The Story Behind How Tom Cruise Literally Outran The Cable Cam While Filming Mission: Impossible 3
Will The Final Reckoning be the end of Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt? That’s the impression we’ve been given heading into the lineup of 2025 movies, and that’s only growing stronger as everything we know about Mission: Impossible 8 develops. Should it be the final mission for Paramount’s answer to 007, there will still be plenty of stories to tell about how he’s earned more than a bit of rest.
An example recently shared by assistant director and producer Arthur Anderson absolutely fits those specs, as it involves that time Mission: Impossible III saw the Hollywood action hero doing his best Sonic the Hedgehog impression.
Sitting down with the folks at the the Mission based Light the Fuse podcast, Anderson ran down a tale of Mr. Cruise’s sprint through a crowded Shanghai scene, which as you’ll read below sounds quite Olympian in its results:
We can tell how fast he’s running, because we’ve got a speedometer on the computer. Tells you how fast the cable cam’s going. First time, he was running faster than the cable cam, and the final speed that he was running, it was 16.8 miles an hour. That’s like, Olympic. These sidewalks had bricks, they’re all over the place, he’s running through people, and he was just smokin’ it. I couldn’t believe it.
Knowing the actor’s dedication to action, and keeping in mind things like Tom Cruise’s 2024 Olympic feat, I’d totally believe that he could run 16.8 miles an hour in his best take. Sprinting through what this segment called “the longest run in the franchise” in terms of time, this propulsive moment of Mission: Impossible history saw some pretty personal stakes on the line.
Now if you haven’t seen all of the Mission: Impossible movies in order, or want a refresher in director J.J. Abrams’ 2006 masterpiece, that’s ok. Head over to your Paramount+ subscription portal of choice, and enjoy! It may sound weird, but as The Final Reckoning is upon us, I wouldn’t want to rob anyone of the joy of prepping to see the eighth (and potentially concluding) chapter unfold with the best context in mind.
For those of you who stuck around, yes we are talking about the scene where Ethan ran through the streets of Shanghai, with an explosive charge counting down in his head, to make it to his then wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Making his way from rooftops, onto a bridge, and eventually the sidewalks, the IMF’s poster child for dedication doesn’t miss a step – and even narrowly avoids being hit by a truck in the process.
Adding all of those factors into Arthur Anderson’s Mission: Impossible III story makes for a potentially more impressive anecdote in the context of the picture. For your viewing pleasure, I now present that sequence to you, as one hell of a reference material:
In the grand scheme of things, this feat doesn’t feel too impossible; especially when a recent Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible 8 stunt story saw him passing out during that upcoming aerial thrill we saw in the trailer. Should this actually be “The Final Reckoning,” I don’t think any of us will blame the man who does his own stunts either settling into more personal dramas, or going even bigger after a brief respite in another genre. Naturally, all involved will be reserving judgment until after the May 23rd release of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, only in theaters.
