Spoiler Warning: Details about the ending of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One lie ahead.
Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One opened this week and fans and critics are absolutely loving the new installment in the 30 year old franchise. Full of incredible stunts and chase sequences bound to put you on the edge of your seat, M:I 7 is the perfect summer movie. With so much to enjoy and the promise of another film in the title, Tom Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie struggled with how to end the movie. Finding the perfect ending was so important to the action star, that it kept him up at night.
In a recent interview with our sister site GamesRadar, McQuarrie opened up about the importance of finding the perfect ending for M:I 7. The title hints at a Part Two, so the creative team wanted to find a way to conclude it as its own movie, while also getting fans excited for another Dead Reckoning around the corner. It took a while to get there, and was a source of stress on Cruise’s part. The filmmaker detailed:
Where we ended the movie was always where we were going to end it. How we ended the movie was a big, big mystery for us. It kept Tom awake at night throughout production. He would come in all the time and say, 'This can't be a cliffhanger, it's got to be satisfying.' The audience has to feel a sense of completion. Tom kept looking at that scene and he had all this anxiety about whether or not it would be a satisfying conclusion or whether it would feel open-ended. We constantly revisited it, constantly refined it.
While it may have been tempting to end Part One with a cliffhanger (literally and figuratively), the director really wanted viewers to be satisfied with the ending, rather than the film just acting as a lead up to M:I 8. They wanted audiences to be excited to see the next movie, rather than just feeling like they have to. McQuarrie continued:
If you leave it with a cliffhanger, it feels a little bit like we're expecting you to come back. We didn't want that feeling. The feeling we were reaching for – and we hope you feel – is we dare you not to come back. We want to leave you thinking, 'Oh, I can't wait to see what happens next.'
Thankfully for Tom Cruise’s sleep schedule, the filmmakers found the perfect ending for Mission Impossible 7. Ethan Hunt and his brazen new team member, Grace, obtain the cruciform key from Gabriel. Grace agrees to join the IMF officially, and Hunt parachutes off the falling train, disappearing with the key. For audiences, we get to see a real conclusion to the stakes and objectives established for the film. The movie still leaves fans with many questions about the power of the Entity, and what Hunt will do with a key that holds so much power. Not only did Ethan Hunt accomplish his mission, McQuarrie and Cruise also accomplished theirs.
Cruise’s passion for movies and giving audiences the best moviegoing experience possible is well documented, and not unique to Mission: Impossible. He would not agree to make Top Gun: Maverick until they got the story right, and it was important to him that they used real fighter planes as it was more realistic visually. Within the M:I franchise, he has participated in numerous death defying stunts for audience enjoyment, like strapping himself to a plane taking off, and jumping off of a massive cliff with his motorcycle. He loves the theatrical experience so much that he would sneak in the back of movie theaters just to observe audience reactions. The man is truly committed.
You can check out Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning- Part One which is in theaters nationwide now. Fans of the franchise who want to revisit the other M:I films ahead of the latest addition can do so now with a Paramount+ subscription. For more information on other much anticipated movies heading to cinemas and streaming later this year, make sure to consult our 2023 movie release schedule.
