11 Years Ago Today: One of Tom Cruise’s Greatest Action Movies Was Released

Before Tom Cruise jumped off cliffs and flew upside down, he spent eight airplane takeoffs proving gravity was merely a suggestion. Eleven years ago today, he clung to the outside of a military aircraft for Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation—and somehow, that wasn’t even his most physically demanding stunt in the movie.

Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation arrived in U.S. theaters on July 31, 2015, according to the American Film Institute. What looked like another slick franchise sequel became something more important: the movie that established Cruise and writer-director Christopher McQuarrie as Hollywood’s premier action partnership.

It remains one of Cruise’s most acclaimed films. Rotten Tomatoes ranks Rogue Nation fourth among all his movies, with a 94% critics score. Polygon, meanwhile, placed it eighth in its ranking of Cruise’s 26 best action films.

Tom Cruise Repeated the Plane Stunt Eight Times

The opening sequence instantly reset expectations. Cruise, playing IMF agent Ethan Hunt, was strapped to the side of a real Airbus A400M as it accelerated down a runway and climbed into the air.

It wasn’t a one-take gamble. Cruise repeated the stunt eight times before the filmmakers captured what they needed, as shown in Paramount’s behind-the-scenes footage. Years later, co-star Simon Pegg told People it was the first time he had seen Cruise genuinely nervous about a stunt.

“There were a lot of variables involved,” Pegg recalled. Cruise had an even simpler thought as the plane began moving: “Oh, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

Then came the underwater sequence. Cruise trained to perform breath holds lasting six to six-and-a-half minutes for an extended scene designed to appear unbroken. “It was very taxing stuff,” he told USA Today, as quoted by Fandango.

Related: Tom Cruise Broke His Ankle Making This Action Masterpiece

The Movie That Changed the Franchise

Rogue Nation also introduced Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, a British operative whose loyalties remain deliberately unclear. Rather than functioning as Ethan Hunt’s sidekick, Faust repeatedly matches—or rescues—him.

The strategy worked commercially. The movie earned approximately $711 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and McQuarrie returned to direct the franchise’s next three installments—ending the series’ tradition of hiring a different filmmaker for every mission.

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