Tom Cruise is widely known as one of the few actors in Hollywood who goes to insane lengths when doing his own stunts. While it is impressive, a clip shared on Twitter shows just how far he will go while also hilariously demonstrating the seemingly pointless VFX used in the scene.
The shared clip comes from the fifth film in the Mission: Impossible franchise: Rogue Nation. It shows Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, clinging onto the side of an airplane as it takes off from a runway. While most would have thought the scene to be created with a prop plane and a simple green screen behind Cruise, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Yes. The Top Gun: Maverick star actually clung onto the side of a plane while it took off — and some madman filmed it. And while that’s cool and all, it begs the question, what was the point of adding visual effects to that scene?
From what we can tell, all that really changes is that there’s a slightly darker filter that makes the colors a bit more prominent and the cord connecting Cruise to the plane has been edited out. Aside from that, the scene remains largely unchanged.
Twitter users commended Cruise for his commitment to the scene with many being in awe of the fact that it wasn’t all just CGI.
This guy….can never doubt his commitment that’s for sure
— ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ👉🏽 Josh (@Heleous281) April 18, 2023
I remember seeing this in theatres. Because CGI can still be hard to pass off as real, it was like my brain instantly knew this stunt was actually him on the plane and I lost my mind! The sinking feeling when that plane took off was mindblowing.
— Jackson (ItsTheBirdd) (@ItsTheJBird) April 18, 2023
The Mission: Impossible films are filled with scenes of Tom Cruise just doing insane stunts like this — the man even scaled the side of the Burj Khalifa in Ghost Protocol, and while filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the actor broke his ankle jumping across rooftops in London. Bear in mind — he’s 60 years old! We can’t wait to see what crazy stunts he does in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, of which the first part is set to release July 14, 2023.
