How Much Of Mission Impossible 7 Is Real & How Much Is CGI

The remarkable feats accomplished in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One leave viewers wondering how much of the movie is real and how much is CGI. The seventh installment of the coveted Mission: Impossible franchise brings Tom Cruise’s heroic Ethan Hunt character to new extremes with the intention of revitalizing a floundering summer box office. Cruise was already able to save the summer box office with last year’s massive Top Gun: Maverick revenue which he hopes to outperform as well as his previous Mission: Impossible movies in 2023.
The known stunts in Mission: Impossible 7 – 8 are collectively some of the wildest feats from any stunt worker, let alone a major Hollywood actor, in modern cinematic history. It adds an element of additional suspense and awe that what the viewer is actually seeing is real, which has been a major part of film history dating back to the early days of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films. Cruise possesses a classic understanding of the Hollywood blockbuster that puts authenticity, risk-taking, and sheer human effort above expensive yet soulless computer-generated imagery.
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Did Tom Cruise Really Do All His Mission: Impossible 7 Stunts?
Tom Cruise really does perform all of his Mission: Impossible 7 stunts himself with very little use of CGI. The most shocking stunt of all is of course his death-defying cliff-jumping scene which he reportedly repeated eight times before nailing the perfect shot. Cruise has always been eager to perform his own stunts in his movies, particularly in the Mission: Impossible franchise which he has continuously brought to new heights purely due to his unbelievable stunt work that gets better with each new Mission: Impossible installment. Cruise hardly ever has to be convinced of these remarkable stunts, conceiving many of the original ideas himself to the terror and excitement of Hollywood executives and directors.
Some of Cruise’s other extraordinary stunts can be seen in earlier Mission: Impossible films such as Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and Fallout. Each film contains one new stunt that pushes the collective boundaries of Cruise, the franchise, and Hollywood itself. Ghost Protocol featured Cruise hanging off the side of the world’s tallest building in Dubai, while Rogue Nation saw him holding off to the side of a military aircraft as it took off. In Fallout, Cruise piloted a helicopter during a high-speed chase, continuing his run in Dead Reckoning Part One with his breathtaking cliff dive off a motorcycle that leaves audiences in silent amazement knowing that what they are seeing is actually real.
Which Parts of Mission: Impossible 7’s Stunts Required CGI
Some of Tom Cruise’s stunts required CGI to fill in the dangerous backgrounds of his real-life physical feats. During the final train scene, Cruise and his co-star Hayley Atwell were not actually hanging on for life in a train that incrementally fell off a cliff, nor did Cruise ride up to the very edge of the cliff on his motorbike when he realizes Benji (Simon Pegg) was routing him to the top to jump off. The physical feats seen from Tom on-screen is actually him, however, many of the backdrops of the scenes are enhanced by the use of CGI to make his physical feats appear to be consistently death-defying and extremely risky.
The use of CGI to create more dangerous circumstances for Tom’s natural stunts should not take away from the 61-year-old actor’s incredibly impressive dedication as a stunt worker and physical actor. There is no other major Hollywood actor on the planet who continuously takes such high-level risks for the sake of authenticity in movies, which is one of the several reasons why Cruise has been appointed the modern-day savior of cinema. Cruise certainly cannot be discredited for riding a motorcycle off a constructed ramp just because it was designed by CGI to look like a rocky mountainous apex.
Why Mission: Impossible 7 Uses Practical Stunts More Than CGI
Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1.
Mission: Impossible uses practical stunts more than CGI mainly because of Tom Cruise’s advocacy for risk-taking as part of his on-screen persona. Cruise is a rare supporter of doing things himself for the sake of the film, believing that his natural physical abilities will drive more interest and excitement for moviegoers who are likely tired of seeing another uninspired CGI fight scene or something overly polished that clearly isn’t true to real life.
The major appeal Cruise offers viewers of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the increased value of their purchased ticket by presenting something truly remarkable inside an already outstanding film. It creates an overall product that becomes undeniably incredible and adds a much-needed level of extra effort that aims to keep people coming back to the movie theater. With Mission: Impossible 7 & 8, Cruise continues his longstanding battle against CGI and streaming services with his amazingly real stunt work.