[dropcap size=small]T[/dropcap]hough his presence and charm are quite missing for few years, there’s absolutely no denying that Tom Cruise is the face of Hollywood which will never be forgotten. An actor not known for Awards but for splendid movies like A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Top Gun, The Last Samurai, Minority Report and Mission Impossible Franchise. [highlight color=#883EBA ]Tom has a spectacular track record of ruling the box office for almost 4 decades, with a Gross Collection of all of his movies combined worth 8 Billion Dollars.[/highlight] Not just that, Tom Cruise is also best recognised for enmeshing in death defying stunts, for a Movie Industry which has significantly evolved from panning to green screen. Tom Cruise has lead a crusade of performing crazy ‘practical’ (no CGI) stunts for the love of his audience.
With the release of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, let’s list out all those stunts by Tom Cruise which deservingly entitled him to be the daredevil, with courage (or passion) greater than any other actor in the whole world.
[button color=”red” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]1. The Airplane scene[/button]
It seems like Tom’s hunger for bringing something out of the box has gone too far. Seeing the trailer, I concluded the plane must be a set, the runway must be a green screen and fast blowing wind must be the massive set fans; however, I was proven wrong just recently. This air plane stunt actually did happen! Tom was actually harnessed into the part of the plane where he seems to be holding on to. If something went wrong, the actor had to wait until the plane landed for obvious reasons. This is the best and purest of all stunts by Tom Cruise, nothing (with a safety harness) could beat this.
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[button color=”blue” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]2. The Burj Khalifa stunt[/button]
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol features the second purest stunt, no Green screen, no sets , no stunt doubles nothing but a few safety harness and a dedicated actor trying to pull off an already fierce sequence. Performing this stunt on a building 2,722 feat high is an achievement for both the actor and stunt co-coordinators .
Wind at that height made Tom to slam against the walls of Burj frequently. However, the extreme camera work and Tom’s rigid guts lead to this awesome scene with an amazing end of him swinging from the edge of the building.
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[button color=”green” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]3. Close encounter of eye with knife[/button]
Despite the director’s dismay, Tom decided to take a calculated hazard. This is one of the most ferocious stunts by Tom Cruise where he was half an inch away from loosing his eyeball but he wanted to do it anyway. It was a real knife precisely rigged to a cable to stop at the exact spot. The actor performing the knife assault was worried sick to perform it because the slightest quarter-inch mistake could shut down the film and our favourite Tom could have lost an eye.
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[button color=”grey” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]4. Rock Climbing[/button]
Mission: Impossible II started with a crazy rock climbing scene where Ethan Hunt is climbing and jumping rocks to reach the zenith. Some stunt doubles were indeed used for the most dangerous sequences and Tom was advised to drop it all together, but he was persistent to introduce his character with a breath-taking entrance which lead him to Utah’s Dead Horse Point. He used safety harness to perform stunts without any catch-net, if anything went wrong. Finally, the MI franchise got blessed with yet another death defying sequence.
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[button color=”brown” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]5. Jump from a Skyscraper[/button]
Well this one has a catch, out of the several stunts by Tom Cruise in the movie Mission: Impossible III, this one holds the most intrigue. He did jump and land on a glass roof, but it was a set which was also high enough to scare the crap out of anyone. Director J. J. Abrams was skeptical to include this into the screenplay because Tom would want to do it, eventually he did it with an amazing result. You can see the making of Mission: Impossible III to know how did it go.
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[button color=”red” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]6. Hoverpack Chase[/button]
Steven Spielberg is best known for his two Oscar-winning movies and his love for practical effects. His movie Minority Report has quite a few stunts by Tom Cruise which were practical, Hoverpack chase was one of them. It was a fully built set in which the crew had absolute control. To pull off this futuristic scene, the crew had to built an 80 feet high stunt rig with cable up to a mile long. Impressive part is that Tom controlled his own wire cables all the time.
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[button color=”blue” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]7. Car chase[/button]
This is one of the most furious stunts performed by Tom Cruise in the movie Jack Reacher. This scene is just too real. You can also notice the amateur driving, where Tom is repeatedly running into hindrance every now and then and running out of road, crashing into cars. Green screen couldn’t have pulled this off with deep close up shots as you can witness; it’s obvious and notable that Tom is behind the wheels. The realism increases the intensity and captivity of the scene ending with an epic stand out set-piece.
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[button color=”green” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]8. Motor Bike chase[/button]
We have to admit, most part of this scene must have been performed by stunt doubles, but there’s no denying that the actor did have a part in it. Apparently, the actor came up with the idea of flipping Cameron Diaz whilst riding the bike and pitched this idea to the director. Eventually this scene came to roll and as we know, it was awesome even though it looked scary while performing. Another part of the scene leads to the bulls, any one would think it was CGI but actually it was not. These two stunts by Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz reveals the courage of not only Tom but also of Cameron to take charge of such fortitude.
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[button color=”grey” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]9. Lying on the roof and hood of a moving car[/button]
Although a great part of this sequence was CGI but Tom lying on the hood and roof of the moving car is real. Tom strapped himself to the car while performing the stunt, which is still horrifying when a car is speeding into traffic. Stunts by Tom Cruise for the movie Knight and Day signify his spirit even at such an old stage.
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[button color=”brown” size=”big” alignment=”center” rel=”nofollow” openin=”samewindow” ]10. Sprinting away from an exploding fish tank[/button]
Mission: Impossible directed by Brian de Palma was the least action-packed movie of the franchise, it was in 1996 what more could you expect? Even though Paramount Studios and Tom pulled this signature action sequence subliminally, the set idea was of Tom himself and was constructed on sound stages in a Paramount Studio. Obviously Tom having an immense passion and professionalism for his craft neglected a stunt double. This is one of the most significant stunts by Tom Cruise which show the real fear of drowning in water weighing up to 16 tonnes, hence conceiving a breath taking sequence.
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