The Most Dangerous Stunts in Every Mission: Impossible Movie

The Mission: Impossible series is Tom Cruise's ship that seems to fulfill some kind of death wish, and it couldn't be more fun.

The first Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning installment is due out next year, and director Christopher McQuarrie has promised groundbreaking new stunts. The franchise is paradoxical, as each film is filled with more death-defying stunts than the last, and no one loves it more than Tom Cruise.

The actor is known for his jaw-dropping stunt work, and the Mission: Impossible series appears to be a vessel for his death wish to be fulfilled. While stunt coordinators are always on site to make sure the stunts are as safe as possible, that doesn't mean they're still not dangerous.

Mission: Impossible (1996) - Exploding Fish Tank

While ambitious stunt work is the big draw of the Mission: Impossible franchise today, it wasn't one of the franchise's trademarks when the original was released in 1996. However, there are still a few jaw-dropping moments in a smaller-scale espionage crime drama.

While many will be quick to point to the Langley heist where Ethan (Cruise) falls into the control room and is pulled back inches from hitting the floor, there is a less memorable stunt that is dangerous much. Halfway through the movie, A huge fish tank exploded with enough water in it to scare James Cameron. Cruise even mentioned that the stunt wasn't well planned (via Cinema Blend), and that he was surprisingly hesitant to film it.

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) - The Knife Fight

Mission: Impossible 2 is the most criticized entry in the M:I series, in part because of the lack of high-intensity action sequences outside of the rock climb and token motorcycle chase. However, there is a moment that lasts only a few shots, with the blade coming dangerously close to Cruise's eye. For many, the choice between climbing without a harness and climbing without a harness will come down to a coin toss.

However, while the extreme close-up of the knife mere millimeters from Cruise's open eyes was enough to unsettle anyone, Daniel Day-Lewis beat Cruise in a stunt match of his own in Gangs of New York in 2002 . As Day-Lewis often took method acting to the extreme, he covered one eye with a prosthetic eye to capture the look of a glass eye, and he even learned how to use a Blade, can be seen in the 2002 film.

Mission: Impossible III (2006) - The Missile Hit

David Fincher almost directed Mission: Impossible 3, and since the filmmaker is a visionary thriller director, there's no doubt he'll turn the film into a gritty R super crime movie. However, with J.J. Abrams in the director's chair, the film isn't all that different from what one might expect from Fincher. Mission: Impossible III is the most down-to-earth and grittiest film in the series, even more so than the original, which means there aren't many deadly stunts in the release.

But the 2006 film does have a tightrope stunt that looks like it could seriously injure Cruise if it wasn't pulled off perfectly. A missile hits a bridge on which Ethan is standing, causing him to fly over the bridge and hit a car. While Cruise may have been connected to some wires that were digitally removed, it still looks like a pain.

Mission: Impossible 4 - Ghost Protocol (2011) - The Burj Khalifa Climb

Mission: Impossible 4 - Ghost Protocol marks the series' first attempt to combine all previous stunts into one, the first obvious sign that Cruise seems to be competing with himself and that he There may or may not be a death wish. Along with the typical spitting, motorcycle chases and fights, director Brad Bird has Cruise running through a sandstorm and, most importantly, scaling the Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper on Earth tower.

However, it wasn't just Cruise who committed to the stunt, as none of the actors had doubles during the Burj Khalifa stunt. Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Simon Pegg have all followed in Cruise's footsteps hanging outside the world's tallest building.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - Taking A Dive

Mission: Impossible has an ironic title, and so do its sequels, as nothing is impossible as long as Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise commits to some deadly stunts. In Rogue Nation, these stunts are shown to the audience one after the other. Any movie with water stunts always trumps any other stunt when it comes to dangerous levels, even the one where Cruise hangs over the edge of the plane while he's flying.

As with any element, water is so unpredictable that stunt coordinators must be prepared for anything. In the 2015 film, Hunter sneaks into what is essentially a high-tech security system because he has to Replace the computer chip in the underwater safe. According to Business Insider, Cruise spent months training it, spent two weeks filming it, and managed to hold his breath for six minutes, after jumping off a 120-foot ledge.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018) - Clearing The London Gap

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is basically 2.5 hours, which will keep viewers on the edge of their seats and seriously focus on Cruise. The film has more stunts than all the other Mission: Impossible films combined, including HALO jumps, helicopter chases, speeding through oncoming traffic in Paris, and cliffhangers in Norway. However, while these stunts were performed cruising hundreds of feet above the ground, it was an easy jump for the most dangerous fallout stunts.

In the final scene of the film, Cruise has to jump between two buildings in London, and the gap is relatively short (for Cruise), but seriously injures the actor. Cruise crashed into the side of one of the buildings, putting production on the sixth film on hold for months until he recovers (via Sky).