With every step closer to Mission: Impossible - Fallout, we get a new bit of marketing seemingly making the case that this franchise is the definitive action franchise of our time and that Tom Cruise is the definitive action star. Hot on the heels of footage showing Tom Cruise breaking his ankle, as well as a dazzling and kinetic Super Bowl trailer, we now have a behind-the-scenes look further proving the intensity of the actor and this franchise. Take a look below to see Tom Cruise flying a helicopter for what looks to be a wildly dangerous Mission: Impossible - Fallout stunt.
This is just crazy and awesome. Crazy awesome, if you will. The lengths Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Tom Cruise are going to in order to achieve realism, authenticity and excitement in these stunts are incredible. Any other film with any other actor might not feel the need to place cameras in the cockpit that face inside the helicopter to prove that the actor is the one really flying, but this is no ordinary action franchise and Tom Cruise is no ordinary actor. The time commitment they discuss in the video that was required for Tom Cruise to have the aptitude to perform these helicopter stunts, unaided, is just amazing. They talked about months of training, all for what will probably amount to less than ten minutes of the movie.
What's especially different about this situation is that it isn't only Tom Cruise putting his life on the line. When he jumps from building to building and shatters his ankle, it is only his body at risk. But here he is airborne in a massive piece of machinery with two other helicopters close nearby. The margin for error is very small, and if he screwed up, other people could have been hurt. And not only was he flying the helicopter to perform dangerous maneuvers, he had to also be focused on his performance and operating the cameras. That's just absurd. I can't imagine the price tag of insurance on Mission: Impossible films; it has to be astronomical.
Tom Cruise is the perfect kind of obsessive to be an action movie star. He commits as much time as needed, risks his corporeal form and does whatever it takes just to make the movie a little bit better with the sheen of authenticity. It looks like the juice was worth the squeeze too, because this movie looks like an absolute blast. The helicopter sequence glimpsed in this video and the trailer does look unique, and seeing into and out from the cockpit at different angles really puts the audience in the action and assures them that this is all Ethan Hunt. You'll be able to see this stunt, and I imagine many more, when Mission: Impossible - Fallout hits theaters on July 27.
