Tom Cruise Nearly Broke His Back Doing ‘Mission: Impossible 8’s’ Deadliest Stunt
Tom Cruise is no stranger to dangerous stunts, but he revealed that one scene in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning almost ended very badly. In bonus features from the film’s digital release, Cruise admitted that the biplane fight near the end of the movie “almost broke [his] back.”
The Final Reckoning, co-written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, follows Ethan Hunt and his IMF team racing to stop a rogue AI called the Entity from destroying humanity. The film is packed with jaw-dropping stunts, including Ethan diving into a sunken submarine, which required Cruise to hold his breath for long takes. But it was the biplane fight between Ethan and the villain Gabriel that took the risk to a whole new level.
Cruise performed the entire sequence himself. At one point, Ethan jumps from his plane onto Gabriel’s aircraft and clings to the wing.
Cruise described how brutal the stunt was, saying in the commentary, “Oh, this almost broke my back.” McQuarrie added, “You’re talking about a lot of pain here… Now watch this: The thing we haven’t talked about, holding on to this belt.”
During the fight, Ethan grabs onto a seatbelt as the plane flips completely upside down. Cruise revealed that this part “separated the joints in [his] fingers from the force, so by the time we finished this sequence, your hands were absolutely swollen — oh my God, it was so painful to watch.” He added, “That was brutal. That hit, that was a hard one.” McQuarrie praised Cruise’s improvisation, saying, “You were like, ‘I think we’re gonna need that,’ and I was like, ‘I didn’t ask you to do that.'”
Cruise’s dedication to stunts didn’t stop there. He set a Guinness World Record for the most burning parachute jumps by an individual.
For one of the film’s final sequences, Cruise lit his first parachute on fire, jumped, and then successfully deployed a second parachute, completing a total of 16 jumps. The Guinness World Record website reported this feat on June 5, 2025.
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The film has been well-received for its action sequences. At the 5th Critics’ Choice Super Awards, The Final Reckoning won Best Action Movie and Best Actor in an Action Movie for Cruise. As of August 17, 2025, the movie has earned $197.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $399.1 million in other countries, for a total of $596.5 million worldwide.
Critics generally liked the film, especially the stunts, though some found the first hour slow because of exposition. On Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 417 critic reviews were positive, showing that fans and critics alike were impressed by Cruise’s daring moves.
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