Say whatever you will about movie star Tom Cruise, but you canāt say that heās not crazy.
And unlike when referencing, say, his appearance on Oprah, this particular use of the term ācrazyā is used in the most complimentary way possible.
Cruise, sharing a video first uploaded by the official āMission: Impossibleā Twitter account, took to social media to promote an insane stunt he and his team filmed.
The clip was both promotional, clearly getting āMission: Impossibleā fans excited for the upcoming movie, and practical, as the insane stunt will apparently play a big role in the upcoming āMission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part Oneā film.
Filmed in Norway in 2020, Cruise and his team took every young boyās dream ā building a ramp in your backyard to ride a bicycle onto it and go flying ā and turned it into an absolutely wild stunt.
āThis is far and away the most dangerous thing weāve ever attempted,ā the video begins.
āWeāve been working on this for years,ā Cruise is then heard narrating. āWeāre going to shoot it in Norway and itāll be a motorcycle jump off a cliff into a BASE jump.ā
BASE jumping, for those unfamiliar, is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using only a parachute to safely reach the ground again. Those āfixed objectsā can include things like buildings, bridges and cliffs.
In Cruiseās case, itās a massive man-made ramp on a Norwegian cliff. You can watch the whole clip above, but spoiler: He successfully completes the stunt and doesĀ notĀ plummet to an unfathomably gruesome death.
āIāve wanted to do it since I was a little kid,ā Cruise continued. āIt all comes down to one thing: the audience.ā
That last line from Cruise, while seemingly a throwaway line that youād hear from any HollywoodCelebrity, may be the secret sauce in Cruiseās ongoing success at the box office.
Whereas many modern movie starsā focus seem intent on divisive activismĀ and having their films reflect that, Cruise, not unlike a child, just seems to find joyful glee in making fun movies. It truly is a novel idea that people would want to go to movies to be entertained, and not lectured.
Jump off a cliff riding a motorcycle? Check.
Almost getting stabbed in the eye to make a knife fight seem as realistic as possible? Check.
Holding his breath for three minutes underwater? Check.
Jumping off a Chinese skyscraper? Check.
Thereās nothing particularly deep or resonating with those aforementioned stunts. Theyāre just fun, mindless action.
Hereās another recent clip of Cruise where he thanks all of the fans who watched āTop Gun: Maverickā by⦠jumping out of a plane:
āWhere was I? Oh yeah, thank you for supporting āTop Gun: Maverick,'ā Cruise said while falling from a plane. āAs always, thank you for allowing us to entertain you.ā
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
