The 3 most epic Tom Cruise stunt videos

Tom Cruise's character Pete "Maverick" Mitchell piloted various planes in Top Gun: Maverick, but the US Navy barred him from flying the F-18 Super Hornet. Tom Cruise's "flying an F-18" appears to be a standard item on his bucket list.

Joseph Kosinski's sequel to the 1986 classic film Top Gun, due for release on May 27, 2022, delivers as promised on unrivaled and unforgettable aerial action scenes. Most early reviews for Top Gun: Maverick has been quite positive, and credit can be given to the film's use of actual effects rather than CGI to bring credibility to the action. While Tom Cruise is known for performing his stunts, several of the feats proposed for Top Gun: Maverick were overly ambitious, even by Cruise's standards.

Tom Cruise told Top Gun: Maverick's director Jerry Bruckheimer that he agreed to reprise his role as Maverick on one condition:

"I said to Jerry [Bruckheimer], 'I'll do it if...' meaning I'm not going to do the CGI stuff."

Cruise only agreed to work on the project if Bruckheimer decided that the film's effects would not rely on cheesy CGI. Cruise was so ambitious that he had hoped to fly an actual Boeing F-18 combat plane in the first place.

Tom Cruise pulls his stunts for a simple reason: it's best to tell whatever story he's working on. The actor explained:

"It has to do with storytelling. It enables us to position cameras in locations where you wouldn't typically be able to."

Indeed, suppose the lead actor in an action film is physically capable of doing the character's stunts. In that case, there is no need to shoot from unusual angles or employ editing methods to make scary scenes appear realistic. This leads to smoother action sequences and settings that are closer to the vision of the writer, stunt coordinator, and director.

Furthermore, whenever Tom Cruise puts himself in jeopardy for a daring feat, everyone involved - from the film crew to the audience - is far more invested in the outcome, providing a level of authenticity that can't be accomplished any other way. This spectacular effect can also be seen in the stunt-filled Mission Impossible franchise, which is unrelated to the Top Gun series.

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3 stunts of Tom Cruise that were legendary

3) In Mission: Impossible 6, Cruise jumps between two buildings

Over the weekend in London, the actor was injured while filming a stunt scene for Mission: Impossible 6. Tom Cruise was spotted slamming into a wall while attempting to jump across a distance between buildings (while attached to a pulley system), but his upper torso came up shortly after colliding with the edge.

He could be seen limping with a frown as he dragged himself up onto the platform and attempted to flee. Cruise injured his ankle on Wednesday, according to Paramount Pictures.

Tom Cruise was always expected to slam into the side of the building for the stunt, and was wearing padding for safety, according to M: I 6 director Christopher McQuarrie. Cruise was never supposed to land on top of the following structure, and the stunt was repeated several times.

It's unknown whether the thrillseeker's accident caused other initiatives to be delayed. Cruise was then recently photographed learning to fly a helicopter in preparation for the highly anticipated Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick.

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2) In Mission: Impossible 4, he scales the world's tallest building

That is true. In the 2011 film Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, a cruise dangles 1,700 feet above the ground in Dubai, ascending to the 123-story Burj Khalifa to reach a computer server. After eight days of shooting at the height of 250 feet above the Empire State Building's pinnacle, he's in a harness (removed in post-production) held by a cable the thickness of a piano wire.

"[Cruise has] balls of steel," veteran stuntman and stunt coordinator Randy Butcher ("X-Men," "Dawn of the Dead") said. "He was definitely outside that building. He hung outside that building. I'm not convinced it's him running down the side. It's entirely possible that it is. But the close-ups of climbing, with that glove — that takes incredible nerve."

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1) Motorbike chase in Knight and Day

Tom Cruise drives a motorcycle with Cameron Diaz behind him in the 2010 film Knight and Day, then flips her to the front so she can shoot bad men behind them. Sure, stunt doubles are used, but that's Tom Cruise, a skilled rider speeding through the streets in the chase sequence.

"I called [Director James Mangold] and I said, 'Look, I've got this stunt (idea). It's this motorcycle stunt," Cruise said. "We've gotta put a motorcycle in this scene and I've gotta flip her around this thing. I called Cameron and said, 'Are you up for it?' She came out. We practiced it and stuff and Jim shot it. I couldn't wait to do that!"