Even as Paramount’s CinemaCon presentation touched on many of the studio’s most anticipated titles, from Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” to Kendrick Lamar’s buzzy untitled collaboration with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, one blockbuster loomed above the rest: “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” Any film led by Tom Cruise becomes the biggest film on Paramount’s slate by default, and the studio saved the best for last.
The trailer for the film showcased some franchise greatest hits, including his balletic CIA break in from the first film and his survival of the bomb that blew up the Kremlin. We also see him get strapped into a coffin-looking machine powered by the AI that threatened him in the previous movie, “Dead Reckoning Part One,” as well as quick glimpses of some of the film’s stunts, including him dangling from a biplane and underwater in a submarine filling with water.
“I need you to trust me, one last time,” Cruise says to close the trailer.
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote the script with Erik Jendresen. In addition to Cruise, the film stars Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Angela Bassett, Pom Klementieff, and Nick Offerman.
“The Final Reckoning” is Part 2 of the story set up in “Dead Reckoning Part One,” with “The Final Reckoning” ultimately changing its title to appear more like a standalone title after “Dead Reckoning” slightly underperformed compared to the top earner in the series “Fallout.”
Like any “Mission: Impossible” movie worth its salt, “The Final Reckoning” promises to feature plenty of death-defying stunts performed by Cruise himself, who raises the bar for risk-taking with every subsequent film. In “The Final Reckoning,” the actor performs an underwater maneuver that required him to be submerged in a tank for up to ten minutes at a time.
“I’m breathing in my own carbon dioxide,” Cruise said in a recent interview with Empire. “It builds up in the body and affects the muscles. You have to overcome all of that while you’re doing it, and be present.”
Cruise also paid tribute to the late Val Kilmer ahead of premiering the trailer, honoring him with a moment of silence inside the Colosseum in Las Vegas. And Cruise additionally presented director McQuarrie, or “McQ,” with an award from CinemaCon.
A Paramount Pictures release, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” opens in theaters on Friday, May 23.
