Go Inside The Insanity of 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning'

I got my tickets the second they dropped for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. I knew that no matter what, I had to be seated with a packed audience for whatever Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie had cooked up for what could be the most expensive movie ever made, and also the last appearance of Ethan Hunt.

GQ recently pulled back the curtain with an in-depth featurette called "Inside the Making of Mission: Impossible," which gave us a glimpse into the dedication, collaboration, and sheer grit required to bring these cinematic masterpieces to life.

Let's dive in.

Behind the Scenes of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

What I love about the M:I movies is that they take us all over the globe. As GQ points out, that's the point. And they're constantly trying to figure out where they can take us next.

McQuarrie said of the process, “You’ve got to figure out: Where in the world are we going to shoot this?” McQuarrie continued, “Well, we’re going to go (a) where Bond isn’t. And (b) where Fast and Furious isn’t. And (c) where Mission has never been. That Venn diagram says: Here’s where you’re shooting. Provided the State Department even allows you to go there.”

Of course, there's always some discussion even when you find a place. They used New Zealand in the new movie, and what they told McQuarrie was, “Shoot it away from population, and just know if you fly in this glacier and anything happens, there’s no one that can come and get you. You’ll be there forever. They’re going to fly over it and drop a plaque.”

These are insane movies with stunts that make your jaw drop. And star Tom Cruise does them along with all the real stuntmen.

That kind of realism and anxiety can weigh heavily on a production, as they're constantly watching the person holding the movie up risk his life for what appears on the screen. But it also inspires them to do their best and to think outside the box to fix any problems that present themselves.

Some of those problems can be fixed with words, like in the script. McQuarrie started out as a writer, and that was always his first instinct. But working on these movies and directing for years has honed his skills. And in the M:I world, moving images tend to tell the best stories.

He says of the process, “Tom and I are talking all the time about the fact that every word you write is a word someone has to read in some part of the world. And that when they’re reading the subtitles, they’re actually not seeing the image. So my images have to tell the story, and the words become music.”

And they use cameras all the time. That helicopter chase in Fallout was cut down from 80 hours of footage.

In the new movie, they are constantly reconfiguring and realigning based on how they want the audience to react. They'll test the movie, they'll show reporters, they'll see what you get from each frame or line, and align Tom Cruise's performance with that.

McQuarrie says they have a "library of Tom Cruise’s reactions,” shot. He continues, “What we’ll do is, the camera will just drift and Tom will just interact with the camera. And he’ll give you this library of options because he knows full well it’s probably all going to get rewritten.”

One of the most striking takeaways from the GQ piece is the unwavering commitment of Tom Cruise. More than just the franchise's leading man, Cruise is a driving force, a producer who immerses himself in every facet of the production. His legendary dedication to performing his own stunts, often after rigorous training and meticulous planning, is well-documented.

But the article highlights the depth of this commitment, revealing the hours of rehearsal, the meticulous safety protocols, and the sheer force of will required to execute these seemingly impossible feats. It's not just about the adrenaline; it's about achieving a level of authenticity and realism that CGI simply can't replicate.

The big stunt in this movie involved Cruise jumping between biplanes. It's something crazy and dangerous. And something Cruise came up with.

McQuarrie said, “And Tom said, ‘I want to be between the wings of the plane holding on to the tension wires, and I want to be in zero G between the wings.’ And wing walkers who do this for a living said, ‘That will never happen. You can never do that.’ And Tom said, ‘All right, well, thank you very much for your time.’ ”

The guy will not be denied.

The scene was shot in South Africa, and if the temperature had dropped by just a few degrees, Cruise could have become hypothermic.

McQuarrie elaborated on the stunt, “The wind is hitting him not only at the speed that the plane is flying, but the wind coming off the propeller. It’s hitting him at well over a hundred-plus miles an hour.”

That means, breathing becomes hard, if not impossible. McQuarrie continued, “There were times when Tom would have to lie down on the wing to rest between takes. You can’t tell if he’s conscious or not. And unless Tom pats the top of his head...”—their hand signal for stop —“...it’s like, keep rolling.”

Summing It All Up

This isn't "Mission: Easy." Making these films takes an entire crew dedicated to pulling this stuff off and delivering the audience something they can grip onto and love for generations.

It's what sets these people, including Cruise, apart from their counterparts. And one thing I think we can all strive for when we're making things, even if not at this scale.

Let me know what you think in the comments.