mission: Impossible's most dangerous stunts from coordinator Gregg Smrz.
5 Mission: Impossible 5's Plane Stunt
The opening scene of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation immediately brought audiences back to watching Tom Cruise perform a dangerous stunt. The sequence involves Ethan Hunt as he attempts to board a cargo plane in Minsk, Belarus, and clings to the side of the aircraft as it takes off. Viewers watch as the fearless IMF agent holds tight to the side thousands of feet in the air, and it looks excellent as director Christopher McQuarrie and stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood manage to capture it practically. This was not a moment where powerful fans and sets were used, but rather literally putting Tom Cruise on the side of a plane.
Filming the Mission: Impossible plane stunt required eight takes of Tom Cruise hanging onto the side of an Airbus A400M. The production did take the necessary safety precautions and attached a harness with cables to Cruise, ensuring that he would stay aboard the plane as it reached speeds of 260 mph. However, the high speeds and danger of flying nearly a mile in the sky meant putting the star in a special harness that bolted itself to the plane. While Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation's plane scene was done as safely as possible, any mistake or loose wire would have meant the end for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt.
4 Mission: Impossible 5's Underwater Stunt
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation delivered another dangerous stunt for the franchise when Ethan Hunt was tasked with an underwater mission. It required him to jump into a high-security, fully-submerged chamber to swap out computer chips. The task becomes much more complicated for Hunt once he is down there, as he drops the chips and the water begins to flow through, creating a strong current that he has to fight. It culminates with Ethan Hunt not being able to open the necessary escape hatch, only for Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust to rescue him before he dies.
This Mission: Impossible stunt differs from the franchise's other stunts for various reasons. The completely enclosed underwater location could not be used practically in a safe manner, so the stunt was filmed in a pool with a green screen around it. This meant Ethan Hunt's surroundings were completely CGI, but the danger Tom Cruise put himself in was still very real. He learned to hold his breath for six minutes to complete the stunt. This required extensive training with breathing specialists and stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood that Cruise and Ferguson had to partake in. But the end result of one of Mission: Impossible most dangerous stunts speaks for itself.
3 Mission: Impossible 6's HALO Jump Stunt
Tom Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie, and stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood delivered one of the franchise's most breathtaking sequences with Mission: Impossible - Fallout. The film's HALO jump stunt was used all over the film's marketing campaign to show glimpses of a sequence where Tom Cruise skydives. The sequence shows Hunt as he jumps out of a plane at the start of a mission and then needs to help save Henry Cavill's August Walker. It happens as they fall through a lightning storm and is presented as one single take of Tom Cruise flying through the skies.
Filming the HALO jump in Mission: Impossible - Fallout is arguably the most complicated feat for the franchise. It required filming three different types of jumps for Cruise and syncing his initial jump with a fall backward by the cameraman. It also presented a challenge by being a nighttime shot, which meant the production only had one attempt per day. Tom Cruise did all the jumps and air maneuvers, as even the helmet he wore for oxygen was specially made for the film to provide light to his face. However, some CGI was used to add the storm elements and stitch together various takes of the jumps.
2 Mission: Impossible 6's Helicopter Stunt
Another very dangerous Mission: Impossible stunt came thanks to Mission: Impossible - Fallout's helicopter stunt. There are multiple pieces to the action sequence, initially beginning with Ethan Hunt hanging onto a rope beneath a helicopter. He goes on to climb the rope and take control of the helicopter, allowing a chase through the mountains between him and August Walker. It culminates with a crash in the mountains, leading to the final confrontation between Hunt and Walker.
Once again, Tom Cruise practically did everything in the Mission: Impossible 6 helicopter stunt as possible. He dangled from the helicopter, climbed the rope below, and stood on the side of it with only a harness protecting him from falling to Ethan Hunt's death. However, there was still great danger presented through Hunt's slip and fall to the payload below the helicopter. Cruise fell through the air and could have broken his neck and died if he did not land on the payload correctly. There was also plenty of room for his errors to put himself in danger as Tom Cruise flew the helicopter through the mountains.
1 Mission: Impossible 7's Bike Cliff Jump Stunt
Even before Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One's release, the movie's bike cliff jump stunt is being touted as the most dangerous Mission: Impossible stunt yet. The sequence involves Tom Cruise riding a bike off a cliff and launching into a free fall before deploying a parachute. It is only due to Cruise's perfect execution that Mission: Impossible 7's stunt was pulled off successfully. The Mission: Impossible stunt did require some CGI to remove the ramp required for the jump in real life, but everything else is done practically by Cruise where crashing the bike, mes his parachute, and more would have meant certain death.
