Tom Cruise is airborne, submerged and running on land once again as the latest trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning drops ahead of its May 23 theatrical release. Billed as the final installment in the blockbuster franchise, the film promises a climactic showdown filled with dizzying aerial stunts, globe-trotting espionage, and the ultimate reckoning for IMF agent Ethan Hunt.
The trailer opens with a flurry of high-octane action, showcasing Cruise’s now-signature stuntwork, including leaping from a fighter jet mid-flight and dangling—upside down—from a spinning aircraft. And if that’s not enough to get hearts racing, there’s an underwater submarine sequence that hints at some of the most physically demanding scenes ever captured for the franchise.
This eighth and final entry continues the storyline from 2023’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, as Ethan and his team fight to stop a rogue AI program known as The Entity from bringing about global catastrophe. With the fate of the world once again hanging in the balance, the stakes—and the stunts—have never been higher. Watch below:
Cruise, who has made a career out of pushing physical limits on screen, detailed the challenge of filming one of the aerial sequences to Empire magazine. “When you stick your face out [of an airplane], going over 120 to 130 miles an hour, you’re not getting oxygen,” he explained. “So I had to train myself how to breathe. There were times I would pass out physically; I was unable to get back into the cockpit.”
Returning to the franchise are familiar faces Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn, Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Vanessa Kirby as Alanna Mitsopolis, Hayley Atwell as Grace, and Esai Morales as villain Gabriel. They’re joined by newcomers Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Nick Offerman, Katy O’Brian, Tramell Tillman (Severance), and Stephen Oyoung, promising a final chapter as explosive in cast as it is in scale.
Cruise’s Ethan Hunt may finally be nearing the end of his mission, but if this trailer is any indication, The Final Reckoning will be the most breathtaking installment yet—a cinematic farewell that goes out with an adrenaline-fueled bang.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
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