Tom Cruise returns in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise is back as the famous Impossible Mission Force operative Ethan Hunt. With all the action-packed and nail biting scenes that make up the Mission: Impossible movies, it’s hard to think of how to top one of the movie industries most-loved franchises. So how can Tom Cruise, who once again reprises the role of hero Ethan Hunt, raise the bar with this fourth instalment? Well, jump and hang off of the tallest building on the planet, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, of course!

“He’s insane in the best possible way,” director Brad Bird told Tribute about Cruise, who performed his own stunts. (Click here to watch a behind-the-scenes special.) “I’d like to think that anyone doing this job is a bit insane because you’re telling stories in a very complicated medium to people of all ages.” Adds co-star Jeremy Renner: “The stunts have been insane. Tom has been doing loads. He’s crazy, that guy. It’s unbelievable. He’s fearless. He’s great to watch,” Renner told MTV.com. “He inspires me to want to be better. I’m training in the gym and working out and fighting and doing everything I can to try and keep up. I’m doing hand-to-hand combat, Muay Thai and kung fu and learning how to take someone out quickly. I need to look like I know what I’m doing!”

In Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Ethan Hunt and his IMF operative crew are blamed for the terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, and are all disavowed along with the rest of the agency when the President initiates “Ghost Protocol.” Left without any resources or backup, Ethan must find a way to clear his agency’s name and prevent another attack. To complicate matters further, Ethan is forced to embark on this mission with a team of fellow IMF fugitives whose personal motives he does not fully know.

The film also stars Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, Ving Rhames, Josh Holloway and Tom Wilkinson. But for director Bird, it’s Cruise’s fearless nature that makes this fourth installment truly spectacular. “He’s a star for a reason and he truly loves the medium of film so he was a delight to work with,” Bird told Tribute. “It’s hard to keep up with him and he just goes and goes like the energizer bunny. We have more stunts in this movie than in any other Missions.”

~Toni-Marie Ippolito