On the day of filming the scene where the male lead jumps his motorbike off a 1,200 m high mountain, the whole crew of ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ was tense, even mentally ready to ‘possibly lose Tom Cruise’.
ScreenRant site evaluates that each episode of Mission: Impossible is always superior to the previous one in terms of risky action scenes. This helps Tom Cruise’s movie brand bring a scary feeling to the audience.
Accordingly, Mission: Impossible – Fallout (released in 2018) was considered by many people to be the most impressive and interesting film . However, now, part 7 titled Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (Mission Impossible: Karma – Part 1) pushes things even further.
Plunge 1,200 meters off the mountain
From the images on the set revealed in 2020, the scene where spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) drives a large motorbike off a high cliff has attracted attention, and is predicted to be the most reckless situation of part 7. Director “This is the most dangerous thing we’ve ever tried,” said actor Christopher McQuarrie.
According to the script, the male lead Ethan raced a motorbike against a high-speed train, choosing a suitable time to ride, open his parachute and sneak onto the train. The segment was filmed in a fake set in a British studio and in a real setting in the mountains in Norway. Tom Cruise did it himself, without using a stuntman.
Simon Pegg (playing Benji) said that in this scene Tom Cruise acted alone, the actors in the main cast were all present to observe him. Simon expressed his fear when witnessing his co-star’s life-or-death moment. The director added that if Tom Cruise swerves while driving down a steep road, a terrible accident could happen.
Journalist Zack Sharf revealed that this scene was taken during the early stages of Mission: Impossible 7. Tom Cruise said that if he safely passed this challenge, he could rest assured for the entire expensive production process. about 200 million USD less than the remaining project.
“By doing that, we can know whether we will continue or not,” the actor told Variety. He said he wanted to implement this idea since he was a child. For nearly 30 years accompanying the Mission: Impossible series, every challenge he conquers is aimed at the audience’s cinematic experience.
Before filming started, Tom Cruise was well-trained in skydiving and motorcycling. He worked with an action coach for years. During the entire training process, the actor is estimated to have performed 13,000 jumps from the car and 500 parachute deployments in mid-air. Wade Eastwood, the project’s action coordinator, commented that Tom Cruise was “like a jumping machine” when jumping off his motorbike 30 times a day, with equal speed and recklessness in each turn. The actor confided in a behind-the-scenes video: “I’m ready for the scene. And I have to be so good at this that there’s no way I’ll miss my perfection.”
According to Tom Cruise, his jump off the top of the mountain required precise camera angles, careful preparation and favorable weather conditions. He felt lucky because “God cooperated” and all parts of the film crew coordinated well.
The 61-year-old star explained that the key to the success of this stunt is achieving a specific and consistent speed. Without a speedometer, he judged driving speed by the sound and feel of the car. When he started the motorbike, he took advantage of the wind hitting him, hugged his chest and thanks to that he was lifted high.
McQuarrie appreciates Tom Cruise’s hard-working spirit. The director said that the actor actively participated in the scene design and scene staging process. The actor coordinated well with each department in the film crew to make everything go smoothly and safely.
He added that the crew must be able to predict where Tom will be in three-dimensional space. This helps them design reasonable ramps and Tom to perform safe jumps. A GPS chip recorded all of the male lead’s jumps and speed, as well as other factors including wind direction and wind speed, to create an accurate data set. By analyzing this data, the crew calculates the altitude the star can reach, and ensures the camera and drone (camera attached to a remote-controlled aircraft) are placed properly to capture the perfect moment. intact.
A team of engineers and technicians built a mountaintop ramp in Norway, over several months. All supplies were brought here by helicopter. The place where Tom Cruise jumped out of the car and parachuted down is described as a giant bowl made of rocks.
Fighting on the roof of a high-speed train
Along with the above scene, the detail of Ethan Hunt fighting with villain Gabriel (Esai Morales) on the roof of the express train was also noted by Sceenrant as making the work attractive. According to Variety , the “old” Hollywood duo acted for real when the train rushed through the valley in Norway at a speed of nearly 97 km/h.
This is the decision of the male lead and producer Tom Cruise. Variety commented: “This is crazy. But for Tom Cruise, it’s just a slightly different day on set.” Esai Morales likens this experience to a challenge of playing with fire.
Director Christopher McQuarrie said that because the film’s story mentioned a train being destroyed by a bomb, each car falling into the abyss, the film crew was forced to build a separate train and then destroy it. All train cars are realistically staged and can operate on real tracks.
Paragliding over 80 km/h
In Mission: Impossible 7, Tom Cruise had several parachute scenes in mid-air. One of them was revealed to reach high speeds, through behind-the-scenes footage. Director McQuarrie calls this the most beautiful, sophisticated but dangerous sport in the world. According to him, the actor flew in a spiral and hit the ground at a speed of more than 80 km/h.
Along with the series of scenes mentioned above, nearly three hours of Mission: Impossible 7 also offers the audience many other eye-catching and nerve-wracking action scenes, such as Tom Cruise trapped in a car when a train rushes in, Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell Racing with Pom Klementieff on the stairs and paved streets in Rome, Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell kept themselves alive while the train crashed… In it, the male and female leads saved each other when each compartment of the train crashed. Going downhill has some actions and dialogues reminiscent of the blockbuster Titanic.
After the first few days of screening, Mission: Impossible 7 received many good reviews , notably a score of 90% “fresh tomatoes” on the film review platform Rotten Tomatoes, currently the best-performing blockbuster of the season. Summer movie 2023. In Vietnam, the movie earned nearly 20 billion VND after four days of screening.