by Randal C. Hill
The “Mission Impossible” franchise is a series of American action spy films, based on the long-running CBS-TV series and now produced by star Tom Cruise. Here the 62-year-old action hero plays Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Mission Forces. Along with his stalwart partner Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), Hunt risks his life protecting America from malevolent forces that strive to put the world under their control.
In this eighth Paramount Pictures offering, Ethan scuba-dives, explores a wrecked submarine, almost dies in a knife fight, and falls out of a biplane. Oh, yes; he also does lots and lots of running.
Cruise takes pride in the fact that he does all his own stunts in every movie he makes. “I am a very physical actor, and I love doing stunts. I study and train and take a lot of time figuring it all out. I have [also] broken a lot of bones.” He then admits, “The first time of any stunt is nerve-wracking, but it’s also exhilarating. I’ve been told a few times during shooting a stunt to stop smiling.”
Gone are the early criticisms that Tom was merely a teen-dream, poster-on-the-wall cutie. To many, Cruise deserved—but never received—a Best Actor Oscar for his outstanding work as wounded soldier Ron Kovic in 1989’s “Born on the Fourth of July.”
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In this latest story, Luther tells Ethan, “Our lives are never defined by any one action. Our lives are the sum of our choices. We’ve always been on the right side, Brother. I have no regrets, and neither should you.”
Further on, Ethan says, “Your life will always matter more to me than my own.” To which Luther argues, “None of our lives can matter more than this mission.”
The movie was directed by Christopher McQuarrie (“Top Gun: Maverick”), and the script was co-written by McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen (“Ithica”).
Will this become the final MI installment? Don’t bet on it. Cruise has declared that he wants to keep making action films until he’s in his eighties. And what’s to stop him?
“Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” opens nationwide on May 23.
