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Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible Isn’t Over Yet
In a recent trends piece from TODAY.com– of all things, about the curious way Tom Cruise eats popcorn– it was noted that the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ installment, ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’, is “the eighth and final movie in the franchise.”
Tom Cruise- the face and spearhead of the film franchise– has never said he’s done. In fact, at the premiere of ‘Dead Reckoning – Part 1’, while commenting on Harrison Ford’s return as Indiana Jones in 2023’s ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, he told The Sydney Morning Herald, “I hope to keep making ‘Mission: Impossible’ films until I’m [Harrison Ford’s] age.” At the time, Ford was eighty-one.
Since then, Cruise has only doubled down. At the New York City premiere of ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’, he told The Hollywood Reporter, “Actually, I’m going to make them into my 100s.”
So when people call this “the final chapter,” it’s hard to believe. As in I don’t believe it for a second.
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Intensity as Identity: The Tom Cruise Effect
Tom Cruise has established himself as perhaps the last true action hero whose persona transcends the characters he plays. Much like classic Western stars such as John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, Cruise’s cultivated image carries through his entire filmography, making the specific names of his characters almost irrelevant. Even audiences from the ‘50s and ‘60s would struggle to recall John Wayne’s character names, and Clint Eastwood’s role in Leone’s ‘Dollars’ trilogy famously required no name at all.
Cruise’s comedic roles, like the outrageous Les Grossman, follow a post-Schwarzenegger tradition where action stars subvert their established personas. However, Cruise has yet to fully embrace high-concept comedy in the way Schwarzenegger did with films like ‘Junior’ or ‘Jingle All the Way’. Outside of Les Grossman- where heavy makeup and exaggeration create a character almost detached from Cruise himself- his comedic performances often retain a romantic core, as seen in ‘Knight and Day’ or ‘Jerry Maguire’.
Even when venturing into comedy, Cruise’s trademark intensity shines through, especially in his eyes. Alejandro González Iñárritu, who recently collaborated with Cruise on the upcoming film- tentatively titled ‘Judy‘- remarks about Cruise’s work ethic, “[Tom] gives himself. He has an incredible sense of passion.”
Speaking at Cannes, Iñárritu noted that the film is a character-driven film without the usual Cruise stunts. “There’s none of that,” he said, emphasizing that the movie relies heavily on Cruise’s performance. He adds, “I knew he was exactly the right person for it.”
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The Auteur Years and the Turn Toward Action
This collaboration so soon after ‘Final Reckoning’ makes one wonder if Tom Cruise has finally decided to return to non-action films, as he hasn’t appeared in one since 2007, when he played a Senator in Robert Redford’s ‘Lions for Lambs’. During the ‘90s, Cruise leveraged his immense popularity to collaborate with some of cinema’s giants and American auteurs– Paul Thomas Anderson, Steven Spielberg, and even Stanley Kubrick- earning three Academy Award nominations for his acting.
However, after his first collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie in 2008’s ‘Valkyrie’– a film with such compelling momentum that, for a moment, it almost convinces you to believe they really killed Hitler– Cruise has stuck strictly to action movies, save only for ‘Rock of Ages’.
Actor Griffin Newman from the popular podcast ‘Blank Check with Griffin and David’ notes in their episode re ‘Dead Reckoning- Part One’, “When McQuarrie comes in as a writer [on ‘Ghost Protocol’] and then really gets raised to the next level when he starts directing the films…the key is that… Ethan Hunt is Tom Cruise.”
Mr. Newman is referring to the essence of a true movie star- an ilk Tom Cruise is probably the last vestige of.
“[If you ask someone] Can you define Ethan Hunt? And you’re like he’s a guy that Tom Cruise plays,” Griffin Newman goes on. “The movies have now become basically about Tom Cruise’s… pathological commitment to the idea of keeping an idea of movies alive and an idea of movie stardom…”
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A.I., Humanity, and the Mission Metaphor
In ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning’ and its follow-up, the central antagonist is a rogue artificial intelligence known as the Entity- a threat not just to Ethan Hunt’s abilities, but to his humanity. The battle is existential, philosophical, and eerily timely.
This isn’t just plot- it’s metaphor. Ethan’s struggle with the Entity mirrors Tom Cruise’s own standoff with A.I. in Hollywood: he remains one of the last major movie stars insisting on the authenticity of real stunts, human performance, and cinematic spectacle in an industry increasingly tempted by synthetic shortcuts.
In that metacontext, the ‘Reckoning’ films feel like more than action blockbusters. They’re Cruise’s declaration of war- against digital complacency, against faceless algorithms, against the erosion of what makes movies personal and thrilling.
That’s why I don’t buy the idea that Cruise will walk away from action filmmaking anytime soon. Not now. Not in this climate. The metaphor is too potent, the mission too urgent. If anything, this trilogy has made his purpose even clearer. He’s not just running from explosions- he’s running toward a vision of cinema he refuses to let die.
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The High Stakes of Tom Cruise’s Real Stunts
Tom Cruise’s commitment to performing his own stunts sets a high bar that few Hollywood A-listers dare to match. This was highlighted in Matt Damon’s 2019 appearance on ‘Conan’, where he shared a memorable dinner conversation with Cruise about their very different approaches to stunt safety. Damon was especially fascinated by Cruise’s daring climb in ‘Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol’. When Damon asked about the stunt, Cruise revealed he had envisioned it for 15 years. When the safety team pushed back, Cruise simply replaced those who thought it was too dangerous. Damon humorously admitted that, in his case, he would usually listen to the safety experts and say, “Well, the safety guy says it’s not a good idea.”
A major appeal of Cruise’s recent films- sometimes to a fault- is his dedication to practical stunts, done the old-fashioned way in the tradition of legends like Clint Eastwood, Douglas Fairbanks, and Buster Keaton.
When the trailer for ‘Dead Reckoning- Part 1’ premiered, it played incessantly for months. Eventually, it seemed the filmmakers realized audiences might be growing tired of the same jaw-dropping stunt, so they started releasing behind-the-scenes featurettes to keep interest alive. The first time I saw that jump in the trailer, I was genuinely awestruck. But after countless repeats and the BTS featurettes, the stunt felt overexposed- almost gratuitous.
When marketing leans heavily on Cruise’s real stunt work, it can wear thin for the public; frankly, we get it. But Cruise’s enduring career proves he knows exactly how these moments will translate on screen. When you see him hanging outside a plane with his mouth flapping in the wind, and hear the buzz about the stunts being real, it adds genuine excitement to the experience. His live stunt work isn’t just hype- it elevates the thrill of watching.
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Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
Joseph Tralongo is a playwright and screenwriter who approaches storytelling with a deep respect for film’s ability to distill human behavior into meaningful moments. His personal work- i.e. his plays, screenplays, and films- leans into semantic tension, moral ambiguity, and the quiet unraveling of social dynamics- not to preach, but to parse. For him, writing is a slow excavation of truth through craft. With a background in theatre and independent film, he brings a structural precision and dramatic instinct to every film he reviews. Hollywood Insider’s mission to champion substance over spectacle aligns with Joseph’s belief that storytelling should investigate, not dictate.
