It was a cinematic spectacle that was bound to steal the show. At the packed Grand Théâtre Lumière in Cannes, filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie calmly reflected on his career — from The Usual Suspects to The Way of the Gun — and his now eleven-film partnership with Hollywood’s most fearless action star, Tom Cruise. But the moment Cruise walked onstage in his maroon short-sleeved ensemble, the conversation took a turn — from past accolades to present-day adrenaline.

Despite the official billing of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning as the series finale, an electrifying IMAX screening later that evening hinted at anything but an ending. The film — which cost a staggering $400 million and was shot entirely in IMAX — closes with an open-ended twist, suggesting Cruise’s Ethan Hunt may not have said his final goodbye just yet.

With its global release set for May 23, the film’s reception will determine whether audiences are ready for a true farewell — or if there’s still a market for more death-defying stunts.

Cruise Control — Who Really Runs the Mission Machine?

While McQuarrie and Cruise publicly emphasize mutual respect, there’s little doubt about who’s in the pilot’s seat. Cruise’s influence over the Mission franchise has grown steadily since he and McQuarrie teamed up on Valkyrie in 2009. Together, they’ve redefined what it means to push cinematic boundaries.

“We love movies. We love telling stories,” Cruise said simply, when asked about their working relationship. But their creative synergy is anything but simple. Each Mission film is meticulously crafted, with every story beat and stunt sequence undergoing months — if not years — of planning.

The Art of Big-Screen Bravery

For McQuarrie, the struggle of modern filmmaking is balancing art and entertainment — something he believes streaming is steadily eroding. “Cinema is where people come to experience something together,” he said. “Streaming is in danger of driving that into extinction.” For him, the Mission franchise is not just high-octane action, but a vessel for meaning and commentary — even if the explosions are louder than the metaphors.

This blend of blockbuster thrills and cinematic soul is nowhere more evident than in The Final Reckoning’s ambitious set pieces — especially a high-stakes underwater sequence involving a sunken Soviet submarine and a rotating 60-foot, 1,000-ton steel drum submerged in 8.5 million liters of water. “There’s no way to test it,” McQuarrie admitted. “You build it, you put a camera on it, and you hope Tom doesn’t die.”

Flying Solo — Literally

Then there’s that stunt — the one Cruise performs alone at 10,000 feet over Africa, clinging to the wing of a vintage biplane. The only way to communicate with him during the scene? Hand signals from a helicopter flying beside him.

Cruise not only acts in these sequences — he choreographs them, lights them by positioning the aircraft against the sun, and times them with the precision of a Swiss watch. One sequence involved him staying on the plane’s wing for over 12 minutes — a physically grueling feat equivalent to two hours at the gym. “There were moments we didn’t know if he was conscious,” said McQuarrie. “He was just lying there on the wing, arms dangling, completely exhausted.”

The stunt was inspired by a TikTok video — one McQuarrie showed Cruise thinking it would amuse him. Instead, Cruise replied, “I could do that.” McQuarrie protested. But Cruise, of course, proved otherwise.

A Franchise That Refuses to Crash and Burn

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning adds new faces like Hannah Waddington and Angela Bassett to the mix, while keeping fan-favorites like Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, and Pom Klementieff. The plot? Ethan Hunt must stop the apocalyptic cyber-entity “The Entity” from hijacking the world’s nuclear codes.

But at its heart, the franchise remains what it always has been — a high-stakes love letter to cinema itself. From dangerous dives beneath the Arctic to hanging onto airplanes at dizzying altitudes, Cruise and McQuarrie continue to bet big on the belief that nothing replaces the magic of the movies.

And if The Final Reckoning truly isn’t the end — well, that might be the most impossible mission of all: convincing Tom Cruise to ever stop.