Since the original Mission Impossible Released in theaters 27 years ago, Tom Cruise and a rotating team of directors have continually redefined what the spy thriller is all about. Brian de Palma kicked off a thrilling conspiracy in 1996, then John Woo sent the franchise into slow-motion frenzy four years later. A decade later, Cruise was dangling from the Burj Khalifa – and he was willing to give himself up on any subsequent sequel. React to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning part 1, the star made it very clear that his penchant for deadly practical stunts wasn’t slowing down. Later this month he will be motorcycling off a cliff for our enjoyment.
But when you look back at the Mission: Impossible movies, there’s a clear connection between them, a commonality that gives each movie its core: run like hell.
Ethan Hunt’s personal mythology has gotten more tangled over the years, and things booming have gotten boomer thanks to 30 years of advancements in moviemaking technology, but the real thing that Cruise looks at every picture brings are his two swift feet. The man likes to run – and run and run and run. Then he takes a break. Then he keeps running! Fans of the series have picked up on the actor’s pious faith on camera to race to a MacGuffin finish. Food is for Brad Pitt sprinting like there’s no tomorrow for Tom Cruise. At this point, Cruise knows his reputation; his Instagram biography reads, “Actor. Producer. Running in movies since 1981.”
The running in Mission: Impossible movies can be overlooked when squeezed under the tentpole sequences of each movie, but they’re there, and when viewed back to back in this mesmerizing supercut stitched together by the amazing team from Paramount Pictures archivists/editors, it becomes clear why the franchise has… legs. (Ahem.) No director shoots Tom Cruise running in exactly the same way, and the contextual circumstances of why Ethan Hunt has to run at any given moment require a certain amount of nuance from an artist who also runs faster than we ever do. have in the gym. To the tune of Lalo Schifrin’s original M:I theme, the edit, debuting here on Polygon, is a delight for fans of this stuff.
See Tom Cruise running. Run, Tom. Walk. Walk Walk Walk!
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning part 1 will be in cinemas from July 12.