As the eighth and likely final Mission: Impossible hits cinema screens today, KentOnline has taken a look back at when Tom Cruise flew into county to film scenes for the blockbuster.
When Hollywood A-lister short part of the action spy franchise in Medway back in October 2022, he did it, as ever, in fittingly dramatic fashion.
Tom Cruise filmed part of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning in Medway. Picture: Olie Myburgh
The 62-year-old landed in a private helicopter near the Medway Council building and was greeted by workers screaming, ‘Tom, we love you!’
He was seen to turn and wave back at the admiring fans.
The day before, the Top Gun actor was seen flying to Chatham’s Historic Dockyard, where a film crew had taken over.
For the shoot, a giant lighting rig was set up near the entrance to the ropery building where a walkway had been cordoned off.
Meanwhile, around a dozen trailers were pictured at the tourist attraction.
Tom Cruise landed near Gun Wharf offices to film at Chatham Dockyard for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Picture: John NurdenA filming crew took over Chatham Dockyard to film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Picture: John NurdenA huge lighting rig was installed for filming at Chatham Dockyard. Picture: Jenni Horn
Despite wearing just a blue polo shirt, Cruise did not bring the Los Angeles weather with him, and our reporter braced the Autumn chill in an effort to try and track the A-lister down days later.
But her Mission: Impossible turned out to be just that.
However, she did come across some of his adoring fans hoping he would return.
It turned out that Cruise had been filming the eighth and last instalment of the movie franchise, called ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’.
Two and a half years later, the stunt-filled blockbuster is hitting cinemas today (May 21).
Read more: Donald Trump’s tariff threat to movie industry could have immediate impact on productions shooting in Kent.
It follows the daredevil spy protagonist, Ethan Hunt, played by Cruise, as he and his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team race against time to find and stop the Entity – a rogue AI that could destroy mankind.
Cruise continues to do his own jaw-dropping stunts in the movie, which he has labelled a “gargantuan accomplishment”.
He performs an extended underwater sequence in the wreckage of a submarine and hangs off the side of a plane while trying to thwart a dangerous enemy.
“It’s a culmination of everything, and I mean everything, that me and Mc Q (director Christopher McQuarrie) have learned in storytelling over the course of making these movies,” he said.
“The Final Reckoning is very elegant, very layered and incredibly epic.
Tom Cruise, playing Ethan Hunt for the last Mission: Impossible film, performs an underwater sequence in the wreckage of a submarine. Picture: Paramount Pictures/Giles Keyte
“Because it’s a culmination of all of Mission: Impossible, you’re going to see Ethan from the very beginning and understand him in a whole different way.”
Hunt is joined by comrades Benji and Grace, played by English actors Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell, new ally Paris, a French assassin played by Guardians of the Galaxy star Pom Klementieff, and Theo, the US Intelligence agent once assigned to track down Ethan and his team played by Top Gun: Maverick’s Greg Tarzan Davis.
The odds of success are slim, and the ragtag have to time their actions down to the millisecond to avoid catastrophic consequences.
“That’s the engine that drives this film,” says director Christopher McQuarrie of the team at the heart of the story.
“It’s very, very internal because Ethan is away from the team for so much of the movie.
Tom Cruise hangs off the side of a plane in a jaw-dropping stunt during his last Mission: Impossible film. Picture: Paramount Pictures/ PA
“He is alone in ways that we haven’t seen him in these films before.
“At the same time, it could never stop being a story about the entire team.”