Tom Cruise has been so many hit movies throughout the years that it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. That's definitely the case for one historic movie from the Mission Impossible star, but UK viewers can catch up on the movie now that it's streaming for free.

I'm talking about Born on the Fourth of July, from 1989, which has been overshadowed by the likes of Top Gun three years prior and A Few Good Men three years later. But it earned Cruise his first ever Oscar nomination, for Best Actor, and so needs to be seen.

As of Tuesday, July 1, Born on the Fourth of July is now streaming on Tubi. This is one of the best free streaming services as it has a wide library and requires no account to watch, and its new batch of July uploads also includes As Good As It Gets and Death Becomes Her.

(Living in the US? Good news, Born on the Fourth of July has just been added to Netflix).

Directed by Oliver Stone, Born on the Fourth of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic, based on his autobiography. It follows the man over 20 years through his childhood, his stint during the Vietnam War, which led to paralysis, and his post-war life which saw him become an anti-war activist.

According to Stone, Cruise nearly didn't get the movie due to his previous Top Gun being a pro-war movie, and several actors including Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage and Charlie Sheen were in contention after original pick Al Pacino fell through.

The movie was a commercial and critical hit, despite its anti-war message being divisive at the time. As well as Cruise's Oscar nomination it bagged the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Film Editing, and also received nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score and Best Sound. It was embroiled in a battle with Driving Miss Daisy for many of the top spots.

Tom Cruise has been constantly in the news recently, as Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning ushers in the end of an era for the actor and fans speculate on what the legendary actor will do next. He's set to be part of the ensemble cast of The Revenant director Alejandro G. Iñárritu's next film, which releases on Thursday, October 2, alongside John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Sophie Wilde, Emma D'Arcy and Burn Gorman, but after that it's anyone's guess.

By the end of 2025, Tom Cruise is going to be an Oscar winner (not for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, if you were wondering). It’s been announced that the movie icon will receive an honorary Oscar at the 2025 Governors Awards, with his commitment to the filmmaking community, theatrical experience and stunt community cited as reasons for the honor. But Cruise could have, and probably should have, been an Oscar winner a long time ago. The case for why is easy to see as Born on the Fourth of July is now streaming on Netflix.

If you’re not familiar with the movie and think Born on the Fourth of July is a “rah-rah” patriotic movie, you may want to bump the brakes. The movie is a Vietnam war drama about real-life veteran Ron Kovic, who was paralyzed in Vietnam and became an anti-war and pro-human rights advocate. The movie was directed by Oliver Stone, with him co-writing the script with Kovic.

Cruise gives one of the best performances of his career as Kovic. While he displays his trademark movie star looks for the early part of the movie as the eager young soldier, when the story transitions to Kovic’s time after the war Cruise transforms, physically and emotionally in ways that we don’t see as much nowadays. It’s a committed and emotionally deep performance from the actor.

Rightfully so, he was awarded an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his work at the 1990 Academy Awards. The winner that year was Daniel Day-Lewis for My Left Foot, which is a hard performance to deny being worthy of a statue. Maybe it’s just the benefit of hindsight knowing that Day-Lewis would nab two more competitive Oscar trophies for There Will Be Blood and Lincoln while Cruise failed to win on any of his three acting Oscar nominations, but I have a hard time not thinking that Cruise may have been the better option.

Born on the Fourth of July did win two Oscars out of its eight nominations, for Best Editing and Best Directing for Stone. There’s also a strong argument to be made that the movie should have won Best Picture over the sweet but light Driving Miss Daisy (to me this is the superior movie to Stone’s actual Best Picture-winning Vietnam movie, Platoon).

Watch Born on the Fourth of July on Netflix for yourself to see if you agree with my take. The movie is streaming exclusively on the platform in the US.

Watch the trailer for Born on the Fourth of July right here:

Tom Cruise risks his life for our entertainment yet again in one of the most anticipated blockbuster movies of 2025. You can quell that anticipation as you can now watch Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning for yourself.

For almost 30 years, Cruise has led the Mission: Impossible franchise, with this most recent entry marking the eighth time Cruise’s Ethan Hunt has made it his mission to save the world. This also is widely expected to be the final Mission: Impossible movie, so you know that they are going to pull out all the stops to make this one to remember.

So, should you choose to accept, here is everything you need to know about how to watch Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

How to watch Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning in movie theaters

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now playing exclusively in movie theaters around the world. Not only that, the movie is also being shown on IMAX screens where available, making the action literally larger than life.

In order to find when, where and in what format Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is playing near you, check out the movie’s official website or Fandango. Either option will be able to show you all of the movie theaters in your area where Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is playing, at what time and if IMAX is available. You can also buy your tickets for the movie online ahead of time.

Frequent moviegoers, especially those who have a favorite movie theater to visit, you may want to also look at movie theater subscription and membership programs. In addition to sharing all the information on what movies and playing at the theater and when, these programs (offered by a range of US and UK movie theater chains) allow movie fans to get free, discounted and monthly allotment of movie tickets, as well as deals on concessions and other perks.

Is Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning streaming?

No, you cannot stream Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning right now.

For the time being, the only place to watch Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is at a movie theater. While nothing is confirmed about The Final Reckoning’s at-home plans, we can assume that it will first be made available via digital on-demand platforms before it debuts on a major streaming service.

As for what streaming service that will end up being, since Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is a Paramount Pictures movie, it’s all but certain that the movie will stream first on Paramount Plus.

We’ll update this post as more information about Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’s streaming plans are announced.

What else to know about Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is a continuation of the story that began in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (the eighth movie was originally titled Dead Reckoning Part 2 before it was reworked to The Final Reckoning).

The movie’s synopsis just reads, “Our lives our the sum of our choices,” but based on what happened in the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning ending, we know that Ethan Hunt and his time are in a race against an incredibly dangerous artificial intelligence, known as The Entity, as they try to find a sunken submarine that holds the key to defeating The Entity before it can gather another power to bring the world under its digital thumb.

In addition to Cruise, the movie brings back Mission: Impossible regulars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Angela Basett and Henry Czerny, and Dead Reckoning stars Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis. New additions to the cast include Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham and Tramell Tillman. Christopher McQuarrie directs, as he has every Mission: Impossible move since Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.

Read What to Watch’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning review for our thoughts on the action movie, but if you want to know what the general consensus among critics is, as of May 22 The Final Reckoning is “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.

Watch the trailer for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning to get a sneak peek of the movie if you need any final convincing:

After 30 years of death-defying stunts, thrilling missions and various hair styles, Tom Cruise has shepherded one of the most recognizable movie franchises in Hollywood history and accomplished his mission of keeping audiences entertained. The same can be said for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the expected last entry in the franchise, as it ultimately grabs you and will have you anxiously waiting to see how Cruise’s Ethan Hunt saves the day, but there are some pretty significant bumps along the way.

A continuation of the storyline from Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, The Final Reckoning continues Ethan’s mission of trying to prevent the dangerous artificial intelligence system known as The Entity from total world domination. That actually has turned into world annihilation, as its task in this movie is to gain control of all the world’s nuclear missiles and wipe out humanity and start fresh. Ethan and his team are determined to destroy The Entity, while others are attempting to gain control over it to empower themselves.

If that all sounds straightforward enough, that’s really only thanks to the endless amount of exposition the movie dumps on us to make sure we can keep up with its plot, which you're just barely able to make sense of in the moment. Of course, that description can be attributed to just about every Mission: Impossible movie, though it feels especially true here. Thankfully, what makes this series work are the spectacular stunts and action sequences, and there are enough of those to outweigh the lackluster narrative interspersed between each set piece.

Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie (who has directed every Mission: Impossible movie since Rogue Nation) know how to create something that will maximize the potential of the big screen (including the biggest screen, as a lot of the movie was filmed in IMAX and plays well in the format). Their execution of these sequences is nearly flawless and so much fun to watch — while Cruise’s stunt of hanging off the propeller planes has been getting a lot of the attention, my favorite stunt from the movie is a tense underwater sub sequence.

The physical commitment from Cruise does a lot of the heavy lifting in the franchise, but it’s worth mentioning his seemingly effortless charisma as Ethan Hunt. While it’s hard to fully see where Cruise ends and Hunt begins, especially in these latter movies, Cruise has given Hunt an entertainingly manic quality that adds some humor to the role, but also helps him stand out from other iconic, more cool-headed movie spies like James Bond and Jason Bourne.

But I was most impressed with the performances from members of the supporting cast. Particularly Simon Pegg’s Benji, Ethan’s long-time tech guru, who gets some of his most substantial work to date in the series, and Pom Klementieff’s Paris, a new ally that doesn’t talk much (and when she does it’s in French), but has a magnetism and wildness to her that always keeps you transfixed on what she’s going to do next. Then Severance’s Tramell Tillman shows up for just a minute, but gives a stand-out performance that makes the most of his screen time.

There’s also a supporting performance that I loved that is a callback to the very beginnings of the franchise, but I don’t want to spoil it here so you all can enjoy it in the movie.

Unfortunately, The Final Reckoning is overly reliant on callbacks, which is ironic considering McQuarrie called “fan service” poison in a Hollywood Reporter article on May 19. And aside from the one I allude to above, none of them really add anything of value to the movie, they are just there to show that all these movies are in fact all connected by a few story threads (except for Mission: Impossible II apparently, which gets no real mention).

That’s just part of what bogs down The Final Reckoning. In fact the movie is slow out of the gate as it has to set up what has happened in the two months between the end of Dead Reckoning, the basics of the plot and a quick “best-of” clip from the franchise before things really get going.

The person most impacted by all that is Angela Bassett, who reprises her role as Erika Sloane from Mission: Impossible — Fallout but has the actual impossible task of trying to make the most of scenes that are primarily exposition dumps. Outside of one necessary plot point, they could have been lifted out of the movie and nothing of value would have been lost. I can’t blame Bassett, or any of the notable actors assigned to these eye-rolling scenes, they had next to nothing to work with.

Taking another step back, the intended message of the movie — from what I was able to guess a combination of the dangers of misinformation/trusting AI, a global need recognize that we’re all humans and not necessarily enemies and that no one person can be trusted with immense power — gets drowned out by the action.

Taking all this into account makes you realize that this might not actually be all that well-written of a script.

Yet the action is the point of Cruise and McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible movies, as these are entertainment-first projects. So while the parts of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning may be among the weakest in the franchise, the total sum of it all is still a big, ultimately satisfying blockbuster.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide.

Tom Cruise is the ultimate showman, as evidenced by the myriad of death-defying stunts that he has done for the Mission: Impossible franchise and beyond, all for the audience’s enjoyment. But he also may be one of the better promoters of movies we have right now, always willing to praise the work of others (like the Oppenheimer and Barbie double feature).

That continued even at the premiere of his own movie, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, on May 18 in New York. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Cruise quickly turned a question around about him being “the last movie star” to praise the work of many other talented actors, including specifically calling out Michael B. Jordan and his most recent movie, Sinners (I agree with Cruise, as I called Sinners the “first truly great movie of the year”).

Amid all the praise, however, Cruise snuck in a line that should get all movie fans’ ears perked up. Continuing to talk about Jordan, Cruise said, “We’re going to make a movie, that’s what we’re going to do.” Don’t tease me like that Tom, because a Tom Cruise and Michael B. Jordan movie would immediately become one of my most anticipated upcoming movies.

To be clear, from the information that is currently available, there is no project that Cruise and Jordan are lined up to work together on. But come on Hollywood, you’ve got to seize on this opportunity.

While you could simply call this a throwaway line from Cruise, he clearly does have a strong respect for Jordan, and by all indications, likewise for Jordan. The Sinners star appeared at the UK premiere of Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. And prior to Cruise saying they should do a movie together, Cruise said he “was a huge fan” of Jordan and Coogler’s work, calling Sinners “amazing.”

Of course, both actors are also incredibly busy. While by all indications, Cruise is wrapping up his time with the Mission: Impossible franchise after Final Reckoning (though we did think that a couple of times before), he still has plenty of upcoming projects already on the docket. Among them are a movie with Ajelandro G. Iñárritu, a couple of more movies with The Final Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie (Broadsword and The Gauntlet), he plans to shoot the first ever movie in outer space and the constant rumors of an Edge of Tomorrow sequel.

Jordan, meanwhile, is tapped to star in a Rainbow Six movie, is planning on directing and starring in a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, is lining up another movie with Ryan Coogler currently titled Wrong Answer, and has sequels to Creed and I Am Legend in development.

But you can’t always count on a project happening in Hollywood until the cameras start rolling (and sometimes even then it’s not always a guarantee). Should an idea come up with Cruise and Jordan, who knows, maybe that gets fast-tracked, and a couple of these projects take a back seat.

I don’t know if a Tom Cruise and Michael B. Jordan movie will happen. But I’m going to keep hoping for it because having these two Hollywood megastars would be a sight to see, one absolutely worthy of the big screen.

Check the clip of the Tom Cruise red carpet interview from Entertainment Tonight right here:

I am seeing Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning next Wednesday, with a review to follow shortly, but a number of critics were among the first to see Tom Cruise’s final Mission: Impossible movie on Monday, May 12. While official reviews won’t start being published until Wednesday, May 14, many of those in attendance shared their Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning reactions on social media, giving us our first sense of what’s in store with the highly anticipated summer blockbuster movie.

Probably to no one’s surprise, the action/stunt sequences received near universal acclaim from those that attended preview screenings, with many proclaiming the eighth entry in the Mission: Impossible franchise one of the best of the bunch, a fitting finale and at least one critic describing the movie as “one of the greatest action movies of all time.”

However, others did have some notes and teased varying degrees of enjoyment of the movie rather than universal acclaim.

Movie fans everywhere will be able to make their own determination on Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning when it premieres everywhere on May 23. But if you’re curious about what is being said about the movie, here’s a quick recap of some of its early reactions.

It definitely seems like the majority of critics that have seen the movie are positive on it as a showstopping blockbuster. Comments included critics saying it’s “everything you want out of an action movie and oh so much more;” “an exhilarating rush for the head & heart;” “[i]f you thought you’d seen it all in this franchise, this redefines what’s impossible.”

As for those that had critiques of the movie, most admitted that the action pieces were “extraordinary” and filled with “jaw-clenching suspense,” but also were less thrilled with what some called as “tsunami of exposition and flashbacks” and a “maximalist mess,” with too many ideas. One early viewer went as far to say it was their least favorite entry in the franchise.

The official synopsis for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning simply reads “Our lives are the sum of our choices,” but for those that need a refresher the movie is a continuation of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, picking up two months after the events of that movie. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team are still working to stop the artificial intelligence system known as The Entity that threatens the entire world order. Joining Cruise in this mission are Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Nick Offerman, Hannah Waddingham, Tramell Tillman and Angela Bassett, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss.

Read WTW's official Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning review for our thoughts; as far as the consensus, Dead Reckoning received a 96% “Certified Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Can Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning top that?

We’ll find out as reviews come out in the coming days and we get closer to the movie’s May 23 release date. In the meantime, watch the trailer for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning right here:

It's one of the best times of year for movie fans — the blockbuster movie season. From the start of May to the end of August, some of the biggest 2025 new movies on the docket are going to debut on the big screen; in some cases the biggest screens (IMAX). To help with you're summer viewing planning, I've arranged my personal picks for the must-see blockbuster movies of summer 2025.

The 13 movies featured below are blockbusters by the truest definition — the kind of movies that absolutely have to be seen on the big screen, and in all cases are only going to be available in movie theaters upon their initial release (no streaming exclusives, though admittedly I am excited about Happy Gilmore 2 this summer). Of course, there are alternative summer movies for those not as interested in these big-budget popcorn flicks, but I'll get to those in a separate list.

But enough with the preamble, let's get to the blockbuster movies that you're not going to want to miss out on this summer:

13. Jurassic World Rebirth

In my head I have this great affinity for the Jurassic Park franchise, but in reality the only one that I truly love is Steven Spielberg's 1993 original. And yet, even as every attempt since has mostly paled in comparison to one of Spielberg's masterpieces, we're going for it again with Jurassic World Rebirth — and darn it if I'm not intrigued. Gareth Edwards (The Creator) as director is a fun choice, and Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali are good stars to have attached. I know the history, but there's enough ingredients to have me curious if someone other than Spielberg can make a truly memorable Jurassic Park movie.

Jurassic World Rebirth releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 2.

12. Nobody 2

Despite good reviews ("Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes) Nobody was a movie that came out and then I honestly kind of forgot about as it arrived just before the world truly started to open back up in 2021. However, the Bob Odenkirk-led action movie is getting a second chance with a sequel, Nobody 2. For those that don't know, Odenkirk plays a family man whose past as a trained killer is brought back to the forefront; think an everyman John Wick with more comedy. I love Odenkirk, so I'm thrilled to watch him kick people's butts again and hopefully generate a bonafide box office hit.

Nobody 2 releases in movie theaters worldwide on August 15.

11. Hurry up Tomorrow

Hurry Up Tomorrow, a dark psychological thriller, isn't your typical summer blockbuster, but when the movie is also a mini concert featuring performances from The Weeknd, people are probably going to show up. However, the reasons that I am interested in checking out Hurry Up Tomorrow are everyone else involved in the movie. Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan, two of the more interesting young stars in Hollywood in my opinion, play opposite The Weeknd (credited with his real name, Abel Tesfaye). Then behind the camera is Trey Edward Shults, whose Waves and It Comes at Night were strong opening efforts by the young filmmaker.

Hurry Up Tomorrow releases in movie theaters worldwide on May 16.

10. The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I opted to only include one of Marvel's two summer blockbuster movies on this list. While I like a lot of the individuals in Thunderbolts and it could be fun, I've seen all of those characters before so it's nothing overly new for me.

Whereas The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first time we're getting these iconic characters in the MCU, the movie is taking place in a different decade than any Marvel movie has and it appears to be taking place in one of the different universes across the MCU's multiverse. Long story short, it's offering something fresh, which feels like what's been missing from Marvel of late. Now the interesting question is if they can crack the code and make a Fantastic Four movie that everyone likes, a feat that's been elusive thus far.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 25.

9. 28 Years Later

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to the zombie franchise that they started for 28 Years Later. While the years don't line up perfectly (it's been 23 years since the original movie), the love for this franchise has persisted and fans are undoubtedly excited to see what has happened in the world of the film nearly three decades after the outbreak.

A new cast (headlined by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes) will also make for some intrigue as we find out what people have had to do to survive in apocalyptic Britain.

28 Years Later releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 20.

8. Karate Kid: Legends

The Karate Kid has truly become a generational franchise, combining those of us who grew up loving the original movies from the 1980s and early 1990s with those who discovered Ralph Macchio's Daniel LaRusso from his time on Netflix's Cobra Kai. Add martial arts legend Jackie Chan, who also has ties to the franchise with 2010's The Karate Kid, and Karate Kid: Legends is going to have something for everyone who is fan of the martial arts franchise, bringing movie fans from Gen X to Gen Z together.

Karate Kid: Legends releases in movie theaters worldwide on May 30.

7. How to Train Your Dragon

Disney has been churning out live-action remakes of their animated classic for years now, but now DreamWorks is doing the same with How to Train Your Dragon. The story of young Viking Hiccup and the dragon he befriends, Toothless, is well known at this point, but early reactions from those that saw the full movie at CinemaCon have raised my expectations. And with DreamWorks already green lighting a sequel, they clearly have hope in it too. Let's see if DreamWorks can succeed where Disney has struggled in recent years.

How to Train Your Dragon releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 13.

6. M3GAN 2.0

I was honestly surprised by how much fun I had watching M3GAN back in January 2023. It was such a great blend of horror and comedy, with the pair of performers that play M3GAN nailing the role. With that success comes a move from the early days of the year to summer blockbuster territory, and a raised level of excitement from movie fans. The trailer for M3GAN 2.0 looks like it keeps the fun coming as M3GAN is brought back to protect Cady from a new android.

M3GAN 2.0 releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 27.

5. Superman

For so long there was only on Superman on the big screen, Christopher Reeve. But in the last 20 years, we've gotten three: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel and Justice League movies) and now David Corenswet in James Gunn's Superman. It's not an easy mantle to take on (as evidenced by the rotating actors), but as Gunn's DC film universe gets underway, Superman is undoubtedly going to be critical to its success. The potential impacts of all that are part of my interest in this movie. The other is that, after nearly two decades of Marvel domination, it would be fun to see if Superman can fly in and give us something new to root for in the superhero genre.

Superman releases in movie theaters worldwide on July 11.

4. Ballerina

Technically speaking, the movie's official title is From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, which is a mouthful. But despite trying to shoe horn the established franchise into the title, there's a lot to get excited about with Ballerina. Ana de Armas has proven she has plenty of action chops, and we get to see the return of favorites like Ian McShane, Lance Reddick and Anjelica Huston as we see another side of the John Wick universe; oh, and Keanu Reeves returns to play John Wick, as this story takes place somewhere in the timeline of the first four John Wick movies. But I'm ready for a new action hero to take over Wick's mantle, and de Armas could do just that.

Ballerina releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 6.

3. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

While no mission has proven to be impossible yet for Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, they have been pretty consistently thrilling, thanks in large part to Cruise's willingness to do some outrageous stunts. Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning certainly looks to deliver more in that category, but for the last time. By all indications, after nearly 30 years, this is going to be the last Mission: Impossible movie starring Cruise. You can bet they're going to pull out all the stops for this one.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning releases in US movie theaters on May 23; releases in the UK on May 21.

2. The Naked Gun

I'm usually not one for seemingly unnecessary reboots of iconic movies, so the idea of a new The Naked Gun movie at first glance would not have been a movie I'd put as my second most anticipated movie of the summer season.

However, the combination of Liam Neeson starring (who is funnier than some people may think), recent outrageous comedy gems Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping's Akiva Schaffer directing and Seth MacFarlane producing is enough to get me excited for this. It helps that the movie is honoring the original comedy franchise rather than trying to straight up remake it, as Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin, which leads to one of the best bits in the movie's trailer.

The Naked Gun releases in movie theaters worldwide on August 1.

1. F1

Three years ago, Joseph Kosinski helped reinvigorate people's love for going to the movies with Top Gun: Maverick, which in addition to building on a beloved classic, was perfect for the big screen with his masterfully crafted aerial sequences that made you feel like you were flying inside the cockpit with Tom Cruise.

So I am 100% going to be in movie theaters to watch what the director does when he puts audiences in the driver's seat of an F1 race car in the new movie, F1. Sure, I can definitely see more than a couple of similarities from the F1 trailer and Top Gun: Maverick in terms of plot/character, but if the Brad Pitt movie can produce a similar, exhilarating experience, then we should count ourselves lucky.

F1 releases in movie theaters worldwide on June 27.

Scrolling for something new to watch on Hulu this week, April 26-May 2? Let me give you a hand with my picks for the best movies, TV shows and more arriving on the streaming service.

As we close out April and head into May, Hulu is adding a number of movies from two iconic franchises, and the latest edition of a beloved TV franchise, while a couple of smaller, indie and foreign movies are also worth keeping an eye out for.

Check out all of the picks for this week directly below.

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

• Acclaimed documentary premieres on Hulu on April 29

Ernest Cole is a historical figure that many may not know about, but his work helped define an era of South African history. In the 1960s, Cole was working as a freelance photographer and became one of the first people to expose the horrors of the apartheid practices that South Africa was employing. But where his life went after his historic photos is just as fascinating. Learn about his story in this documentary from Raoul Peck, which won the best documentary prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

Jeopardy! Masters 2025

• The primetime Jeopardy! tournament featuring the game show's best players is back for a new edition, streaming on Hulu starting May 1

It's time for the third-annual Jeopardy! Masters tournament, where the best recent players and legends from the game show square off to see who's the best of the best. Defending champion Victoria Groce will try to repeat against the largest field yet in Jeopardy! Masters, as nine total contestants take part. You'll be able to keep up with Jeopardy! Masters 2025 every week as new episodes land on Hulu each Thursday.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)

With all the mystery about the next James Bond movie, you can help with the waiting by watching Kingsman: The Secret Service in May on Hulu, which is a loving send-up of the iconic spy franchise and thrilling bit of popcorn entertainment. The sequel (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) and prequel (The King's Man) also become available to stream on Hulu in May.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

• First four Mission: Impossible movies come to Hulu on May 1

Ahead of the final Mission: Impossible movie coming out later in May — Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning — Hulu is choosing to accept the mission of making the first four movies from the long-running Tom Cruise franchise available to its subscribers. That includes Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible 2, Mission: Impossible 3 and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. I've always enjoyed the franchise, but since we're nearing the end of its run, I suggest everyone give it a nice bookmark and watch the first entry this month.

Once (2007)

• Classic Irish indie that inspired a Broadway hit is streaming on Hulu May 1

I was just beginning to expand my movie watching habits when Once came out, so I checked out the Irish-made indie from John Carney that starred real-life musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as two people who meet in Dublin and find they have a special connection through music. Though it won an Oscar for Best Original Song (“Falling Slowly”), Once became even more well-known when it was adapted as a Tony-winning Broadway musical, but I still hold a special place in my heart for the original movie and highly recommend that you give it a try.

Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back

• In time for Star Wars Day, the entire original trilogy hits Hulu on May 1

May 4 has become an annual holiday for Star Wars fans ("May the Fourth be with you"), and to celebrate, Hulu is adding the entire original trilogy to its library, as well as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which leads right into A New Hope. However, forced to pick just one, I will always go with The Empire Strikes Back, which is my favorite entry in the entire series.

Decision to Leave (2022)

• Acclaimed South Korean crime drama debuts on Hulu on May 2

There's a lot of great stuff coming out of South Korea. Most people know about Squid Game and the work of Bong Joon Ho, but Park Chan-wook's 2022 crime drama Decision to Leave is an awesome piece of filmmaking. Winner of the Best Director prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, the movie tells the story of a detective who, in the course of a murder investigation, becomes entangled with the wife of the victim, leading to more than a few complications. It's a gripping watch that I highly recommend.

When we think of Super Bowl commercials we’re often thinking about funny ads promoting a product, but in recent years the breaks in between the game action have also become a place for movies to grab audiences’ attention of what’s coming soon to their local movie theater (or streamer). That will continue this year, as we are expecting a number of Super Bowl movie trailers to be shown on Sunday, February 9, for big upcoming movies like Jurassic World Rebirth, The Fantastic Four: First Steps and other 2025 new movies.

Deadline reported that Disney, Paramount and Universal Pictures have purchased 30-second spots for Super Bowl LIX. While there’s no official word on what movies from these studios are going to be previewed during the game, we can make some strong educated guesses.

Here’s a rundown of the most likely Super Bowl movie trailers you’re going to see:

Elio

The next movie from heralded animation studio Pixar, Elio is the story of a young boy who finds himself on an adventure of intergalactic proportions when he is abducted by a group of aliens. Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil and Shirley Henderson are among the voice cast for the movie. The first trailer for Elio premiered a couple of months ago, so it will be interesting to see if a Super Bowl spot will showcase any new footage ahead of the movie’s June 13 release date.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Premiering its first teaser trailer just days ahead of the big game, it seems like a pretty good bet that Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Step is going to be among the movie trailers shown on Super Bowl Sunday. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach star as the family of superheroes that are making their official Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. I wouldn’t expect anything too different than what we got in the initial teaser, though Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer was surprisingly absent in the official tease, so it would be fun if she made her debut.

How to Train Your Dragon

Many probably didn’t think we needed a How to Train Your Dragon live action movie, but the first trailer released two months ago certainly got a lot of people excited for the movie. Set to be one of Universal’s big summer movies (releasing on June 13), it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some new footage to ratchet that excitement up some more.

Jurassic World Rebirth

Dinosaurs are likely also on the table for Super Bowl movie trailers, as Jurassic World Rebirth debuted its first trailer this past week and should feature a tease at some point during the game broadcast. Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali star in this continuation of the long-running franchise that picks up a few years after Jurassic World Dominion and with a whole swath of new characters.

Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch could be another Disney title to get a quick preview during the game. Seeing as Stitch is such a trouble maker, it could be fun to see what kind of mayhem Stitch could cause related to the Super Bowl, which would be reminiscent of the original animated movie’s trailer that saw Stitch pop up in other classic Disney movies.

M3GAN 2.0

Having already shown up during the 2025 Grammy Awards, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the dancing android M3GAN make a stop at the Super Bowl as well. Whether or not it would be the same teaser that was shown during the Grammys or if we’d get a peek at some additional footage is unknown, but after being a breakout hit in 2023, M3GAN 2.0 wants to build off that success, and Super Bowl-sized platform is a good place to start.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

The last two Mission: Impossible movies — Fallout and Dead Reckoning — premiered trailers during the Super Bowls ahead of their release, so there’s every expectation that tradition will continue with Super Bowl LIX ahead of the eighth franchise entry, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, premiering on May 23. What better way to get people excited for what could be Cruise’s final mission than by previewing the next big stunt he’s going to pull off.

Novocaine

A lot of these movies are already well-established brands, but should Novocaine get a Super Bowl trailer it could really lift the movie's profile. The action comedy stars Jack Quaid as a bank employee who has a medical condition that causes him not to feel pain. That’s a bonus as he goes to great lengths to rescue the girl he’s been dating. With a March 14 release date, a trailer could have a lot of viewers add Novocaine to their must-see list.

Smurfs

The Smurfs may be small, but their latest movie seems poised to get a big debut with a teaser trailer during the Super Bowl. This adaptation of the classic cartoon series features Rihanna, Hannah Waddingham, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Levy, Kurt Russell, John Goodman, Nick Offerman, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll and more as part of the cast. With a teaser premiering just days ahead of the game, all signs point to the Smurfs popping up once again on Sunday.

Snow White

Rounding out the animated classics getting a live action remake in 2025, Snow White also seems poised to make an appearance during the Super Bowl. Rachel Zegler stars as the titular princess while Gal Gadot stars as the evil queen. With a March 21 release date, Disney is going to want to drum up some more attention for the remake of its first-ever animated movie.

Thunderbolts

According to the Deadline report, Disney is planning to spotlight two of its three 2025 Marvel movies during the Super Bowl. It would make a lot of sense for Captain America: Brave New World to be one of the two as a final push ahead of the movie’s February 14 release date, most audiences are probably pretty aware of that one. Instead this could be a chance to get them excited for what’s next, Thunderbolts, which stars Florence Pugh and other Marvel “villains” getting to be the stars of their own movie.

Watch Super Bowl LIX (and likely these movie trailers) on Sunday, February 9, on Fox starting at 6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT. All trailers should be available online ahead of or after their airing during the game.

The first trailer for Mission: Impossible 8 released on November 11, along with the movie’s official title, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. It certainly seems that Tom Cruise, who has been the face of the Mission: Impossible franchise since 1996, is preparing us that this is going to be his last mission. Should that prove true, I think it’s the right call.

Let’s just look at the signs as to why this could be the final Mission: Impossible movie for Cruise. First, this is the second half of the story that they began with Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, a first for the franchise to have a mission spread over two movies, suggesting that the creatives are trying to put more weight and importance on this storyline than previous entries. Then there are lines in the trailer like “everything you’ve done has come to this,” Ving Rhames’ Luther saying he “has no regrets” and Cruise’s Ethan Hunt asking someone to trust him “one last time.” Oh, and the title literally has the word “Final” in it.

Outside of the world of the movie, there have been rumblings (but no official word) that this is the last Mission: Impossible movie for Cruise, who will be just shy of his 63rd birthday when Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning comes out on May 23, 2025. While he obviously remains in great shape and definitely seems to love doing the death-defying stunts that have become his trademark, at some point the toll comes due and it will show on screen.

Exhibit A, the Indiana Jones franchise. To Harrison Ford’s credit, he showed that he still had some juice in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but we also can’t deny that his age did limit him a bit and put some constraints on the story, including a bit of audiences’ ability to suspend disbelief. That might be twofold if we watched a 70-year-old Cruise trying to hang off a spinning helicopter.

And that’s not to say that Cruise can’t continue to star in big-time action movies. In fact, he has a bunch already in the pipeline. That includes rumors of Top Gun 3 and the long-awaited Edge of Tomorrow sequel. Even if those don’t happen, he has a planned movie that reunites him with Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman and Mission: Impossible partner Christopher McQuarrie that will see him literally shoot the movie in space.

But letting go of his biggest franchise, one that has dominated much of his career since 2011, will also allow him to go back to doing some non-action movies, or at least less blockbuster-y fare. He’s already line a couple projects like that up, including a contained action thriller titled The Gauntlet (still working with McQuarrie) and a role in the next Alejandro G. Iñárritu movie. Could that be the beginning of Cruise returning to some more straight dramatic work like A Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, Magnolia and others? I can easily imagine a Cruise Oscar campaign in the near future if he goes that route.

Cruise exiting Mission: Impossible isn’t a certain death knell for the franchise either. The franchise could finally do what it was setting up with Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Initially that movie was meant to be Cruise’s exit from the franchise with Jeremy Renner poised to take it over. But then it became a hit with Cruise and McQuarrie rejuvenating the franchise, building it to what it is today; Renner stuck around in a supporting role for Rogue Nation, but then exited the franchise.

But now they can commit to a hard or soft reboot; the former being a completely new Mission: Impossible world filled with entirely new characters, while a soft reboot would likely try to keep some familiar faces around (Simon Pegg’s Benji?) but with a new lead. And even if Cruise no longer appears as Ethan Hunt, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t continue on his role as producer, helping to guide the future of the franchise.

All things must come to an end, but Cruise has the chance to end it on his terms with Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. I hope the indicators prove true and he takes that opportunity, then sticks with it. The franchise has been great for Hollywood and Cruise’s career, but it’s time to see what he’ll do as he enters a new chapter.

In the meantime, I’m still excited to see what Cruise has in store for us with Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. Get a preview with the trailer right here:

Tom Cruise lived, died and repeated his fight against an invading swarm of aliens in the 2014 movie Edge of Tomorrow, which has landed on Netflix as of Saturday, September 7, and immediately goes onto my personal list of best Netflix movies to watch. I absolutely love this movie and the fact that it's found a passionate fan base after an initially disappointing run at the box office. But I have to be honest — I have no interest in a proposed Edge of Tomorrow sequel.

In case you missed Edge of Tomorrow when it was first released and have yet to discover it online, here's a quick summary. Based on the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, Edge of Tomorrow follows Cruise's Cage, a military PR officer who gets conscripted into active duty as world forces are fighting an invasive breed of aliens known as mimics. Not properly trained, Cage scrambles on the battlefield and is killed by a mimic. However, having been covered in the alien's blood, Cage somehow wakes up the day before the battle, with everything playing out as it did before. He continues to die again and again in battle, but gets better each time, and eventually he's noticed by Rita (Emily Blunt), a skilled soldier who knows what Cage is going through because it happened to her. Together, they must figure out how they can defeat the mimics once and for all. All Cage has to do is die each and every day until they do.

Edge of Tomorrow is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 91%, yet it only made $100 million at the US box office despite its good reviews. A disappointing figure considering its $178 million budget. One possibility for its poor performance is its title; Edge of Tomorrow was kind of generic. Although the movie performed better internationally and once it was available for at-home viewing. So much so that there is a legitimate interest to make a sequel. And not just from fans, but from Cruise, Blunt and director Doug Liman as well.

In an interview with Empire Magazine earlier in 2024, Liman said he and Cruise rewatched the movie for its 10th anniversary and acknowledged that they have continued to discuss a possible sequel, refuting a question by the interviewer if the chances for an Edge of Tomorrow sequel were dead. 

The thought that the sequel may have been nixed probably came after Warner Bros. announced plans to develop Edge of Tomorrow 2 in 2019, but in the five years since no details have been announced. Blunt, on one of Variety's podcasts, said that while she would do another sequel, acknowledges that 10 years on, it may be difficult.

There are few actors as dedicated to delivering on the big screen spectacle as Tom Cruise (exhibit A, the actor's list of best stunts), but he is 62 now. Even if they were to fast-track things, Edge of Tomorrow 2 would likely be at least two years away. Could that big of a time gap with the story work? And if Cruise opted just to be a producer and have new, younger leads take over, could the story work as well without him as the star?

I don't know. Even while Top Gun: Maverick proved a Tom Cruise legacy sequel could work and the Mission: Impossible franchise continues to churn out entertaining movies, I would kind of prefer we just leave Edge of Tomorrow as a great one-off movie. Not everything needs a sequel.

Edge of Tomorrow is now streaming on Netflix and is available via digital on-demand platforms. Watch the trailer right here:

"Sexy" is subjective, of course, but there are clear standouts when it comes to the sexiest movies of all time, those sensual features that tantalize, titillate and, yes, turn on audiences both in theaters and at home. Unlike these "sexy" TV shows and movies that left us cold, these films more than live up to their pleasure-filled promises. 

From alluring arthouse provocateurs like Y Tu Mamá También and Secretary to blockbuster crowd pleasers like Magic Mike, these are 15 seriously sexy flicks to add to your next steamy movie marathon. (Movies listed in no particular order).

15 sexy movies that steamed up the big screen

1. Y tu mamá también

Alfonso Cuarón's gorgeous coming-of-age road movie — which follows a pair of randy Mexican teens (played by real-life best friends Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) and the 20-something Spanish woman (Maribel Verdú) who becomes entangled in their trip and their lives — is about sex, sure. (It does feature one of the most infamously erotic threesomes in film history, after all.) But, more specifically, it's about the openness and sheer abandon of sexuality, the way lust can transcend age, gender, country and even death.  

2. Secretary

Secretary is the movie that Fifty Shades of Grey thinks it is. Where that softcore schlock barely dipped a toe into the world of BDSM, Steven Shainberg's erotic romantic dramedy is an often funny, sometimes freaky and surprisingly thoughtful depiction of a sadomasochistic sexual relationship. The flick centers on Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a troubled young woman whose new role as the secretary of a demanding lawyer (James Spader) is a normal office job — that is until he spanks her over a typo and she realizes that she likes it.

3. Unfaithful

When you think of the sexiest scene from Unfaithful, the suspenseful 2002 entry to Adrian Lyne's already expansive filmography of erotic thrillers (Fatal Attraction, 9 1/2 Weeks, Indecent Proposal), your mind likely conjures up one scenario in particular: that ultra-charged train ride that Diane Lane's dissatisfied housewife Connie Sumner takes following her first physical encounter with Olivier Martinez's Paul, the impossibly sexy Frenchman with whom she's cheating on her husband (Richard Gere). As Connie remembers the racy specifics of their tryst, every minute emotion flashes across Lane's face —guilt over the infidelity, of course, but also cheek-flushing, eye-tearing shock, secretiveness and, yes, satisfaction — a sheer fantasy about to become all too real. 

4. Out of Sight

Any movie with lead actors as preternaturally good-looking as Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney is sure to get hearts thumping. But J Lo and George don't just rest on their pretty faces in Steven Soderbergh's sexy caper — they imbue their game of cat and mouse (she a strong but seductive federal marshal, he an exceptionally charming escaped inmate) with tension as stifling as the cramped car trunk they find themselves trapped in when they first meet. "If we met under different circumstances… if you were in a bar and I came up and we started talking… I wonder what would happen," Clooney's Jack Foley purrs behind her. That chemistry? Out of sight, indeed. 

5. Dirty Dancing

It's well-known cinematic lore that Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze disliked each other while portraying one of movie history's most-loved couples, Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle. But, famously, the real-life friction between the actors translated to sizzling onscreen tension between their characters, a naïve New York teen spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family and the magnetic dance instructor who sparks her journey of sex and self-discovery. As the '80s classic progresses, their connection gets more palpable, the clothing gets markedly smaller and the dancing gets, yes, even dirtier. 

6. In the Mood for Love

The eroticism permeating Wong Kar-Wai's glamorous romance, set in 1960s Hong Kong, is of the contained kind: all furtive glances and fleeting touches, dark alleyways and unrequited love. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung star as a pair of neighbors who, in discovering that their spouses are having an affair with each other, form an intensely romantic albeit unconsummated bond. Theirs is a connection marked by loss, yes, but also longing, a desire so potent that it slowly seeps out no matter how hard they try to suppress it. 

7. Body Heat

The best erotic thrillers are the ones that are equal parts sex and crime, and this sultry 1981 neo-noir starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner — who makes one of the most sensual screen debuts of all time, a live wire beneath all those button-down blouses — as a hapless lawyer and a wealthy wife whose passionate affair turns into a murder scheme, masterfully marries both compulsions. It's the rare movie that fully commits to the boldness of its title. 

8. Moonlight

Some love scenes are less of a romp and more of a swoon. Some love scenes don't even have to feature physical sex at all. Case in point, that yearning diner sequence between Trevante Rhodes' adult Chiron and his one and only schoolboy love Kevin (André Holland) in Barry Jenkins' Best Picture-winning queer masterpiece. It's all charged close-ups and racing hearts and smoky exhales, Barbara Lewis' "Hello Stranger" dreamily crooning from a jukebox. Moonlight never treats sex with gratuity, only grace, but that doesn't make its moments any less sensual. 

9. Eyes Wide Shut

In this psychosexual thriller — Stanley Kubrick's final movie — then real-life spouses Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman portray a well-off and exceedingly attractive New York couple whose picture-perfect marriage becomes marred by the revelation that she has fantasized about sleeping with a man who is not her husband. This mental cuckolding sends Cruise's Dr. Bill Harford out on the town seeking carnal adventure, famously ending up at a masked orgy held at a private mansion, a veritable funhouse of sexual transgression. Just like with off-screen sex, the onscreen acts performed here are admittedly a little absurd — and more than a little hot. 

10. Magic Mike

Not all sexy movies need to be a slow burn or a subtle seduction. Sometimes, they can just be a shirt-ripping, pants-stripping good time, as is the case with Steven Soderbergh's 2012 beefcake dramedy, which pulls from lead actor Channing Tatum's real-life past as a male exotic dancer in Tampa, Fla. All three movies in the Magic Mike trilogy are six-packed with fun (especially Joe Manganiello’s convenience store dance in Magic Mike XXL), but the first installment does the best job of both unabashedly pandering to the female gaze and humanizing the hunks being gazed at.

11.  9 1/2 Weeks 

Long before there was the Fifty Shades franchise, there was 9 1/2 Weeks, the 1986 Adrian Lyne-directed erotic drama chronicling the kinky sexual relationship between a mysterious Wall Street trader John (Mickey Rourke) and Soho art gallery assistant Elizabeth (Kim Basinger). There's a lot of sex had between John and Elizabeth, from clocktower romps to striptease sessions and dalliances with bondage and voyeurism, but the most famous explicit encounter in the movie is "the food scene," where Rourke's character blindfolds his partner and feeds her all sorts of strange stuff: sweet cherries, spicy peppers, salty olives, even jiggly Jell-O. It must have been an absolute mess for the lovers to clean up after, but honey never looked so hot. 

12. Call Me By Your Name 

Director Luca Guadagnino is one of cinema's greatest living sensualists, in that he films everything — from the lush Italian countryside to a tanned body in a bathing suit to, yes, a juicy, freshly picked peach — with the same amount of carnal appreciation. His 2017 masterpiece Call Me By Your Name stars a breakout, live-wire Timothée Chalamet as a young man who falls for the handsome doctoral student (Armie Hammer) working as an intern for Elio's academic father. Every scene of their summertime romance is so textured and tactile that you feel like you can reach through the screen and join them in that sun-drenched pool or at that lively breakfast table.

13. The Graduate 

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me... aren't you?" The answer, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), is an emphatic yes. The married older woman (played by Anne Bancroft) — the wife of his father's business partner, in fact — was very much trying to get the virginal college grad into bed and using every leggy move in her book to do so in the 1967 Mike Nichols classic. Their passionate May-December affair might not have lasted long, with Benjamin majorly complicating matters by falling for and later running off with Mrs. Robinson’s more age-appropriate daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross), but the memory of those steamy hotel trysts — as well as Bancroft's stockinged gam — have lived on for nearly six decades.  

14. Cruel Intentions 

We wouldn't have pulpy, rich-kid soaps like Gossip Girl without this 1999 cult classic, which follows a pair of wealthy, manipulative step-siblings (played by Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar) who craft a scheme against the virginal daughter of their new school headmaster. While Phillippe's Sebastian tries to deflower Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon), falling in love with her in the process, it's actually Gellar's Kathryn who scores the most memorable kiss in the high-school drama. Taking revenge on her ex-boyfriend's new beau, the innocent Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair), Kathryn tries to corrupt her through various means, the most famous being the charged, tongue-heavy smooch the duo share in Central Park under the guise of teaching naive Cecile how to make out.

15. Basic Instinct

It's cinema's most famous (and frequently parodied) leg cross: in a very memorable scene from Paul Verhoeven's 1992 erotic neo-noir, prime suspect Catherine Tramell (a star-making turn from Sharon Stone) knowingly shifts her legs during a police interrogation, revealing that she's not wearing any underwear beneath her skirt to intimidate the officers. Given that brazen confidence and raw carnality, it’'s not all that surprising that police detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) himself falls for the blonde bombshell, engaging in a tense sexual affair with the seductive crime novelist. But it is a shock when the people around him begin winding up dead in the same manner as Catherine's characters on page.  

Also check out our list of the 10 sexiest TV shows of all time.

The wait to stream Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is now over, as the seventh entry in Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise is now available to stream on Paramount Plus to all subscribers in the US and Canada; UK and other markets will see the movie land on the streaming service in February.

However, there is a slight tweak to the movie as it arrives on streaming: a title change. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is dropping the "Part One" and is now just referred to as Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning.

This comes as Mission: Impossible 8, previously titled Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two, is going to receive a new, as yet unknown title. Though the title is changing, the upcoming movie is still going to conclude the story that began in Dead Reckoning.

To that note, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning saw Cruise's Ethan Hunt and his IMF team go up against a dangerous new foe, an AI system known as The Entity that can distort the truth and anticipate its enemies' most logical moves. In order to stop The Entity, Ethan must prevent its human representative, Gabriel, from acquiring a key that could give The Entity immeasurable power.

• Read: Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning ending explained

In addition to Cruise, Mission: Impossible staples Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson returned for the movie, as did other franchise veterans Vanessa Kirby and Henry Czerny. New to the franchise were Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham and Greg Tarzan Davis.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning received strong reviews, including a five-star review from What to Watch. It has been available to watch at-home via digital on-demand platforms for a while now (and still is), but its debut on Paramount Plus is the first time that it is available on any streaming platform at no additional cost. All you need is a Paramount Plus subscription and you can watch Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning right now.

In fact, you can now watch all seven Mission: Impossible movies on Paramount Plus.

That will have to satisfy Mission: Impossible fans for the time being, as Mission: Impossible 8 is going to take a bit longer to arrive than originally planned. Previously, the movie had been dated for a June 2024 release, about a year after Dead Reckoning premiered in movie theaters. However, due to productions being shut down in 2023 because of the multiple strikes in Hollywood over new labor agreements, Mission: Impossible 8 has been delayed to May 23, 2025.

Tom Cruise may have been credited with saving movies with Top Gun: Maverick by none other than Steven Spielberg, but that doesn't mean the movie star is infallible at the box office. Case in point, his 2017 American Made, which did not move the needle when first released. That's changing now, however, as American Made has flown to the top of the Netflix viewing chart among US subscribers.

American Made landed on Netflix on Friday, October 6. It quickly made its way into the top 10 of daily viewed movies on the streaming service before it reached No. 1 on Tuesday, October 10, beating out some new Netflix original movies like Fair Play and Reptile. American Made is also available to stream on Netflix in the UK, but the movie has not had the same viewing surge with UK subscribers.

Based on a true story, American Made sees Tom Cruise play Barry Seal, an American pilot who became a drug-runner for the CIA in the 1980s as part of what would become known as the Iran-Contra Affair. The movie also stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemmons, Caleb Landry Jones, Lola Kirke, Jayma Mays, Alejandro Edda, Jed Rees and Benito Martinez. The movie was directed by Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity).

Despite good reviews — American Made is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes with a positive score of 85% — and Cruise in the leading role, the movie did not drum up much success in its initial run, earning just $51.3 million at the US box office. It added $83.5 million at the international box office, bringing its total to $134.8 million, but that is well down the list of Cruise's biggest movies. 

Netflix appears to be giving the movie a second life, as subscribers are finding it and, for the most part, enjoying the underrated Tom Cruise movie. Here's a sampling of what they’re saying:

While American Made is by far having the best run among US Netflix subscribers right now, October is unofficially Tom Cruise month on the streaming service, as Netflix added the first four Mission: Impossible movies, his 1993 courtroom drama The Firm and 2005's War of the Worlds to its streaming library.

If you've never seen American Made and want to know what all the fuss is about but don't have a Netflix subscription, the movie is also available to rent via digital on-demand.

It may be time for Tom Cruise's final mission as Ethan Hunt , as Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is doing just about everything but coming out and saying it is the last in the blockbuster franchise that dates back to 1996. But should that prove true, it's only going to make this 2025 new movie all the more anticipated by fans.

Just a reminder, that this movie is a continuation of the story that started with Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning, which was released in 2023 and saw Hunt and his team try and stop an artificial intelligence program known as the Entity gain immeasurable power over all of humanity. Can they stop the Entity?

Here is everything we know about Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning how to watch

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is still playing in movie theaters everywhere. Find out everything you need to know about how to watch Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning plot

Plot details for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning are scarce, with the only synopsis from Paramount to this point reading: "our lives are the sum of our choices." But we can make some guesses as to what lies in store for Ethan Hunt and his IMF team in the sequel based on what happened in Dead Reckoning (SPOILER ALERT).

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning saw Ethan and his team try to take down an artificial intelligence system known as The Entity that can distort the truth and has the ability to learn and become more powerful. To do so, they need to gain possession of a key that would give them access to The Entity. Standing in their way is Gabriel, a dangerous man with a connection to Ethan's past, who serves as the human representative for The Entity.

Get an in-depth breakdown of the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One ending here, but to sum up, Ethan and his team are able to get the key, but now they must find a sunken submarine that houses The Entity's source code. The search for the sub and how to get to it and shut down The Entity are almost certainly going to be key plot points in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning cast

First and foremost, Tom Cruise will once again star as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning. The actor has starred in every Mission: Impossible movie (as well as served as a producer) as the franchise has become nearly indistinguishable from him.

Also back are the members of his IMF team, including Ving Rhames as Luther, Simon Pegg as Benji and, as a new addition, Hayley Atwell's Grace.

Other returning cast members include Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow, Esai Morales as Gabriel, Pom Klementieff as Paris (who looks she may have survived her serious injury), Mariela Garriga as Marie, Henry Czerny as Kittridge, Angela Bassett as Erika Sloane, Shea Whigham as Jasper Briggs, Greg Tarzan Davis as Degas, Charles Parnell as NRO and Frederick Schmidt as Zola.

There are also a number of confirmed new additions to the cast, including Holt McCallany (Mindhunters) as Secretary of State Bernstein, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) in an unspecified role, Nick Offerman (The Last of Us) as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Janet McTeer (The Menu) and Lucy Tulugarjuk (Tia and Piujuq).

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning trailer

The official trailer for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is here, which you can easily watch directly below, along with the previously released teaser trailer:

As has become tradition when a new Mission: Impossible movie comes out, it got a special trailer for the Super Bowl. Check this one out for Final Reckoning:

You can also check out this behind-the-scenes video about filming in the Arctic:

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning reviews

We've seen the movie and have made our thoughts known with the official WTW Mission: Impossible —The Final Reckoning review.

If you're interested in the critical consensus on the movie, Mission: Impossible —The Final Reckoning is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.

Christopher McQuarrie movies

As he has since Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, Christopher McQuarrie is going to be the director for the franchise's next adventure. Here is McQuarrie's full list of feature film directing credits:

• The Way of the Gun (2000)
• Jack Reacher (2012)
• Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)
• Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)
• Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

In addition to directing, McQuarrie has written all of the Mission: Impossible movies that he has directed, as well as well-known movies like The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, Edge of Tomorrow and Top Gun: Maverick.

NOTE: This post contains spoilers for the ending of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.

The fuse is lit. And the beginning of the end for Ethan Hunt and his team of merry IMF agents has been initiated. The seventh installment in the franchise sees Tom Cruise once again going for death-defying theatrics, alongside newcomer Hayley Atwell, playing new character, Grace, and fan favorites Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg reprising their roles as Luther and Benji. 

This time they need to beat a mysterious villain named Gabriel (Titans and Ozark) to get two keys that will allow them to destroy an all-powerful AI device known as The Entity.

We're going to go into detail about the movie's ending below, but first a quick recap of what leads up to those final moments. Warning — spoilers ahead:

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, what happens at the end?

As revealed within the first act of the movie, The Entity is actually the real villain of this story. This all-powerful AI has become self-aware, and does not want to be destroyed, sending Gabriel and his henchman Paris (Pom Klementieff) after Hunt and the team to ensure they take possession of the two keys that can destroy it.

Grace has the first key, and the IMF has to rendezvous with The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) in Venice to get the second key, and to find out what the keys do and where the Entity is before she can sell the key and any info she has to an unspecified buyer. 

However, things go sour. And, while Ethan non-lethally dispatches of Paris, further events lead to a hand-to-hand fight between long-time franchise mainstay, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) and Gabriel which results in her untimely tragic death.

A distraught Ethan and team then have to figure out how to intercept The White Widow before she sells the second key to a buyer — later revealed to be Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny reprising his role from the first Mission: Impossible film) – aboard a train and get the key from her, then get off the train before the deal can be made. 

They use Grace and a patented IMF mask to disguise her as The White Widow, to make the deal with Kittridge and get information about The Entity, but Gabriel and Paris infiltrate the train and pose a threat to Grace. 

Ethan, vowing to get on the train to save Grace before anything can happen to her, jumps off a mountain and parachutes onto the train to save Grace from Gabriel’s men, but not before Gabriel blows up an oncoming bridge to leave the train to its doom.

Ethan and Grace manage to stop the train from flying off the collapsed bridge in the nick of time with the help of a dying Paris (who defects because Ethan spared her life previously), who tells them The Entity is in a submarine in the middle of the Arctic; all while Gabriel escapes the train convinced he has managed to grab both of the keys.

Little does he know that Ethan managed to grab both keys, and found a way to escape the train, but leaves Grace in the care of Kittridge as a potential introduction to her recruitment into the IMF. 

Ethan rendezvous with Benji with the keys to The Entity in his possession, armed with the knowledge of where to find The Entity, and the will to complete the mission, leading to the storyline for Dead Reckoning – Part Two.

Who survives Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and who doesn't? 

As stated above, this installment will be the last time we see Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust. Why they decided to kill one of the best characters in the franchise is an absolute mystery. But as far as we can tell, she is officially out. 

Additionally new favorite baddie, Pom Klementieff’s Paris, does not survive, but at minimum dies a semi-heroic death, aiding Ethan and Grace in their search for The Entity, and saving them from falling to their deaths from a dangling train car.

Grace, Kittidge, and Community agent Jasper Briggs are left unscathed on the train, with Grace telling Kittridge “she accepts” the choice — alluding to how Ethan, Luther, Benji, and other IMF agents began their careers with the Impossible Missions Force. 

Ethan and Benji naturally survive unscathed, hell-bent on finding and destroying The Entity. We don’t see Luther in the movie’s conclusion, but we assume he’s somewhere unharmed. And we do see the villainous Gabriel escaping on a truck empty-handed, frustrated he was beaten by Hunt. We can guarantee he will be rallying to try and stop the heroes from completing their mission in the next film.

What can we expect from Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two?

Grace being in Kittridge’s possession but informing him she accepts, means she’ll most likely be made a full-fledged IMF agent. It’s possible this character is being set up to continue the franchise after Ethan Hunt has stepped down. Rumors have suggested that Dead Reckoning – Part One and Part Two will be the grand finale for Ethan Hunt’s character. And given the similarities between Grace and Ethan, it’s not hard to imagine that’s where they’re going with this.

As far as the storyline for Part Two is concerned, there’s no other logical narrative progression to go with other than to have Ethan and the IMF race against Gabriel towards The Entity beneath the depths of the Arctic Ocean, to try and finish their mission in destroying the all-powerful AI device. 

Without Ilsa, Ethan is in a highly emotionally compromised state, but whether or not he kills Gabriel out of revenge or necessity is an open question. It’s incredibly possible that given the above, we may see Agent Hunt make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world and accomplish his greatest mission once and for all.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is in movie theaters across the world now. 

Death, taxes and Tom Cruise starring in the Mission: Impossible franchise seem like certainties these days. The movie star once again reprises his role as Ethan Hunt in the latest edition of the blockbuster movie, but he's not alone, as quite the ensemble is helping to make up the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One cast.

Cruise may always be the headliner, but the supporting casts for the Mission: Impossible movies have typically been pretty strong. From Jon Voight, Kristin Schott Thomas and more in the first Mission: Impossible movie to Henry Cavill and Angela Bassett appearing in Mission: Impossible — Fallout.

Which new characters are bound to make similar impressions in Dead Reckoning? And what familiar faces are popping back up? Let's break down the major characters set to appear as part of the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One cast and the actors playing them.

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt

Ethan Hunt has saved the world numerous times already, pulling off incredible, death-defying feats to do so. The IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent has become the leader of a small team that has become his defacto family — especially since he gave up his wife to keep her safe — and there is nothing he won't do to protect them.

Hunt has become one of Tom Cruise's most iconic roles, right alongside that of hotshot pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick, and one that he says he wouldn't mind playing until he's in his 80s (for reference, he is currently 61). 

Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust

Ilsa Faust is a more recent member of the IMF team, joining them to stop Solomon Lane, the villain of the last two Mission: Impossible movies. She has formed a strong, potentially romantic, bond with Ethan since they began working together.

Ferguson first joined the Mission: Impossible franchise in Rogue Nation. Outside of the action franchise, movie fans will know her from Dune (Part One and Part Two), Reminiscence, Doctor Sleep and The Greatest Showman, as well as her series Silo on Apple TV Plus.

Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell

Luther has been one of Ethan's oldest allies and closest confidants. He helps Ethan keep things in perspective, but he is always there to support his friend.

Ving Rhames has been in all of the Mission: Impossible movies, although he just had a cameo in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. Some of his other famous roles include Pulp Fiction, Con Air, Out of Sight, Dawn of the Dead and Pirahna 3D.

Simon Pegg as Benji Dunn

The IMF's resident tech expert, Benji has been working with Ethan since the events of Mission: Impossible III. He may not be the most physical member of the team, but he has proved his worth again and again.

Simon Pegg is best known for his comedies with Nick Frost and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End), but he has become a staple of the Mission: Impossible franchise, appearing in every movie since Mission: Impossible III.

Hayley Atwell as Grace

Grace is a new character in the series. She becomes involved with Ethan and the rest of the IMF team as she has critical information regarding the threat that they are dealing with in the movie.

Hayley Atwell is no stranger to big-budget action franchises, having starred as Peggy Carter in the MCU, most notably Captain America: The First Avenger, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and her own TV series, Agent Carter. She's also starred in the likes of Blinded by the Light, The Duchess and Conviction.

Esai Morales as Gabriel

Gabriel is the main villain in Dead Reckoning. He has a past history with Ethan (though this is the first time that the character is making an appearance in the franchise), but now represents a dangerous force that threatens the status quo of the world.

Esai Morales has starred in a number of popular shows and movies over the course of his career, including How to Get Away with Murder, Ozark, NYPD Blue and La Bamba.

Vanessa Kirby as The White Widow

We learned in Mission: Impossible — Fallout that the White Widow has a connection to someone in Ethan's past, the criminal mastermind Max (Vanessa Redgrave). She's continuing her mother's legacy as a powerful arms dealer. Ethan double-crossed her in the previous movie, so where will things stand between them in Dead Reckoning?

This is the second appearance for Vanessa Kirby in the Mission: Impossible franchise. The actress broke out with her performance as Princess Margaret in the first two seasons of Netflix's The Crown but has since gone on to star in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, The Son and Pieces of a Woman, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for the latter.

Pom Klementieff as Paris

Paris is an enforcer for the Dead Reckoning villains, set to throw down against Ethan and the rest of the IMF team. Playing the new character is Pom Klementieff, who is best known for her role as Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. She has also starred in Ingrid Goes West and Spike Lee's Old Boy remake. 

Henry Czerny as Eugene Kittridge

Eugene Kittridge is a government agent that has long been associated with Ethan. Believing Ethan was a mole, Kittridge was the one that was trying to capture Ethan in the first Mission: Impossible movie. This is the character's first appearance since the original 1996 movie.

Henry Czerny is definitely most recognized for his role as Kittridge, but the actor has also appeared in Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm, The A-Team, Revenge, Sharp Objects, Ready or Not and, most recently, Scream VI.

Others in the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One cast

Here are some other recognizable names set to appear in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One: 

• Shea Whigham (Waco: The Aftermath) as Jasper Briggs
• Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) as Denlinger
• Greg Tarzan Davis (Top Gun: Maverick) as Degas

Rob Delaney (The School of Good and Evil), Indira Varma (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Charles Parnell (Top Gun: Maverick) and Mark Gatiss (Operation Mincemeat) to date have unspecified roles. 

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One plays everywhere as of July 12.

It's here, Tom Cruise's next mission, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. What to Watch's most anticipated summer blockbuster movie of 2023, movie fans can now watch Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. The big question is how?

Is it streaming or is it only in movie theaters? In either case, where?

Judging by our five-star Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One review, this is not one you are going to want to miss out on. So let us lay out everything you need to know on how to watch Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One right now.

How to watch Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One in movie theaters 

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is still playing in select movie theaters. To find out when, where and in what format the movie is playing (the movie is screening in IMAX theaters for IMAX fans), you can check out the official Mission: Impossible website, see if it's playing at your favorite local theater on their website or find all the locations it is showing in your area through Fandango. You can also purchase tickets through any of these options.

Movie tickets can get a bit expensive for some. A possible solution to that is movie theater subscription and membership programs, which we have an in-depth guide for movie theater chains in the US and UK. Their programs offer movie fans monthly allotments, discounted and occasionally free tickets, as well as deals on concessions and more. Some require a subscription while others are at no charge.

Is Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One streaming?

You can choose to watch Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One at home starting October 2023. The movie is coming to digital on-demand platforms on Tuesday, October 10, where viewers can rent or buy a digital copy of the movie. 

There is still no information yet as to when the latest Mission: Impossible movie is going to become available via streaming, but we can make a pretty good guess as to where it is going to play once it does make its streaming debut: Paramount Plus. No real surprise there as Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is a Paramount Pictures movie. It should be in good company too, as all six previous Mission: Impossible movies are currently available to stream on Paramount Plus.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One on DVD

If you fear the algorithm like Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt, you can bring home a physical copy of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, as DVD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD copies of the movie are releasing on Tuesday, October 31.

In addition to the movie, the DVD is going to have a number of special features, including:

• Commentary by director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton
• Abu Dhabi: explore the exotic filming locations in the desert and at the international airport and discover how each thrilling sequence was shot
• Rome: take a behind-the-scenes look at the thrilling car chase through Italy's historic capital, as Tom Cruise's driving skills are pushed to the limit while handcuffed to Hayley Atwell
• Venice: see the breathtaking city of Venice as it's never been shown on film. Plus, witness the cast's dedication and commitment to their training as they prepare to get "Mission Ready"
• Freefall: an extended behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest stunts in cinema history. Watch never-before-seen footage of the rigorous training as Tom launches a motorcycle off a cliff
• Speed Flying: join Tom and the crew as they explain the various training techniques involved in pulling off the dangerous speed flying stunts in the film
• Train: see how the climactic train sequence was captured on film. From building an actual train from scratch to crashing it using practical effects, you don't want to miss this
• Deleted Shots Montage: director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton share some of the breathtaking, never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final film
• Editorial Feature - The Sevastopol: director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton take viewers through the intense opening scene

What else to know about Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

This is the seventh entry to the Mission: Impossible franchise and is the first half of a two-part story that will conclude in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two. Here is the official synopsis of what to expect with Part One:

“In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most."

Starring in the movie is of course Tom Cruise, alongside other Mission: Impossible staples like Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and Simon Pegg. The rest of the cast features Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Hayley Atwell, Shea Whigham, Cary Elwes, Esai Morales and Henry Czerny. 

Christopher McQuarrie, who directed both Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible — Fallout, returns for Dead Reckoning.

In addition to our five-star review for the movie, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is already "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes.

Watch the trailer to see what's in store:

Cue the music, light the fuse, Tom Cruise is back for another impossible mission with the latest entry to his long-running movie franchise, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One. We are just days away from one of the most anticipated summer blockbuster movies of the year being released around the world on July 12, (the hype is real based on our Dead Reckoning Part One review), but before then, Mission: Impossible fans can get a special look at the new movie on Wednesday, July 5, on CBS.

Airing at 9:30 pm ET/PT on CBS, the behind-the-scenes special is called Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One: Creating the Impossible. It's a half-hour broadcast with Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie sharing a look at the making of the movie. Specifically, it'll highlight the real stunts and action that continue to be among the main draws of the franchise.

There's already been a lot shared about the set piece that is being called the "the biggest stunt in cinema history" — where Cruise jumps a motorbike off a cliff and then parachutes to the ground — but there are sure to be plenty of jaw-dropping moments in the movie that the special should peel the curtain back a bit. 

Perhaps knowing the level of difficulty it took to pull off some of these stunts will up their chances of cracking our ranking of best Tom Cruise stunts.

While not specified in the official description, there's probably a good chance that other stars of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One cast are going to be featured in the special. Among those who could pop up are Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby and more.

In addition to being available to anyone with a basic cable TV package or live TV streaming service with CBS, Paramount Plus with Showtime subscribers can live stream their local CBS station to watch the special. The special will likely be available to stream on Paramount Plus on-demand the next day as well.

Here is the official synopsis for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One:

"In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most."

For blockbuster season, read lackluster season. We’re barely halfway into the summer and a succession of big-budget expectations have come crashing down to earth. And, with franchises all but totally losing their shine, what’s left? At which point all eyes turn in the direction of the latest from a certain Mr Cruise. After last year’s triumph, surely he can hold on to his unofficial title of King Of Cinema, a movie star in the old-fashioned mould who champions the big screen experience. He can, can’t he?

Breathe a long sigh of relief. His reputation is intact with his latest outing as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and we, at last, have the summer blockbuster we’ve all been waiting for. One with all the action, stunts and globetrotting that we expect, but also with its finger unexpectedly on the pulse. 

Tapping into current concerns over AI and creating one that’s all-seeing, all-knowing — and seemingly indestructible — it has a topical relevance that makes the narrative more interesting and more important than is usually the case. The almost incidental plots of some of the others in the franchise have been replaced with something more thoughtful and which requires more explanation. That means a little less time spent on the action and a crucial gizmo that comes in more than one piece, an all-too-familiar trope of late, but these are small prices to pay for such a thunderingly good piece of cinematic entertainment. 

All the familiar faces from the previous installments return for another high-octane mission, one where the heart-stopping stunts have taken pole position in the film's marketing. But there's even more to that spectacular motorbike jump than you’ve already seen, Cruise’s famous running is packed into one extended scene and it even takes that traditional favorite, the fight on the top of a moving train, to new heart-pumping heights. And there are yet more races against time that have been kept under wraps until now, all of which are worth the wait and the 2 hours 40 minutes running time.

Cruise leads his regular MI team in his usual, dare we say, maverick fashion. His stunts may not be quite as crazy as usual, but they’re still breathtaking in his familiar “what the hell is he doing?” style. 

He’s backed up superbly once again by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson and the ice cool Vanessa Kirby. And the breakneck car chases, vertigo-inducing parachute jumps and hand to hand fights are, as ever, scattered with a playful humour that often boils down to just a single, ironic glance. There’s new faces to enjoy as well, particularly the welcome addition of Hayley Attwell, and Henry Czerny returns as Kittridge, with his own trademark bone-dry humour. Keep a close eye on all of them, though. Fans of the franchise will know how much Cruise and co love masks, and this time they’re having a ball with them.

There’s more for the diehard devotees as well, reinforcing the sense of a franchise drawing to its close but still with more than enough in the tank to get it there. References to how Hunt came to join IMF and stunts that hark back to some of the earlier movies bring a hint of nostalgia, but they’re still an integral part of the story and never hold up proceedings. If anything, they add to it which means that, while this is essentially part seven of the franchise, it’s also a movie that can happily be viewed with limited knowledge of the others or none at all. And that’s no mean feat. 

After a series of titles that were expected to dominate cinemas this summer but haven't, this one genuinely will. It's a film that plays to its many strengths, understands its audience and gives them exactly what they want — and a little bit more. Cruise and McQuarrie know what they’re about: everything from the big set pieces to the little details is done with a confident skill that never spills over into arrogance. Just as importantly, they never take things wholly seriously. Action entertainment is the name of the game here, that’s what they deliver and they do it spectacularly well.

Mission accomplished!

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters on Wednesday, July 12 and UK cinemas on Monday, July 10. For more info on all the latest releases, check out our guide to 2023's new movies. 

If you were thinking about doing an Oppenheimer and Barbie double feature, then you're in good company with Tom Cruise it seems. 

Movie fans have long been looking forward to July 21, when both Christopher Nolan's historical epic and Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling's glittery Barbie movie are set to premiere exclusively in movie theaters. But a question has often been which movie should they go see? 

Cruise took to social media to pose the idea that moviegoers don't need to make that kind of Sophie's choice, instead they should perhaps heed the advice of a classic commercial: why not both?

The tweet sees Cruise and his Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie with tickets to multiple summer blockbuster movies that are coming up over the next few weeks. The first is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, to which Cruise congratulates star Harrison Ford on his years as the classic character. The other two are for the aforementioned Oppenheimer and Barbie movies. Of course the seventh Mission: Impossible movie is one of those new movies as well, but Cruise and McQuarrie probably don't need tickets to see that one.

If you're curious, it looks like Cruise and McQuarrie are at a Cineworld movie theater location in the UK based on the ticket stubs. And actually, if you zoom in on the pictures enough, they certainly look like legit tickets for these movies, as The Dial of Destiny is dated for June 28 and the Oppenheimer and Barbie tickets are dated for July 21. Cruise has previously said that he likes to go see movies with general audiences, revealing he sometimes dresses up in disguise to see movies. 

Cruise has been a big supporter of movie theaters in recent years, holding Top Gun: Maverick for theaters instead of heading to streaming earlier (becoming one of the biggest movies ever in the process) and sending personal messages to the movie theater industry at major events like CinemaCon.

Some of you may be thinking, "sure, Tom Cruise can see both movies in one day with all the money he makes, but movie tickets are expensive." You're not wrong, but there are ways to help with that if you're interested, highlighted by WTW's guide of the best movie theater subscription and membership deals for both US and UK movie theater chains.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is out now in the UK and releases in the US on June 30, while Oppenheimer and Barbie both release on July 21. Cruise's Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One releases on July. 12

Vote on which July movie you are most looking forward to in WTW's Tom Cruise vs Oppenheimer vs Barbie poll.

In the span of nine days in July, movie fans are going to be in heaven. On July 12, Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, releases worldwide, then on July 21 we get the one-two punch of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie's Barbie. There probably hasn't been a run of such highly anticipated movies releasing in such a short window since pre-COVID; all three movies made WTW's list of blockbuster movies we're excited to see this summer.

As of publication, there's still more than a month before any of those movies are available to watch, but a rivalry among the three of them is already brewing. 

The one between Oppenhimer and Barbie has been talked about for a while, pretty much since we learned they were going to release on the same day. But a recent report by Puck News revealed that Tom Cruise may have his own beef over Oppenheimer taking away IMAX movie screens away from the latest Mission: Impossible and is pushing to change their minds.

Most of this is just business and hype around these movies. As Matt Damon, who stars in Oppenheimer, correctly pointed out, there is no rule against people going to only one movie in a weekend; there are even ways to help make multiple trips more affordable with movie theater subscriptions and membership deals if that's a worry. We know we'll certainly be seeing these movies on the big screen as soon as we can. Oppenheimer and Barbie could make for a fun double feature.

But, in all fairness, it is kind of fun to stack these movies against each other. We'll have to wait to see how they compare at the box office, but we can find out right now how excited you, the average moviegoer, are about each one of these films.

So, between the new Mission: Impossible, Oppenheimer and Barbie, which one are you most eager to see?

You can cast your vote in the poll below, but here's a brief rundown of each movie in case you need some additional info to help make your pick.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

Release date: July 12
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Shea Whigham and Henry Czerny
What's it about: Dead Reckoning is the seventh movie in Cruise's Mission: Impossible franchise, and as the Part One of the title suggests, the first half of a larger story. We don't know a lot of plot specifics, but we do know it is going to deliver another incredible Tom Cruise stunt, which some are calling his biggest stunt ever. It has felt like each Mission: Impossible movie has been better than the last (OK, maybe not Mission: Impossible II), we can only hope that continues here.

Barbie

Release date: July 21
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, Helen Mirren, John Cena, Emma Mackey, Michael Cera, Issa Rae, Kingsley Ben-Adir and plenty more.
What it's about: Greta Gerwig wrote the script with her partner Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story), so get ready to have your expectations rocked for what a Barbie movie can be. From the trailer, Barbie (Robbie) begins to have questions about the Barbie-centric world she inhabits and must venture into the real world to get some answers. The movie looks colorful, absolutely hilarious and stuffed to the brim with fun actors.

Oppenheimer

Release date: July 21
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Gary Oldman, Olivia Thirlby, Josh Peck and Benny Safdie
What it's about: Nolan tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, considered the father of the atomic bomb. If that doesn't necessarily sound like a blockbuster movie to you, consider that Nolan reportedly recreated a nuclear explosion without the use of CGI. Add in that he shot the movie in IMAX, it has a reported three-hour run time and it is the first R-rated movie of Nolan's in 20 years and there's plenty of intrigue around Oppenheimer.

Let us know which of the three movies you are most excited to see when they release in July (though we hope you see all of them).

Much has already been made about one stunt Tom Cruise pulls off in the new Mission: Impossible movie — the motorcycle jump over a cliff that is being called his biggest stunt to date. But the brand new Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One trailer featured another stunt that may remind video games fans of another popular franchise: Uncharted.

We get multiple clips of a massive train sequence in the Dead Reckoning trailer, including seeing the train crash off a bridge and one of the final shots being of Cruise leaping from one dangling train car to another, narrowly avoiding falling to his death. It's this last bit that should be familiar to gamers who have played Uncharted, specifically Uncharted 2:Among Thieves. In the game, Nathan Drake must climb to safety off of a train that is dangling over a cliff.

Commenters on YouTube definitely noticed and shared their thoughts on the similarities:

• "The Uncharted movie we gamers wanted to see! Thank you, Tom and everyone involved in it for making it happen!"
• "The train sequence at the end gives me huge Uncharted 2 vibes and I'm pumped for it!!"
• "That train scene reminds me of Uncharted 2 it's so epic!"

Fans seem more hyped for Mission: Impossible's homages to the video game franchise than they were for the actual Tom Holland-led adaptation of the Uncharted. See why with the Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One trailer right here:

In Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.

Cruise of course stars again as Ethan Hunt, with franchise regulars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson back as part of his team. The movie also sees the return of Vanessa Kirby from Fallout and Henry Czerny from the first Mission: Impossible. New additions to the cast include Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Indira Varma, Charles Parnell, Mark Gatiss, Rob Delaney and Cary Elwes. Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed the movie.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One was already What to Watch's most anticipated blockbuster movie of summer 2023, but our expectations may have been raised with this latest trailer. Count us among the excited fans eager to see Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One when it releases exclusively in movie theaters worldwide on July 12. 

The 2010s were up and down for Tom Cruise. His Mission: Impossible franchise was successfully revitalized, but just about everything else — save for Edge of Tomorrow — has been pretty much forgotten. But should they have been? Considering that one of those movies, Oblivion, celebrates its 10th anniversary in April 2023, let's examine it.

Oblivion is a sci-fi/action movie that stars Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The movie was Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who would later go on to direct Tom Cruise to much success in Top Gun: Maverick. 

The Top Gun sequel proved that Kosinski and Cruise make a good team, so is Oblivion an underrated gem from the pair that should be given more respect? Before we answer that, let’s look at the key details about Oblivion, which will include some spoilers for the movie. 

What is Oblivion about? 

In addition to directing, Oblivion is based on a graphic novel story from Kosinski, which was adapted by by Karl Gajdusek and Michael Arndt. Here is the official synopsis for the movie via Peacock, where it is currently streaming:

"Before departing from a devastated planet Earth, a drone repairman rescues a woman from a downed spaceship, triggering a battle to save mankind."

Giving a little more detail, the movie takes place in 2077. Cruise's repairman Jack Harper explains in voiceover that an alien invasion took place around 2017. They destroyed the moon, which caused numerous natural disasters, and then launched a ground attack. He says nukes were used to win the war, but their devastation forced humanity to resettle on Saturn's moon Titan, with key resources for their survival still being mined from Earth's water supply. 

That is what Jack and his partner Victoria (Riseborough) are doing on their five-year mission, protecting and repairing the machines that help with this from the last remnants of the enemy aliens still on Earth.

However, Jack finds a crashed ship with human survivors, one of which resembles a woman (Kurylenko) he has dreams about but has no other memory of. Later, he is captured by the enemy, only for it to be revealed they are human, continuing the fight against the enemy aliens who have manipulated Jack into doing their bidding. Jack's search for the truth of who he is and what side he should be fighting for is the crux of the movie.

Oblivion's most iconic moment 

After learning that he has been lied to and wanting answers, Jack becomes the target of the drones he has been in charge of repairing. When a chase sequence results in him crash landing in what has been labeled a deadly radiation zone, he gets an even bigger shock: not only is the radiation zone not deadly, but he sees another version of himself, fixing drones in this area.

Jack soon learns that he is a clone, and the alien enemy has made hundreds (if not thousands) of copies of him to serve their purposes on Earth. But what makes this sequence stand out is not the reveal, but the fact that we get to see some Cruise vs Cruise action in a fun little fight scene:

The legacy of Oblivion

Despite Oblivion having Tom Cruise and being a big-budget sci-fi movie, it was not given the summer blockbuster rollout that you may expect. The movie hit US theaters on April 19 (a little earlier in many other parts of the world) and was greeted with a very mild shrug.

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has the movie scored at a 54% from critics, which gives it a "Rotten" score. Inkoo Kang, writing for Screen Junkies, said "Ultimately, Oblivion is aptly named — no other movie so far this year has been so instantly forgettable," while New York Magazine's David Edelstein wrote "Was Cruise trying to beat out fellow Scientologist John Travolta for the honor of starring in the dumbest sci-fi epic ever?" Even the reviews that are labeled as "Fresh" didn’t exactly give the movie a ringing endorsement. Richard Roeper called it "the equivalent of a pretty damn good cover band," and CNN's Tom Charity classified it as "glossy, derivative, ambitious and fatally underpowered."

Audiences at the time didn't boost the movie's reputation either. It earned $89.1 million at the US box office, which put it as the 41st highest grossing movie of 2013, below the critically-panned Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp movie The Lone Ranger. It did better internationally, earning $286 million globally, but it still earned less than movies like Smurfs 2 and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

There have been those making the case that Oblivion is an underrated entry in Cruise's filmography and harkens back to the type of sci-fi movies you don't see as much anymore. Now that we've re-watched Oblivion, here's our take on whether those arguments hold water. 

Is Oblivion underrated?

Short answer? No, not really. While we'll give the movie credit for a cool, post-apocalyptic Earth look (it was filmed primarily in Vatnajökull National Park, Iceland) and its story has some twists and turns that can be engaging, Oblivion fails truly dive into its concept or characters.

There's the old adage of show don't tell, which Oblivion does not adhere to. Cruise opens with a voiceover monologue about what happened to Earth and why they are there, only to then explain it all again to Kurylenko's character again when she arrives on the scene. Then, when the final twist of the movie explaining what happened to Jack is revealed, we've already basically been told by Morgan Freeman's character. Sure, we get some added depth, but not enough to make the moment truly hit. Exposition can be necessary, but not when it is spoon feeding the audience stuff rather than trusting the story. 

Beyond the story, the cast is going through the motions. Cruise is pretty flat and there's no real chemistry with Kurylenko. Meanwhile, this is pretty much a waste of Morgan Freeman. The MVP is Andrea Riseborough's Victoria, who is the only one that brings any kind of spark or depth to her character.

The best thing that we can say for Oblivion is that it failed so Top Gun: Maverick could eventually fly. Oblivion was Joseph Kosinski's second movie and his first collaboration with Cruise. You can see some bits in Top Gun: Maverick that are reminiscent of Oblivion (mostly the sequences of flying through canyons), but everything is more engaging and in service of a stronger, more impactful story in the Top Gun sequel.

Is Oblivion a bad watch? It's not the worst way to spend two hours if you're looking for something new. And credit where credit is due, it is an original sci-fi idea, which yes, would be nice to see more of these days. But by no means does it belong in the realm of Tom Cruise's better movies.

Other retro reviews

• Pi retro review
• Titanic retro review
• Catch Me If You Can retro review

Tom Cruise might be best known for his roles in the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible franchises, but his performance in Jerry Maguire turned what could have been a sappy rom-com into a movie with universal appeal. 

Cruise's Jerry is a deeply flawed sports agent, initially concerned with being shown the money than finding the person that completed him. Jerry is a damaged prince charming and that's what makes his journey to finding love so universally appealing.

If it has been a while since you've last watched the movie, Jerry Maguire is about an ultra-competitive sports agent who's at the top of his game. He's got it all, but after a night of food poisoning leads to an epiphany about business practices, he drafts a mission statement that is powerful in theory but leads to his professional downfall in reality. His closest friend and colleague, Bob Sugar (played with smarmy perfection by Jay Mohr), pulls his clients out from under him. Jerry leaves his job with the company goldfish and an inspired associate, Dorothy (Renée Zellweger), as they set out to start their own company. 

Jerry and Dorothy bond under the challenging circumstances and Jerry falls for Dorothy's son, Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki), leading him to think that he can have it all if he proposes to Dorothy and creates a family. Unfortunately, as his company continues to fall apart and his marriage unravels, Jerry soon discovers that he needs to change his mindset to appreciate the gifts he already has.

Jerry Maguire has to fix himself before he can have a happily ever after

We've debated whether a love story has to have a happy ending, and while the What to Watch team is divided on that issue, it's almost universally accepted that a good love story needs to have a few bumps in the road to really be satisfying. And that's where Jerry Maguire excels.

Jerry Maguire is as much a story of a man's evolution as it is a love story between two people who realize they're better together than they are apart. Jerry goes from being at the top of the world with his high-powered life to finding himself in the basement trying to win back his clients and his reputation after they're taken from him.

Cameron Crowe's brilliant script has a similar feel to Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. Jerry's "guides" include his only client, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who, despite his unending desire for Jerry to "show [him] the money," also recognizes that he is nothing without his wife Marcee (Regina King) by his side. 

As Jerry courts and eventually marries Dorothy, it's her sister Laurel (Bonnie Hunt) who offers him a reality check when his priorities fall out of line. Laurel's reminds Jerry that with her sister and nephew in his life, it's no longer all about him. 

Then there's Dorothy's young son, Ray, who serves as a physical representation of the future family Jerry could have if only he gets his act together.

It takes a while for him to realize that the biggest obstacle standing in his way is himself. It's his ego, his hubris, that prevents him from seeing that all the success, fame and fortune in the world won't make him happy. Indeed, he admits by the end of the movie that getting what he wanted didn't mean anything because his wife wasn't with him to share in the excitement. Without Dorothy (and Ray, of course), Jerry's life has no meaning.

When Jerry tells Dorothy "you complete me" at the end of the movie, it's the culmination of his hero's journey. He's been to the brink and the only person who can bring him back is the love of his life.

Over two decades have passed since "show me the money" and "you complete me" first became enmeshed in the fabric of pop culture. Jerry Maguire endures as a beloved classic because the story of a damaged prince charming finding his way is timeless and will resonate with audiences for years to come.

You can watch Jerry Maguire right now on Netflix in the US; Sky Go and NOW TV in the UK.

By far one of the biggest movies of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick has finally flown its way onto streaming services, making it a lot easier to watch from home.

Since its release on May 27, Top Gun: Maverick has been smashing box office records for Paramount, and has given Tom Cruise yet another jewel in his crown of hits. So it's very likely that you'll want to catch it or, by the box office success, probably re-watch it at home.

The original 1986 Top Gun helped launch Cruise to superstardom and has remained one of the actor’s most popular movies — with plenty of memorable quotes, an iconic score with some great original music and instantly recognizable characters.

You can stream the original Top Gun right now on Paramount Plus, but Top Gun: Maverick is the attention-getter right now. Here is everything you need to know on how to watch Top Gun: Maverick.

Is Top Gun: Maverick streaming?

Yes! Top Gun: Maverick made its streaming debut on December 22 in the US, UK and many other regions.

You can stream the movie on Paramount Plus, which costs just $4.99 or £6.99 per month for its lowest tier. This service offers a seven-day free trial so you can test out the platform.

There's also a Paramount Plus channel on Prime Video, which costs the same and lets you see Paramount's content amongst your other Prime content.

However, you can watch Top Gun: Maverick at home through other channels, as it's available on for purchase or rental via digital on-demand on platforms like Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV and more. With a digital purchase of the movie, fans also get more than 110 minutes of bonus content.

Top Gun: Maverick on Blu-ray/DVD

4K, Blu-ray or DVD copies of Top Gun: Maverick are available. Here is all the bonus content that the DVD (and digital) copy of the movie has to offer:

Cleared For Take Off — witness the most intense film training program as the cast prepare themselves for filming while pulling multiple G's in a fighter plane.
 
Breaking New Ground: Filming Top Gun: Maverick — prepare to take flight as you go behind-the-scenes with the cast and crew of Top Gun: Maverick on a journey to capture the most spectacular aerial sequences ever!
 
A Love Letter to Aviation —Tom Cruise shares his passion for aviation as he pilots his own aircraft, a vintage World War II P-51 Mustang, which would have been the Top Gun aircraft of its day.
 
Forging the Darkstar — pushing the limits beyond Mach-10, the future of aviation is unveiled through an impressive experimental aircraft specially designed for the movie.
 
Masterclass with Tom Cruise – Cannes Film Festival—Tom Cruise discusses his incredible career at the flagship event of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.
 
"Hold My Hand," Lady Gaga Music Video — watch Lady Gaga's music video for her standout lead single hit on the Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack.
 
"I Ain’t Worried," OneRepublic Music Video — check out the music video to the original new song from OneRepublic.
 
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Teaser Trailer: we all share the same fate. Watch the official teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One starring Tom Cruise. Coming to theatres 2023.

Top Gun: Maverick in movie theaters

Top Gun: Maverick concluded its first run in movie theaters in early November earning $1.48 billion globally, easily making it the biggest movie of the year. Not only that, it currently sits at No. 5 for the US box office's all-time.

Everything else you need to know about Top Gun: Maverick

We mentioned WTW’s glowing review for Top Gun: Maverick, but we’re not the only ones who have loved it. The movie has a 97% "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 78. It has also earned six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

Top Gun: Maverick takes place 30 years after the events of Top Gun and sees Cruise’s Pete "Maverick" Mitchell coming back to the Top Gun school to train a new group of pilots for a dangerous mission. There he must also come face to face with his past. 

Joining Cruise as part of the Top Gun: Maverick cast is Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer.

Watch the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick right here:

Think it's worth starting this article off with a friendly reminder that Tom Cruise is 60 years old. An age where most people are considering retirement, Cruise continues to go further and further with hair-raising stunts, including one for the 2023 new movie Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One that is being described as the "biggest stunt in cinema history" and the most dangerous stunt of his career.

A new behind-the-scenes video offers a lot of fascinating (and insane) details about the stunt, which sees Cruise ride a motorcycle off of a cliff in Norway and then perform a base jump. We don't know the context of it in the movie, but it certainly looks to be on par with previous Tom Cruise stunts from the Mission: Impossible franchise, including the famous wire-hanging scene, him climbing the Burj Khalifa, holding on to the side of plane and performing a HALO jump.

There's a lot of incredible footage and soundbites in the video. We've got a quick rundown of some of the ones that made our jaws drop.

• Tom Cruise wanted to drive a motorcycle off a cliff since he was a little kid apparently; this man is just wired differently.
• The stunt team's mantra is "don't be careful, be confident."
• Cruise did a year of base training, advanced skydive training and canopy skills (over 500 skydives).
• Someone describes Tom Cruise as "the most aware person I've ever met."
• They built a motocross track for Cruise to train on and he practiced more than 13,000 jumps.
• Director Christpher McQuarrie said even two years ago the cameras didn't exist to capture the stunt like they did.
• Tom Cruise: "Always wear my earplugs, so I don't hear myself scream."
• There was no speedometer on the bike, so Cruise said he judged the speed by the sound and feel of the bike.
• Miles Dashier, base jumping coach: "The only things you have to avoid while doing a stunt like this are serious injury or death." You don't say!
• After the first take, Cruise was eager to do another one. He did the stunt six times in total.

The video was shown in front of Avatar: The Way of Water on IMAX screens, but now it is available to watch on YouTube or directly below. 

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is set to release exclusively in movie theaters on July 14, 2023. In addition to Cruise, Mission: Impossible regulars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson are all back, as are Vanessa Kirby and Angela Bassett from Fallout, and Henry Czerny from the original Mission: Impossible. New additions to the franchise include Haley Atwell, Cary Elwes, Pom Klementiff, Rob Delany, Indira Varma, Charles Parnell, Shea Whigham and Mark Gatiss.

If you want to get your Cruise fill in before the new Mission: Impossible movie, Top Gun: Maverick arrives on Paramount Plus on December 22 (he even wished everyone a thank you for supporting Top Gun: Maverick while jumping out of a plane), while the other Mission: Impossible movies are also all streaming on Paramount Plus.

More than 35 years after the original Top Gun, the Tom Cruise blockbuster has gotten a sequel in Top Gun: Maverick.

In the original, Top Gun (1986), a young Cruise stars as the hot-shot pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, as he and his co-pilot Goose (Anthony Edwards) take part in the Navy’s top school for elite fighter pilots. Maverick likes to push it to the limit, but that ends up getting him in trouble and his confidence gets shaken following a tragic accident. But the happy ending prevails and he saves the day and gets the girl.

Top Gun remains a fan-favorite to this day, thanks to numerous factors including a star-making turn from Tom Cruise, memorable supporting characters like Anthony Edwards' Goose and Val Kilmer's Iceman, fantastic '80s tunes like "Danger Zone" and "Take My Breath Away" and incredible aerial sequences. Talk about a sequel has been swirling for years and now its here.

Here is everything you need to know about Top Gun: Maverick.

How to watch Top Gun: Maverick

After being a box-office behemoth (it is the no. 1 movie at the 2022 global box office with $1.48 billion) movie fans can watch Top Gun: Maverick at home. It's available in most regions on Paramount Plus.

Here's how to watch Top Gun: Maverick right now.

Top Gun: Maverick awards and nominations

After dominating the boxoffice, Top Gun: Maverick hopes to dominate awards season too. Here are the nominations and awards that Top Gun: Maverick has earned to date:

Academy Awards

• Best Picture (nominee)
• Best Adapted Screenplay — Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie, Peter Craig, Justin Marks (nominees)
• Best Editing (nominee)
• Best Original Song — "Hold My Hand" (nominee)
• Best Sound (nominee)
• Best Visual Effects (nominee)

Golden Globes

• Best Picture: Drama (nominee)
• Best Song — "Hold My Hand" (nominee)

Critics Choice Awards

• Best Picture (nominee)
• Best Actor — Tom Cruise (nominee)
• Best Cinematography (nominee)
• Best Editing (nominee)
• Best Visual Effects (nominee)
• Best Song — "Hold My Hand" (nominee)

London Critics Circle Awards

• Film of the Year (nominee)

National Board of Review

• Best Film
• Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography — Claudio Miranda

New York Film Critics Circle

• Best Cinematographer — Claudio Miranda

American Film Institute

• AFI Movie of the Year

People's Choice Awards

• The Movie of 2022 (nominee)

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films

• Best Action/Adventure Film (winner)
• Best Actor — Tom Cruise (winner)
• Best Director — Joseph Kosinski (nominee)
• Best Editing  (nominee)
• Best Special Effects (nominee)

Top Gun: Maverick plot

Top Gun: Maverick takes place more than 30 years after the events of Top Gun. Maverick is now working as a test pilot and actively attempting to dodge the advancement in rank that would force him to stop flying.

However, his career ends up taking him back to the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics School — otherwise known as TOP GUN — where he has to confront his past as he is charged with training a new squadron of fighter pilots.

How long is Top Gun: Maverick?

Top Gun: Maverick has a runtime of two hours and 10 minutes.

What is Top Gun: Maverick rated?

Top Gun: Maverick is rated "PG-13" for US audiences (parents required for anyone under 13) and "12A" for UK moviegoers (suitable for children 12 and over).

Top Gun: Maverick cast

Tom Cruise will be just shy of 60 when Top Gun: Maverick is released, but there is no way Hollywood was going to make Top Gun 2 and not have him back in the cockpit of a fighter jet. Maverick remains one of Cruise’s most iconic roles, so you just can’t have a Top Gun movie without the star reprising the character.

Cruise isn’t the only cast member returning from the original film. Maverick’s frenemy is back, as Val Kilmer will once again play Iceman. Anyone who has seen the documentary Val on Prime Video knows that Kilmer currently uses a voice box to speak after battling throat cancer. Despite his health concerns, Cruise was adamant that Kilmer would return for the sequel.

There will also be plenty of new faces in Top Gun: Maverick. Key to the plot is Miles Teller, who will be playing Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s old co-pilot Goose. Other new members of the cast include Jennifer Connelly as Penny Benjamin, Jon Hamm as Cyclone, Glen Powell as Hangman, Monica Barbaro as Phoenix, Jay Ellis as Payback, Lewis Pullman as Bob, Charles Parnell Warlock, Bashir Salahuddin as Hondo and Ed Harris as Read Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain.

Find out more about the Top Gun: Maverick cast right here.

• Tom Cruise's best stunts — from Mission: Impossible to Edge of Tomorrow
• Fifteen of the best Tom Cruise movies — from Risky Business to Top Gun 2

Top Gun: Maverick reviews — what critics said

Top Gun: Maverick is one of the best reviewed movies of the year. It was quickly labeled a "perfect summer blockbuster" and something that needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Official reviews were just as glowing, including What to Watch's Top Gun: Maverick review, which called the movie a "stratospheric sequel" and one that both pays tribute to the original but also surpasses it.

Top Gun: Maverick has a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 78 on Metacritic.

Tom Cruise spoke with What to Watch sister publication Total Film about the movie in an issue earlier in 2022:

Top Gun: Maverick Royal Premiere

Straight from their Cannes screening, the stars headed to London for a Royal Film Premiere. Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly and more walked the red carpet alongside the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Check out pictures from the Top Gun: Maverick UK premiere.

Top Gun: Maverick global premiere

The Top Gun: Maverick global premiere took place on May 4 in San Diego, with the red carpet being held on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum. Not only that, Tom Cruise arrived to the premiere flying a helicopter and landing on the flight deck. Take a look at some of the pictures from the global premiere and quotes from the stars.

Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack — Kenny Loggins "Danger Zone"

Almost as important as which of the cast members would return, fans want to know if Top Gun's iconic theme song, "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins will be part of Top Gun 2. 

The good news is the answer is yes. Kenny Loggins confirmed on Rob Lowe's podcast, Literally with Rob Lowe, that "Danger Zone" would play in Top Gun: Maverick. So listen to those engines road and get ready to ride back into the danger zone when the movie comes to theaters.

Top Gun: Maverick soundtrack — Lady Gaga "Hold My Hand"

The first new song we've heard about for the soundtrack is from Lady Gaga who wrote a brand new song for Top Gun: Maverick, called "Hold My Hand." We expect this to be the Top Gun 2 equivalent to the original movie's love ballad, Berlin's "Take My Breath Away."

Check out the official music video for "Hold My Hand" right here:

Here's what Lady Gaga had to say about writing the song for Top Gun: Maverick.

Top Gun: Maverick trailer

Check out all of the trailers released for Top Gun: Maverick directly below:

Paramount has also released a feature that looks at the training that Tom Cruise and the other actors did so that the flight sequences they do in the movie would look and feel authentic. Check it out below:

Another feature details the F18s, the incredible aircrafts that the actors (along with the Naval pilots assisting them) actually flew in for the movie.

Top Gun: Maverick posters

Check out the movie posters for Top Gun: Maverick:

How to watch Top Gun

If you've never seen Top Gun and want to watch it before seeing Top Gun: Maverick or if you've seen the 1986 movie 100 times and just want to watch it again, you can do so right now on Prime Video or Paramount Plus.

More on Top Gun: Maverick

• Tom Cruise sends heartfelt message to Top Gun: Maverick fans
• Does Val Kilmer talk in Top Gun: Maverick?
• James Corden is the new Goose in Top Gun-inspired Late Late Show clip
• James Corden gets Top Gun call sign

After dominating the summer at movie theaters, Top Gun: Maverick is swooping into land in homes — the Tom Cruise movie has finally set its digital and Blu-ray/DVD releases. Fans won’t just be getting the critically-acclaimed movie either, as more than 110 minutes of bonus content is part of the digital release of the movie.

Top Gun: Maverick is available to US viewers for digital rental/purchase on Tuesday, August 23, with the movie currently available to pre-order on various platforms. Meanwhile, an official digital debut date has not been confirmed for the UK, but Top Gun: Maverick is already available for pre-order on Prime Video so we suspect it's coming very soon.

The bonus content included with digital purchases of Top Gun: Maverick includes:

• The fighter pilot training that the cast went through
• A behind-the-scenes look at how they captured Top Gun: Maverick's incredible aerial sequences (featuring some of Tom Cruise's best stunts
• A Tom Cruise featurette: he discusses his passion for aviation
• A look at the design of the Darkstar aircraft from the movie
• Footage from the Cannes Film Festival celebration of Tom Cruise
• Music videos: Lady Gaga’s "Hold My Hand" and OneRepublic’s "I Ain’t Worried
• The teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One — for those eager for Cruise’s next high-flying adventure

Fans of physical media will be pleased to know that the Top Gun: Maverick 4K/Blu-ray/DVD version of the movie has a release date of November 1.

If you’re wondering when Top Gun: Maverick is going to be streaming, we are still waiting for info on that, though we do know that it’ll first be available to stream exclusively on Paramount Plus at first.

Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise favorite Top Gun. The movie picks up 30 years after the events of the latter, with Maverick (Cruise) brought back to the Top Gun school to train a new batch of hot-shot pilots for a very dangerous mission. However, things are complicated as Maverick is forced to come face-to-face with his past as Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of his old co-pilot Goose, is one of the pilots. The movie also stars Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro and Val Kilmer, reprising his role as Iceman.

Top Gun: Maverick is the highest grossing movie of 2022 to date, earning more than $1.3 billion at the global box office, making it Tom Cruise’s biggest movie ever.

More on Top Gun: Maverick

• Top Gun: Maverick review
• Who is Penny in Top Gun: Maverick?
• Meet the Top Gun: Maverick cast
• James Corden and Tom Cruise take to the skies in a fighter jet
• 15 of the best Tom Cruise movies — from Taps to Top Gun

Top Gun: Maverick has soared to incredible heights at the box office this summer. Now, Paramount plans to thank US moviegoers with a "fan appreciation weekend" for making the Tom Cruise movie one of the year’s biggest hits. The screenings take place from August 12 to August 14 at theaters throughout the US.

Since it was released on May 27, Top Gun: Maverick has become the seventh-highest grossing movie at the US box office of all time, knocking the 1997 mega-hit Titanic down a rung. Globally, it is now Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing movie ever and the biggest movie of Cruise’s career. It's not just popular with audiences, it's also one of the best-reviewed movies of the year (What to Watch's Top Gun: Maverick review gave the movie five stars)! There's also some Oscars buzz — perhaps we could finally see Tom Cruise win that Oscar...

So, because of all the love for the film, Paramount Pictures is giving fans another opportunity to watch Top Gun: Maverick on the big screen — a repeat viewing that comes with some new treats. They include a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Top Gun: Maverick (onboard the active warship the USS Roosevelt) and a new Top Gun: Maverick Collector’s print designed by UK artist Doaly (while supplies last).

You can see where these special Top Gun: Maverick screenings are taking place at topgunmovie.com. Screenings include formats like IMAX. You can also buy tickets directly at participating movie theaters, and movie theater websites/mobile apps.

"Paramount Pictures is eternally grateful to the millions of fans going to theatres to experience Top Gun: Maverick the way it was meant to be seen — on the big screen," said Chris Aronson, president, domestic distribution of Paramount Pictures. "We are excited about the Maverick fanfare starting this Friday… [this is] a small token of our appreciation for the remarkable support we have received from fans."

Top Gun: Maverick is a sequel to the 80s Cruise classic Top Gun. It takes place 30 years after its predecessor and sees Maverick (Cruise), brought back to the Top Gun flight school to train a new group of hotshot pilots for the most dangerous mission of their careers. Adding to the pressure is Penny (Jennifer Connelly) — who is one of Maverick's old flames — and Rooster (Miles Teller), a new recruit who just so happens to be the son of his old co-pilot, Goose.

What to Watch has reached out to Paramount Pictures to see if any similar events are going to be taking place anywhere else, like the UK, but at this time nothing is confirmed.

Tom Cruise could well be on track to become the highest-ever paid actor for a single movie for his part in Top Gun: Maverick.

Currently, Will Smith holds the record for the biggest payday for a single movie. His performance-based pay saw the actor reportedly taking home $100 million for reprising his role as Agent J in Men In Black 3 (source: THR).

Thanks to the huge success of Top Gun: Maverick, action star Tom Cruise could well be set to break Will Smith's record. The Top Gun sequel has now surged past Mission: Impossible - Fallout to become the highest-grossing movie in Tom Cruise's career. 

At the time of writing, the high-octane sequel has now raked in more than $1.1 billion worldwide (via BoxOfficeMojo), and the Hollywood legend is expected to reap the rewards from Maverick's box office success.

According to Puck News, Tom Cruise could earn upwards of $90 million from the sequel. Puck reports that Cruise was paid $12.5 million upfront to make the Top Gun sequel, but the backend part of his deal allows Tom Cruise to take home ten percent of the movie's total first-dollar. Current estimates suggest the star stands to make an additional $55 million if the film manages to reach the $1.3 billion mark.

Tom Cruise is also expected to profit from escalators in the film which are often based on specific "breakpoint" thresholds that occur in a movie's revenue streams and which would see his percentage of the film's earnings rise. Since the movie's already reached the $1 billion mark, it's safe to assume at least a few of those so-called 'breakpoint' thresholds must have been reached by now.

Aside from box office takings, Puck states Cruise will also profit from "his cut of home video, pay TV, streaming and all the other revenue streams forever". As if that wasn't impressive enough, Puck alleges that Cruise stands to get an even better offer if Paramount decides to greenlight a third Top Gun movie.

To date, Cruise's raked in the most money for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Forbes estimated he earned $75 million for the movie.

Top Gun: Maverick is in theaters worldwide, and is expected to be made available to stream on Paramount Plus. 

Thank goodness more actors aren’t like Tom Cruise or the entire stunt industry may have been out of a job a long time ago. Cruise is well known for performing his own stunts, but what makes him stand out from his peers is that he does stunts that toe the line between hair-raising and a possible death wish. But the end result showcases some of the most incredible stunts that have ever been put on screen.

The Mission: Impossible movies are the motherlode for many of these incredible Cruise stunts, but the actor has been pushing the envelope for a long time. And, based on reports of Cruise standing on top of a World War II plane for Mission: Impossible 8 and footage showing crazy Mission: Impossible 7 stunts, it doesn't seem that Cruise — who turns 60 in 2022, mind you — is slowing down at all.

We’ll be watching those M:I films, as well as the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick, to see if any stunts from those will make this list (it's a pretty safe bet, yes) but in the meantime here are What to Watch’s picks of Tom Cruise’s best stunts. We promise they’re not all from Mission: Impossible.

Mission: Impossible, wire hanging stunt

Mission: Impossible's evolution since the franchise’s first movie in 1996 is pretty incredible. The sandbox that Cruise and company play in has grown considerably, as have the feats they pull off. However, Cruise’s wire-hanging scene from the first Mission: Impossible remains one of the most iconic stunts from the franchise (and the actor’s career) even if it now seems tame by comparison with more recent stunts. That doesn’t mean it was easy, as Cruise apparently kept faceplanting during the scene.

Beyond the physicality of the stunt, what makes it stand out is its inbuilt narrative tension — as any noise Cruise makes will sound the alarm.

Mission: Impossible II, the knife fight

We could have easily gone for the free climbing sequence that Cruise does in the opening credits of Mission: Impossible II, but again a smaller moment proves to be more memorable. In the big fight scene between Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and Dougray Scott’s Sean Ambrose, the two get into a knife fight and at one point Hunt has to stop a knife mere inches from plunging into his eye. CGI right? Wrong. Master of perfection, Cruise wanted to use a real knife (albeit dulled) for the shot. Per The Wrap, the knife was attached to a cable so it would stop just centimeters away from Cruise’s eye.

The Last Samurai, the sword fight

Cruise upgraded from a knife to swords for The Last Samurai. He reportedly trained for more than half a year on samurai and martial arts skills so that he could be the one to perform the swordfight sequences, including one where he takes on multiple enemies in the streets of Japan. Cruise has said, in press junkets for the movie, that the sequence has more than 70 points of contact, which not only requires great choreography but excellent fight coordination to make sure nobody was injured. 

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Burj Khalifa climb

When Ghost Protocol came out, many thought Tom Cruise could be passing the torch of the franchise over to new co-star Jeremy Renner as the last two movies had seen some diminishing returns. However, Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa — the tallest building in the world — not only became an iconic set-piece but proved he was essential in pushing the limits of what the series could do. The daring sequence is all the more impressive when you learn that it was done on a limited schedule. 

Edge of Tomorrow, the exosuits

Edge of Tomorrow underperformed at the box office but, over time, has rightly become a respected entry in Tom Cruise’s credits. The draw of the movie is its video-game-like feel — as Cruise’s character keeps dying and reliving the same battle, getting further and further along in the storyline each time. What’s impressive about it all though is the exosuit that Cruise and co-star Emily Blunt wear during the intense battle sequences. They were entirely impractical for action sequences, weighing between 85 and 135 pounds. Meaning Cruise and company were lugging around all that extra weight as they dodged explosions. 

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, the plane take-off

We have now reached the "Tom Cruise does crazy things with planes" section of this list. First up, him holding onto the side of a plane as it takes off in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation. This was a heck of a way to start the fifth film of the franchise. Simon Pegg’s Benji serves as an audience surrogate when he shouts, "Oh my God" as the plane took off with Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hanging on for dear life. 

While this is the marquee stunt, it probably wasn’t the most dangerous for Cruise in Rogue Nation. An underwater heist scene saw Cruise train to hold his breath for as long as possible. His commitment to acting fooled the stunt coordinator a few times into thinking that Cruise might actually be drowning. 

The Mummy, plane crash

The Mummy may be one that everyone (including Cruise) wants to forget, but credit should be given where it's due to a great stunt and that’s exactly what the plane crash sequence in the movie is. In order to nail the stunt — that saw Cruise scramble to survive a plane crash with no gravity — everyone involved had to do a real zero G flight (often referred to as the "vomit comet") to capture the look of a free fall.

American Made, the empty cockpit

Tom Cruise is actually a pilot (as he showed when he landed a helicopter at the global premiere of Top Gun: Maverick), which came in handy when making American Made which is about an American pilot who becomes a drug runner for the CIA in the 1980s. However, in one memorable stunt sequence Cruise was on the plane (dumping cocaine bales) with no one actually flying the aircraft. Director Doug Liman told Yahoo! Movies that it was nerve-racking to watch. "It’s one thing to have Tom Cruise alone in the airplane flying it — that’s already outrageous — now he’s alone and he’s not even in the cockpit so he’s gone beyond." 

Mission: Impossible — Fallout, HALO jump

Tom Cruise has held onto a plane, he’s dumped bales of cocaine out of a plane no one is flying and did a free fall crash sequence, so jumping out of a plane with a parachute shouldn’t be all that impressive, right? Well it is when it’s an infamous “HALO” jump. A HALO jump is a military maneuver where you jump out a plane at 30,000-40,000 feet and don’t open your parachute until about 800 feet above the ground. Tom Cruise did this in Mission: Impossible — Fallout, as did the camera crew, impressively enough. A reddit video clip shows just how they captured the scene. 

Top Gun: Maverick, canyon flight

One of the biggest parts of Top Gun: Maverick's promotional tour was the actors talking about the rigorous training they went through so they could be filmed in the cockpit of the F18s used in the movie as they did these incredible aerial sequences. None of which is more impressive than the canyon run that Tom Cruise's Maverick does in the movie.

Most of the movie is training for what has been described as a nearly impossible mission (something Cruise is familiar with) to fly through a mountain canyon, low to the ground and at a high speeds to try and avoid the enemy. Jon Hamm's Cyclone doesn't think it can be done and is ready to offer new instructions to the pilots, but Maverick does the run and proves him wrong. It's an incredible sequence as we feel like we're along for the ride with how the camera is positioned.

While Cruise is a pilot himself, the plane was actually flown by a real-life Navy pilot for the scene. But Cruise is living just about every other part of this scene and it is a true joy to watch on the big screen.

Top Gun: Maverick has wowed global audiences over Memorial Day weekend (to the tune of $151 million at the box office) with its aerial sequences and nostalgic callbacks to the original 1986 movie. However, there’s a strong chance some fans also had to fight back the tears because of one scene in particular — the reunion between Tom Cruise’s Maverick and Val Kilmer’s Iceman. And making the scene was, apparently, an emotional one for all involved.

In 1986’s Top Gun, Maverick and Iceman were rivals — TOPGUN students competing to be the best — but as with all the best "rivals to friends" storylines, by the end of the movie they had grown to respect each other and worked together to save the day. Top Gun: Maverick is set 30 years after the events of Top Gun, showing how the duo had followed different career paths. Maverick continues to fly planes and to challenge his superior officers. This means that despite his aerial accomplishments he hasn’t been able to push past the rank of captain. Iceman, meanwhile, has risen to the rank of admiral of the Pacific fleet. It’s through Iceman — sticking up for his old buddy — that Maverick is brought back to TOPGUN fighter training school, to train a new generation of fighter pilots for a dangerous mission.

About halfway through the movie, after only talking over text, Iceman invites (orders) Maverick to come talk to him in person to discuss the training and his struggles with Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s old co-pilot Goose. Iceman is struggling with his health from an unnamed illness, but the two have a beautiful heart-to-heart that sets Maverick on the right path.

Director Joseph Kosinski talked with What to Watch’s sister publication Total Film about the scene and what it meant for him as a long-time fan of Val Kilmer’s work and the relationship between the two characters.

"So to get a chance to work with him [Kilmer] was a dream come true, to do it with him playing Iceman and to be able to do it in a scene where he and Tom are together to people who have so much respect for each other and to have it be a reunion of not only two characters, but two men in real life. … [It was a] really emotional day, a really memorable day on set."

Kilmer and Cruise had not worked together since Top Gun in 1986 prior to Top Gun: Maverick.

Another element adding to the emotion of the scene was the fact that Kilmer had battled throat cancer in the late 2010s, which required him to get a tracheotomy that has greatly impacted his speaking voice. It's a battle he's shown on screen, in his documentary Val. But he didn’t let that stop him, as he wanted to be a part of the movie as soon as he heard that a sequel was in development.

"I called the agent immediately,” Kilmer told USA Today over email. "Top Gun has all the perfect elements for a sequel."

Recalling the shooting of the scene, Kilmer said they laughed all day and the part of the scene where he uses his real voice, after previously communicating via a computer, changed a lot. Kosinski said that hearing Iceman speak meant "those words carry more weight." Kilmer agreed that they made the right call in including that moment in the movie.

You can watch Top Gun: Maverick exclusively in movie theaters worldwide.

More Top Gun: Maverick

• Meet the Top Gun: Maverick cast
• Top Gun: Maverick review
• James Corden becomes Tom Cruise's new Goose
• Tom Cruise's best stunts

Netflix is the place to be for Tom Cruise fans as three Mission: Impossible movies will be hitting the service soon.

If the explosive Top Gun: Maverick has given you an appetite for Tom Cruise's high-octane action movies, Netflix has got your back this month as Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible 2 and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol are all heading to the streaming service on June 1.

That means you'll get to see Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and the rest of the Impossible Missions Force (the IMF) do what they do best; step up to the plate and save the world.

Starting with Brian De Palma's 1996 film, you'll see Ethan Hunt attempt to uncover the mole who's framed him for murdering most of his IMF colleagues in Mission: Impossible. 

Then, it's over to Mission: Impossible 2. Directed by John Woo, M:I 2 sees Ethan Hunt tracking down the deadly "Chimera" virus and the corresponding cure, Bellerophon... the latter of which happens to be in the hands of rogue IMF agent, Sean Ambrose.

Finally, there's Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Here, the US President enacts "Ghost Protocol" after the organization is implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin. This leaves Ethan Hunt and his team without any backup as they attempt to track down "Cobalt", a nuclear extremist who took possession of Russian nuclear launch codes after an IMF agent is killed in the field.

If you're a total newcomer to the franchise, this is a perfect opportunity to dive headfirst into one of the most exciting series. Expect thrilling stunts and jaw-dropping setpieces by the bucketload.

Likewise, if you're a veteran M:I fan and the recent Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One trailer got you excited to see what the IMF get up to next, why not get a headstart on your rewatch ahead of Dead Reckoning's release next year?

There's also heaps more good stuff heading to the streamer this month including the final series of Peaky Blinders, the brand new thriller Spiderhead starring Top Gun 2's Miles Teller and Chris Hemsworth and Rowan Atkinson's new slapstick comedy series, Man Vs Bee.

• What's new on Netflix in June 2022

Tom Cruise got a new (reluctant) copilot this week in talk show host James Corden. On Tuesday, May 24, The Late Late Show with James Corden aired a video feature with the Top Gun: Maverick star that saw Cruise and Corden take to the skies in both a vintage and more modern fighter jet; a very different kind of ride than Corden is used to in his popular Carpool Karaoke segments.

The clip begins with Corden arriving at Burbank airport at the request of Cruise, seemingly unaware of what awaits him. Cruise then takes Corden to the desert and reveals that they are going to have a Top Gun day, starting off with Cruise flying him in a 1944 fighter, which looks like the one that is featured in Top Gun: Maverick. Corden is not particularly thrilled with the idea, but as Cruise points out, they’re in the desert, he really can’t run away from it.

Doing some awesome aerial acrobatics is just the start of things, as Cruise springs another surprise on Corden when another World War II fighter shows up itching for a dog fight. A terrified Corden can only hang on for dear life as Cruise performs aerial maneuvers with the other plane and around the natural terrain.

When they come in for a landing, Corden thinks the worst is over, but Cruise quickly reveals there's another flight on the itinerary in a modern fighter jet. Cruise says Corden is going to be his Goose, who Corden quickly points dies in the original Top Gun, though Cruise is quick to qualify that he’s the Goose from the first half of the movie ("the 'You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling' Goose").

However, they can’t go back up into the air until the next morning. This gives Cruise time to provide Corden with a bit of training on the fighter jet, though one part seems to be just doing a conga line. The pair also grow their bond as copilots by playing volleyball and then sharing some stories over a campfire.

The moment finally arrives the next morning and at first Corden is much more pleased with the more modern plane, as the two even do some singing of "Danger Zone." But of course, things pick up a notch from there.

Watch the full video from The Late Late Show with James Corden directly below.

Top Gun: Maverick releases in movies theaters worldwide on May 27 (it is currently open in the UK). 

More Top Gun: Maverick content

• How to watch Top Gun: Maverick
• Top Gun: Maverick review
• Meet the Top Gun: Maverick cast
• Best Tom Cruise stunts

Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is back to save the world once again in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh entry in the long-running franchise. Mission: Impossible movies date back to 1996 and are defined by Cruise and the incredible stunts he performs — the wire hanging scene, climbing the Burj Khalifa, doing a HALO skydive and clinging to the outside of a plane as it takes off being some of the most memorable.

Even as Tom Cruise approaches 60, the Mission: Impossible movies seemingly get better as they go along. The last entry, Mission: Impossible — Fallout, is the highest rated in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes (97% "Fresh") and had the best box office of any of the previous movies ($791 million worldwide).

So how will Cruise raise the stakes in this new entry to the action franchise? Here's everything we know about Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One release date

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One officially arrives in movie theaters on Wednesday, July 12 in the US and two days earlier in the UK on July 10.

The release of the seventh Mission: Impossible movie is a long time coming. Mission: Impossible — Fallout was released in 2018 and the hope was that the next movie would follow quickly on its heels with a July 2020 release. However, in the early days of the pandemic it was moved from that July 2020 date to December 2020, only for it to be moved again to November 19, 2021, then to May 27, 2022, and then again to Sept. 30, 2022, before it was finally shifted to its 2023 summer blockbuster date.

Part of the reason for the delays was the challenges of doing production during the pandemic. Production was shut down multiple times, first at the beginning of the pandemic and then again in 2021 when there were cases among the crew. At one point during production, Cruise was captured on audio criticizing crew members for not following COVID safety protocols.

With the new date for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, the shift impacts Mission: Impossible 8 (which is being filmed back-to-back with to movie number seven and will presumably be called Dead Reckoning Part Two), moving from its previous date of July 7, 2023 to June 28, 2024.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One trailer

An all new trailer for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is now available, previewing two new big stunts in a franchise known for them and giving video games fans "Uncharted 2 vibes." Take a look right here:

You can also check out previously released trailer and teasers directly below:

While not a trailer, footage that was shown from the 2022 CinemaCon event has been shared online. In it Tom Cruise is standing on a biplane over a gorgeous backdrop. Is there anything this man won't do for a cool looking stunt?

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One plot

Even though we're just about four months away from the movie's release, there is almost no information on what the plot of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One is going to be. But we can assume that Ethan Hunt and his IMF team will have to race against the clock to save the world from some kind of imminent destruction (after all, if it ain't broke).

While specific plot details are being kept secret, we have gotten some inklings on what stunts Tom Cruise will be performing for audiences’ enjoyment. A behind-the-scenes look at what Cruise and company have described as his most dangerous stunt came out in December 2022.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One cast

Tom Cruise has been at the center of the Mission: Impossible franchise since the very beginning as IMF (Impossible Mission Force) agent Ethan Hunt. It has become one of the actor's most iconic roles in a career that also includes movies like Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick), Risky Business and Jerry Maguire. 

While there were originally thoughts Cruise would hand the franchise off to Jeremy Renner after the latter was introduced in Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, Cruise remains a constant and the driving force behind the movies (Renner left the franchise after Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation). However, Mission: Impossible has built up a team to go along with Cruise over its last few movies.

The IMF team that supports Cruise's Ethan Hunt is led by Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell (around since Mission: Impossible), Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn (around since Mission: Impossible III) and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust (around since Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation). 

There are also some tenuous allies from past movies that will be returning for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, including Vanessa Kirby's White Widow and Angela Bassett's Erika Sloane, both of whom debuted in Mission: Impossible — Fallout. There's also Henry Czerny, who played Eugene Kittridge in the original Mission: Impossible.

Making their Mission: Impossible debuts with this seventh entry are going to be Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter, Captain America: The First Avenger), Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Stranger Things), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Rob Delaney (Home Sweet Home Alone, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw), Indira Varma (Game of Thrones, Obi-Wan Kenobi), Charles Parnell (The Last Ship, Top Gun: Maverick), Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire, Perry Mason) and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, The Favourite).

On March 10, director Christopher McQuarrie also announced via Instagram that Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham is joining the franchise in an unspecified role.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One reviews

The reviews are in for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One, and they are some of the best of the summer. In WTW's Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One review, our reviewed called it one of the most thrilling rides in the franchise.

Other critics were pretty laudatory as well, as the movie quickly became "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes and as of July 5 has a 98% score.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One director

Mission: Impossible went through four different directors with the first four movies of the franchise, including Brian De Palma, John Woo, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird. However, since Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, the franchise has been shepherded by Christopher McQuarrie, who is once again serving as director for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One (and Mission: Impossible 8).

The Mission: Impossible movies have been McQuarrie's calling card as a director, though he had previously directed Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher (2012). Prior to taking over as a director, McQuarrie was best known as a writer, having penned The Usual Suspects and other Tom Cruise movies like Valkyrie, Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow. McQuarrie has also written all of the Mission: Impossible movies that he has directed.

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One poster and photos

Check out photos and posters for Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One right here:

Say what you want about Tom Cruise — it's probably true. The best Tom Cruise movies also happen to be some of the best movies, period. He's one of the greatest living actors. He's overrated. He's underrated. He's way too old to be doing his own stunts. Scientology. Motorcycles. He's an anachronism. He's immortal.

You can argue for and against any and all of those things — and that's just for starters. But it's hard to argue that Tom Malpother Cruise IV hasn't been one of the most fascinating actors of a generation. Maybe not as prolific as, say, Kevin Bacon (the two are just four years apart in age) — but right up there in terms of range.

From the sweaty adrenaline cliché that is Top Gun (and the equally sweaty sequel, Top Gun: Maverick) to the likes of the nearly indescribable Vanilla Sky or Eyes Wide Shut, the dude has range — even if it seems like in many ways he's merely playing different versions of himself. But that's what makes a good actor. We know that it's Tom Cruise in a fighter jet, or as a Vietnam War veteran. Or as an oversexed doctor. Or as a Pre-Crime cop. Or as a hotshot lawyer, backed by one hell of a lawyer.

Maybe you can argue that Tom Cruise is even better at choosing roles than he is as an actor. Maybe that's what distinguishes our list of the best Tom Cruise movies.

In any case, it's one hell of a list. Let's go through it. We've chosen date order — because we've got no hope of actually choosing between these babies.

Taps (1981)

The cadets of Bunker Hill Academy love their school, and when condo developers plan to bulldoze it, the cadets become the ultimate NIMBYs. They occupy the school, ending in a real-live war game these young men might not have bargained for.

This is not a "Tom Cruise" movie in the sense that his name is not above the fold. It's a George C. Scott and Timothy Hutton (with a little Sean Penn thrown in for added spice) movie on that score. But the hotheaded, gung-ho David Shawn that Cruise delivers is one of his rare bad guys, a hint that there is more behind those eyes than endless variations on Joel from Risky Business. With the exception of Magnolia, no one since has really had Cruise dig into the wound-too-tight, jagged edges he shows here.

The Outsiders (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola's coming-of-age teen drama, The Outsiders is a hidden gem with a call sheet featuring the prime of 1980s acting talent including Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Diane Lane. The film, adapted from S.E. Hinton's novel, focuses on the class rivalry between groups from a small town in Oklahoma — the working-class Greasers and the wealthy Socs (short for socials). Tom Cruise only has a small role but, as scrappy greaser Steve Randle, he showcases his ability to switch off his megawatt movie star smile and sink into a character part.

The Outsiders made stars of its young "Brat Pack" talent, including one Tom Cruise — who despite his fleeting appearance in the film would go on to become arguably the biggest movie star in the world.

Risky Business (1983)

What's your first memory of Tom Cruise? Is it of the young man in an Oxford shirt and briefs, falling for (and falling under the spell of) the one and only Rebecca De Mornay? If so, you're absolutely not alone.

But it's also easy to forget that Risky Business isn't Tom Cruise's first movie. Even if it's a standout in a sea of memorable roles.

All the Right Moves (1983)

Released the same year as Risky Business, All the Right Moves, is often overshadowed by its slicker, sexier cousin. It shouldn't be.

For teens who grew up in coal and steel towns like this — or in any one-company, one-industry town — this movie was the celluloid version of the struggle to find a different path in a place that only offers so many choices. This Tom Cruise hero has flaws and he doesn't just skate by on that big smile. Plus he has a great foil in the criminally underrated Craig T. Nelson.

Top Gun (1986)

I feel the need ... the need ... to quote this movie within an inch of its life. There's just something about the swagger that actors like Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt have playing fighter pilots, that's ridiculously badass.

And let us not forget the late, great Goose — Anthony Edwards with hair! And James Tolkan and his threat to have Maverick flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong. And Michael Ironside reminding us that you never — ever — leave your wingman.

Cocktail (1988)

Cocktail is what you get if you combine Risky Business with Top Gun. Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) is just a guy looking to make his way in the world, but intent on doing it his own way. That's right, bartender man. He is... dangerous.

Don't let anyone tell you Cocktail isn't a good movie. It's got great Aussie actor, Bryan Brown, as Brian's grizzled mentor, Elisabeth Shue as Brian's long-suffering girlfriend, a tropical island for a backdrop and a cracking soundtrack that includes The Beach Boys "Kokomo". Enjoy.

Rain Man (1988)

The last thing Charlie Babbitt wants is a brother — let alone one with autism. But that's what he discovers he has. In Rain Man, Tom Cruise is slick, charming and awful and yet strangely empathetic. It was a revelation. Not least because he manages to give that masterful performance alongside Dustin Hoffman. The Dustin Hoffman.

Rain Man is a rare example of a box office smash hit that also hits the right note with critics, winning four Academy Awards including Best Picture. Sadly the Best Actor role went to Tom Cruise's acting partner, Hoffman. Good try though.

Days of Thunder (1990)

It's Top Gun on four wheels. Cole Trickle may just be the most NASCAR name ever. And this may well be the most Tom Cruise movie of them all. Speed. Danger. Silly names. Nicole Kidman. (As in the future ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise.)

Plus Robert Duvall. Randy Quaid. Carey Elwes, just a couple of years out from The Princess Bride and sandwiched between Glory and Hot Shots!. And the ageless Michael Rooker. It's also probably the best use of the Spencer Davis Group in a film — right when Steve Winwood was getting big as a solo act.

A Few Good Men (1992)

One of the most memorable movie scenes ever comes from this flick — and it wasn't even Tom Cruise's line that capped it. That's OK — if you've got to play second fiddle to someone, let it be Jack Nicholson.

The military courtroom drama is a little tough for anyone who knows anything about courtrooms to watch — there's absolutely no way a lawyer anywhere would be allowed to behave that way. But art doesn't always imitate life and so a little deus ex machina and dialog by one of the best in the business — Aaron Sorkin — gave Tom Cruise yet another notch on his dramatic acting belt.

Plus an insolent (is there any other kind?) Kiefer Sutherland, the always awesome J.T. Walsh, Kevins Bacon and Pollak, Demi Moore and a baby Noah Wyle.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

This is the epitome of mid-1990s movies. Tom Cruise stars as Tom Cruise in love. Renee Zellweger does her schtick. Cameron Crowe does his thing with the script and behind the camera.

And it has that Sorkin-esque speech that feels like it was made for Tom Cruise. Plus Cuba Gooding Jr. in a role that makes you wonder where the rest of his career went.

Mission: Impossible (1996)

There's something about the first movie in this franchise reboot that maybe doesn't hold up so well 25 years later. But that's OK. Tom Cruise holds his own as Ethan Hunt alongside (and against) the likes of Jon Voight, Jean Reno and Ving Rhames. And it paved the way for something like 17 sequels, with casts that have morphed over two decades.

But it still manages to keep the soul of the original movie — and of the original M:I series.

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

What the hell is this movie about? Is it about Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman? (Very much so.) Is it about some weird secret sex party society in New York? (Most definitely.) Is it about the fallout between those two things? (Yep.)

It's also about this being Stanley Kubrick's final film before he died. And it's about Chris Isaak's baby doing a bad, bad thing.

Vanilla Sky (2001)

This is one of those trailers that absolutely does not do the movie — or Tom Cruise — justice. (Same goes for Cameron Crowe, who wrote it.) Sure it captures the Tom Cruise who can do no wrong, get any woman he wants, drive the coolest car — you know, standard Tom Cruise stuff. And, sure, it captures the broken and confused Tom Cruise. And it captures the nexus between those things.

But damned if I can make sense of it two decades later. Still, it's an excellent Tom Cruise movie.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

There's just something about this movie that makes it watchable every time it's on. Maybe it's Tom Cruise as a PR flak in the military as it's combating a crazy alien invasion. Maybe it's Emily Blunt and her badass triceps. Maybe it's the late Bill Paxton's drawl. "Edge of the knaaaaaaf."

You know how this movie is going to turn out. You know Tom Cruise will be OK and save the day and everything will work itself out. And you know that look he gives at the very end of the movie means something — you just don't know what.

Or maybe it's just the mere idea of Tom Cruise ending up in a situation in which he's not in total control and doesn't know what's going to happen.

Top Gun Maverick (2022)

A whopping 36 years after the first Top Gun film, Tom Cruise is back with more death-defying aerial action and he hasn't let the fact that he's approaching his 60th birthday slow him down. We've got all the stunts, quips, bonding and spectacle of the first film with added anticipation and nostalgia. In fact, our (spoiler-free) review of Top Gun: Maverick described it as "a stratospheric sequel" where the only negative point was how long we've had to wait for it. 

In a crazy world, where not much seems to make sense, watching Tom Cruise back in the saddle as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is comfortingly familiar yet excitingly entertaining. See it on the biggest screen you can.

More Tom Cruise

• Tom Cruise's best stunts — our picks of his best death-defying feats.
• Top Gun: Maverick guide
• Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning guide
• Edge of Tomorrow review

Tom Cruise often says his movies are made for the fans and are meant to be seen on the big screen. Apparently, he’s one of those fans. Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival where Top Gun: Maverick is screening, Cruise revealed that he frequents multiplexes to watch the latest movies.

Top Gun: Maverick was included as a special screening at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, taking place between May 17-28. During a talk about his career at the festival, Cruise revealed that he sometimes goes to the movies in secret "with my cap on" and sits "in the audience with everyone." So who knows, maybe we should all be keeping an eye out for Tom Cruise when we get our tickets for Top Gun: Maverick.

Releasing worldwide on May 27 (with an early screening in the US on May 24 and a UK release on May 25), Top Gun: Maverick is one of the most anticipated 2022 summer blockbusters. The movie picks up 30 years after the events of 1986’s Top Gun and finds Cruise’s Maverick returning to the flight school to teach a new group of pilots, where he will be forced to come face to face with his past. 

Early word is strong for the movie, with it scoring a 97% "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes (as of May 18). What to Watch’s review praised it as a "stratospheric sequel" that pleases both fans of the original and a new generation getting introduced to the "Danger Zone."

That doesn’t mean it has been smooth sailing for Top Gun: Maverick. The movie was originally planned to release in the summer of 2020 until the pandemic threw that into a loop. A couple of more delays occurred before things finally settled on the May 27, 2022, release date. But was there ever any thought of doing what so many other movies did over the last couple of years and either premiere Top Gun: Maverick on a streaming service like Paramount Plus or some kind of hybrid release? Not according to Cruise.

Again speaking to the crowd at Cannes, Cruise said, "That’s not going to happen. Ever."

"I’ve spent a lot of time with theater owners," added Cruise. "The people that serve the popcorn, the ones that make this [happen]."

Explaining what he told theater owners that were struggling during the pandemic, Cruise said: "Please, I know what you’re going through. Just know we are making Mission: Impossible and Top Gun is coming out," referring to the in-production Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning slated to be released in 2023.

So Cruise is fully backing movie theaters even as streaming continues to cement its place with viewers. One reason it seems is because he enjoys going to the movies as much as he does making them.

Doctor Strange 2 writer Michael Waldron has finally explained whether the rumored Tom Cruise cameo was ever actually in the works. 

*Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness*

The latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the biggest new movies in 2022, and it just hit theaters on May 6. It saw Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) journeying into the unknown as he tackled the mind-bending possibilities of the Multiverse.

The movie introduced us to a range of huge cameos thanks in no small part to the introduction of a version of Marvel's secretive superhero group, the Illuminati. One of the rumored members of this alternative-universe group was heavily speculated to be none other than Top Gun: Maverick star Tom Cruise, who some fans thought would be playing a variant of Robert Downey Jr's hero, Iron Man.

In a spoiler-heavy interview with Rolling Stone, Michael Waldron has now set the record straight and explained that it wasn't really ever on the cards, even though he approached Marvel Studios' President, Kevin Feige, about it.

Michael revealed: "Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there’s no cut footage of Tom Cruise! But I love Tom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, Could we get Tom Cruise’s Iron Man? I remember reading about that in Ain’t It Cool News back in the day, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man."

However, Michael doesn't think there was ever really a chance, in no small part because Tom Cruise was shooting Mission Impossible 7 and 8. When asked if anyone ever reached out to the action star, Michael replied: "I don't believe so. I just don't think it was ever an option, because of availability."

The rumors came out of the fact that Tom Cruise was thought to be a favorite for the main incarnation of Iron Man when the character was being cast back in 2007. 

If you're looking for even more Doctor Strange 2 news, check out our Doctor Strange 2 review or our guide explaining what the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness post-credits scenes means for Phase 4 of the MCU. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently in theaters and is expected to land on Disney Plus later this year. 

Tom Cruise and the rest of the stars of Top Gun: Maverick have landed in San Diego for the global premiere of the long-awaited sequel to 1986’s Top Gun. Of course, we can’t all be there to enjoy the glamour of the night, so What to Watch has compiled the photos of the stars on the red carpet, as well as soundbites from the event.

Despite it being more than 30 years since the original, Top Gun: Maverick is one of the most anticipated 2022 movies and a major summer blockbuster. While May 4 marked the official global premiere of the movie, those in attendance at the 2022 CinemaCon event at the end of April got to see Top Gun: Maverick and their first reactions were incredibly positive.

Top Gun: Maverick finds Cruise’s Pete "Maverick" Mitchell still living on the edge as a test pilot and dodging the rank advancement that would ground him from flying. However, when he is brought back to Top Gun to train a new group of hot-shot Navy pilots, Maverick must come face to face with his past. In addition to Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick stars Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Manny Jacinto, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Lewis Pullman, Jean Louisa Kelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer.

Paramount Pictures went all out for the premiere, taking place on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum, organized a fly over and Cruise making his entrance flying a helicopter with the Top Gun: Maverick logo emblazed on its side and landing it on the deck of the Midway. 

Top Gun: Maverick releases exclusively in movie theaters worldwide on May 27. Before that though, enjoy these pictures from the global premiere at the USS Midway Museum.

Here are some quotes from the premiere’s live stream: 

On training for Top Gun: Maverick
"You go over, you get dressed, you get your G-suit on, they throw you in the plane, you go through a punch of checks, they shoot you off the tarmac and all of a sudden you’re in the air doing like 700, 800 miles per hour and then it just kicks in, man. It’s exhilarating, it’s beautiful." - Jay Ellis

"It was one of the most challenging and fruitful things I’ve ever gotten the chance to do. I was pretty sure I was incapable of doing what they were asking of us. ... [Tom Cruse] gave us everything that we needed that I think he had hoped he would have had on the first one." - Lewis Pullman

"We lost some actors because when he told them what he wanted to do in the jets they said, wait a second, I’m not going to do that. I have a hard time getting in a commercial jet, let alone an F18." - Jerry Bruckheimer

"You have to pass this thing called the dunker… It doesn’t sound nice. … I don’t even want to talk about it. … you get strapped to a chair and then you get blindfolded and then it’s simulating if you were in a plane still attached to the seat once you land in the water." - Miles Teller

On new characters
"When he was selecting me for the process, he said, 'this young man is wild, I want him.' And I was like, alright, yeah, I’ll live up to the name of Coyote. And I think I did that." Greg Tarzan Davis on Coyote

"Someone’s got to make the rules and someone’s got to break the rules and you can’t have one without the other. So that’s a big part of the dramatic tension of the film." - Jon Hamm on Cyclone and Maverick's relationship

"She’s such an incredible woman and I was so lucky that Paramount and Tom and Jerry and Joe, everyone really cared about making her a strong, capable, talented woman who … she’s a fighter pilot, she just happens to be a woman. She’s the best." - Monica Barbaro on Phoenix

Overcoming fear of flying
"I lied about not being afraid of flying. I had to sign the waiver saying I was not afraid and I was absolutely terrified. I have to take two glasses of wine and my bose headphones to take a commercial flight. So for me to even think about the F18 it was not possible until it was possible." - Danny Ramirez

"I actually was doing a scene with Tom, we were in the plane but we were just supposed to sit on the tarmac and he just started talking about how great aerobatic flying is and had I done any aerobatic flying. Then I thought should ask him, 'Am I about to do any aerobatic flying.' He said, 'really elegant and graceful, just some graceful rolls.'... He's a great pilot." - Jennifer Connelly

Seeing the movie on the big screen
"This is why you make movies. It’s big, it’s epic, it’s adventurous, it’s romantic. It’s got everything you’d want and I just can’t wait to unleash it on the world." - Glen Powell

"It felt celebratory to me. And I feel like that’s what we want right now. Going to a movie theater and seeing a spectacle of a movie that also has a lot of heart that pulls you in and is moving. I think it’s deeply satisfying." - Jennifer Connelly

"I love entertaining an audience and I love learning and pushing all my skills as a storyteller and an actor." - Tom Cruise

The legacy of Top Gun
"The filmmakers really wanted to get it right and they made us understand that we weren’t just actors working on a movie, we were like people who were chosen and selected for what we brought to the table to make sure that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts." - Bashir Salahuddin

"You know if you’re getting into a Tom Cruise movie you better bring it." - Charles Parnell

"Tom, the way that he described what we were trying to do with this film was that we were trying to hit a bullet with a bullet. And that really talks about how precise we need to be to make a sequel to Top Gun 30-some years later and to be able to have that film sit on the shelf next to the original. That’s extremely difficult." - Miles Teller

"Everyone thinks what Top Gun is, and of course it’s this great summer experience, and what it became to audiences and through the generations is something I couldn’t even imagine at the time we were making it. I knew it was special, but who knows that, how it transcends the generations." - Tom Cruise

If you were on the fence about Top Gun: Maverick perhaps the reactions from the movie's first public screening will convince you. The long-awaited sequel to 1986's Top Gun got its first-ever public screening at the 2022 CinemaCon convention, an annual gathering of movie theater owners, and those in attendance were quick to share their thoughts about the Tom Cruise movie. By the sound of things Top Gun: Maverick may turn out to be one of the best 2022 movies.

Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise return to his iconic role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Taking place 30 years after the events of Top Gun, Maverick is now working as a test pilot and actively attempting to dodge the advancement in rank that would force him to stop flying. However, his career ends up taking him back to Top Gun, where he must confront his past as he is charged with training a new squadron of fighter pilots.

In addition to Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick stars Jennifer Connelly (Snowpiercer, Labyrinth), Miles Teller (The Offer), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Monica Barbaro, Glen Powell, Manny Jacinto (Good Girls), Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Lewis Pullman, Jean Louisa Kelly, Ed Harris and Val Kilmer, reprising his role as "Iceman."

The movie is set to be a big summer blockbuster, releasing in theaters worldwide on May 27 (Memorial Day weekend for the US). It gets its first official premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France, which takes place May 17-28.

While we still have a little bit of a wait before official reviews come in for Top Gun: Maverick, the reactions to the screening at CinemaCon were incredibly enthusiastic. Some early reactions are calling the movie "the perfect blockbuster" and "a big-screen spectacle," while some are already labeling it as one of the best movies of the year.

There were some who were more reserved in their reactions or even tempering expectations a bit:

Movie fans have just a few weeks before getting to see what Top Gun: Maverick is all about for themselves. As befitting the big-screen blockbuster spectacle, the action movie is playing exclusively in movie theaters.

But they won't have to wait that long for Top Gun: Maverick-related content, as Lady Gaga's new song for the movie soundtrack is out on May 3.

Tom Cruise is back in the cockpit in the latest trailer for Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to his 1986 fan-favorite. The movie, expected to be one of the biggest summer blockbusters of 2022 when it hits movie screens on May 27, looks like it is doing everything in its power to wow audiences with incredible aerial action. Plus, what would a Top Gun movie be without shirtless beach athletics?

Top Gun: Maverick takes place 30 years after the events of Top Gun. Already in the history books as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) now works as a test pilot, desperately trying to avoid promotions that would take him out of the sky and put him behind a desk. However, when he gets assigned to take a teaching position at the Top Gun training program, he must confront his past as he instructs a new generation of hot-shot pilots.

The brand new trailer (the first in a long time for the movie as its had to deal with a number of release date shuffles) dives into a bit more into the plot and the specific character dynamics, particularly Miles Teller as Goose’s son and Glen Powell as his likely rival. But this is a Top Gun movie, so the aerial acrobatics take center stage and boy do they look impressive. Check out the Top Gun: Maverick trailer directly below.

Maverick is one of Cruise’s most iconic roles, so a lot of fans are excited to see him playing the cocky but brilliant aviator. In addition to Teller and Powell as two of the new young pilots, the Top Gun: Maverick cast includes Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Manny Jacinto, Monica Barbaro, Jean Louis Kelly, Raymond Lee, Jay Ellis and Charles Parnell. Also, Iceman himself is expected to make an appearance, as Val Kilmer will also return for the sequel.

In case you were wondering, Top Gun's iconic theme song, "Danger Zone," will be in the movie.

Before general audiences are going to get to see Top Gun: Maverick on the big screen (where it will play exclusively upon release), the blockbuster is going to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France, taking place May 17-28.

Top Gun: Maverick is one of the most anticipated movies of the year, but see what else you should be keeping an eye out for with What to Watch’s 2022 movie guide.

We know Tom Cruise feels the need for speed, but with Top Gun: Maverick the actor told What to Watch’s sister publication Total Film that he wants audiences to get that feeling too after they see the movie when it premieres on May 27.

In a pair of tweets promoting its latest issue that will be released on Thursday, March 31, Total Film shares two new looks at Tom Cruise in the long-awaited sequel to the 1986 favorite Top Gun, along with a pair of quotes.

In one, Cruise says, "I want audiences to walk away saying, 'aw, yeah! I want to fly an F/A-18,'" speaking of the planes that Cruise and his character Maverick fly in Top Gun: Maverick.

Cruise also talked about the timing of the sequel, saying, "It was going to be now or never." He added that his top goal is for audiences "to have a blast."

Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise reprise his role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Taking place 30 years after the events of the first movie, Maverick now works as a test pilot, actively trying to dodge the advancement in rank that would force him to stop flying. However, his career ends up taking him back to Top Gun, where he must confront his past as he is charged with training a new squadron of fighter pilots.

That past primarily comes in the form of Miles Teller’s new character, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s old co-pilot Goose.

Other members of the Top Gun: Maverick cast include Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Manny Jacinto, Monica Barbaro, Jean Louis Kelly, Raymond Lee, Jay Ellis, Charles Parnell and one more familiar face, as Val Kilmer’s Iceman from the original movie is also slated to appear. Joseph Kosinski, who previously worked with Cruise on Oblivion, is directing.

Top Gun: Maverick is one of the biggest blockbusters of 2022, as it finally will be hitting the big screen after multiple release date shifts because of the pandemic. 

Before general audiences get to see it, Top Gun: Maverick will get its world premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival, taking place in France from May 17-28.

Check out all the other big movies you can expect this year with What to Watch’s 2022 new movie guide.

Get ready to fly back into the danger zone, as the Keny Loggins classic song “Danger Zone” is officially confirmed to be part of the long-awaited Tom Cruise Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick. The song by Loggins is one of the most recognizable features of the classic ‘80s movie, so fans are sure to be happy to hear that it will once again play as a de facto theme song for Maverick as he soars through the air.

Loggins confirmed the exciting news when he recently was on Rob Lowe’s podcast, Literally with Rob Lowe. Lowe asked Loggins if he was involved in Top Gun: Maverick, to which the Grammy-winning musician said he was “finally” able to say that “Danger Zone” would play in the sequel. Though apparently, he has known for a while.

Loggins told Lowe that a few years ago when he and Tom Cruise were both on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (surprisingly the only time the two have ever met, per Loggins) he asked Cruise straight up: “So, yes or no? Is ‘Danger Zone’ in the new movie?” To which he said Cruise replied, “We can’t do Top Gun without ‘Danger Zone.’”

In case you need a quick refresher, Top Gun starred Tom Cruise as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a hotshot Navy pilot who attends the best flight combat training school, known as Top Gun. Featuring multiple aerial sequences, “Danger Zone” was played during a number of these. Check it out in the music video below.

Top Gun was nominated for four Oscars when it was released, including one win for Best Original Song. However, “Danger Zone” was not the recipient of that award. Instead, it was the love song “Take My Breath Away”, by Berlin, that took the trophy. All due respect to “Take My Breath Away,” a memorable song in its own right, but “Danger Zone” has stood the test of time in the culture, including being part of a long-running joke on the hit animated series Archer.

“Danger Zone” won’t be the only bit of nostalgia in Top Gun: Maverick. In addition to Tom Cruise reprising his leading role, Val Kilmer is slated to return as Maverick’s frenemy Iceman. New cast member Miles Teller’s character also has a connection to the past, as he plays Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, the son of Maverick’s copilot Goose.

Here is the synopsis of Top Gun: Maverick:

“After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.”

Top Gun: Maverick, after a couple of pandemic-related delays, is scheduled for take-off only in movie theaters on May 27. And we can't wait.

Top Gun: Maverick won’t be flying into theaters as soon as we thought, as Paramount Pictures has announced it has changed the release date for the anticipated Tom Cruise sequel from Nov. 19, 2021, to Memorial Day weekend in 2022, according to a report from Deadline. The studio has also made date changes to their other Tom Cruise-led blockbuster, Mission: Impossible 7, and Jackass Forever.

A sequel to 1986’s Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick sees Cruise return to his iconic role of hot-shot pilot Maverick, still up to his old ways pushing fighter jets to their limits. Joining Cruise in the film is Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Manny Jacinto and Val Kilmer, returning to his original role as Iceman. Joseph Kosinski directed the movie.

Paramount debuted the first 13 minutes of Top Gun: Maverick recently at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas, but theatergoers will have to wait an extra six months before they get to see the film on the big screen. The new official release date is May 27, 2022. (Watch the trailer below if you need your aerial fix).

As a result of the move, Mission: Impossible 7, which previously occupied the May 27 date on Paramount’s calendar, is staying in 2022, but will now head to fall with a Sept. 30 release date.

The last bit of news from Paramount was that Jackass Forever, the fourth film from the comedy stunt performers, is moving from its originally planned Oct. 22 release date to Feb. 4, 2022.

Release date changes are nothing new during the pandemic. Most blockbuster films that were originally planned for 2020 eventually had to be pushed into 2021, while other films opted to go the streaming route. Release date shifts have continued into this year, particularly as the delta variant has emerged.

Previously, Sony pushed Venom: Let There Be Carnage back from a September release to Oct. 15 (where it currently remains) and sold Hotel Transylvania 4 to Amazon, skipping theaters altogether for a streaming release on Prime Video. Following the Top Gun: Maverick announcement, Sony made one more change to its schedule, pushing Ghostbusters: Afterlife back about a week from Nov. 11 to the now vacated Now. 19 release date.

Paramount had success earlier in the summer releasing one of its delayed blockbuster films in theaters, A Quiet Place Part II. One of the first big movies to get an exclusive theatrical release since vaccines were made available, A Quiet Place Part II set a then pandemic box-office record (broken by F9, then Black Widow) and has made $160 million in the U.S., $296 million globally. After 45 days in theaters, Paramount debuted A Quiet Place Part II on Paramount Plus for free to its subscribers.

The move to push Top Gun: Maverick into 2022 is likely because the studio is unsure of what the situation with the pandemic will be in November and how eager people will be to go to the movies. But by pushing the film again to a summer blockbuster date rather than just debuting it on Paramount Plus, it’s a sign that the studio believes the best financial result from the film will come via the movie theater box office. Top Gun: Maverick is expected to follow the same 45-day blueprint that A Quiet Place Part II set.

Also: What theatrical window changes could mean for streamers like HBO Max, Disney Plus

It’ll be interesting to see how the other big fall movies chose to react this fall. The next Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is playing exclusively in theaters, but Disney is likely watching closely to see if they’ll be doing the same for Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home, or revert back to Disney Plus Premier Access strategy it had with Black Widow.

This post contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible.

Although not so many of them have made it to theaters in the last year, movies are bigger than ever: the costs, and the stakes for their success; the stars and series who make each new installment an event; and the collective prioritization of them as cornerstones of cultural touchpoints and dialogue. And yet, there’s more of them than ever, in every conceivable format and platform, demanding a tireless attention span (and bottomless pockets) to guarantee that audiences keep up and are part of the ongoing conversation. Mission: Impossible stands alone among these offerings as a throwback to the era of extreme stunts and physical effects, to a moment when the creative aim was bigger, better and more exciting, and not just more. A new Blu-ray release spotlights the original film and its context in cinema history, reminding us how thrilling it was upon its initial release, as well as what we have lost in a real sense as viewers in the subsequent 25 years since its debut.

It’s easy to forget that back in 1996, Mission: Impossible was a bit of an outlier in terms of summer movie offerings; this was long before existing intellectual property had become a deep and seemingly indefatigable well for studios and storytellers to draw from in lieu of, you know, just making up something new or original. The original show ran from 1966 to 1973, and a sequel series ran for two seasons starring in 1988, but six or seven years later, no one was clamoring for a big-screen update, even with Brian De Palma behind the camera and Tom Cruise in front of it. But if critics at the time pooh-poohed Hollywood’s lack of creativity for resuscitating the show, they were largely silenced by the end result, a brisk, exciting, smart action film featuring some of the best set pieces of the decade. Certainly the Chunnel sequence went down in history as an unforgettable conclusion to the saga of scrappy IMF point man Ethan Hunt (Cruise) exorcising himself of his mentor and clearing his own good name, but the Langley break-in is simply so unique, so well-executed, so thrillingly real and so unforgettable that it set a bar for every other action star to meet — not to mention Cruise himself, which he would almost improbably do over and over again in each sequel.

There’s a disappointing lack of transparency on the new Blu-ray, ported over from previous editions, exploring the making of that final sequence. Cruise briefly discusses being on the top of a moving train, and it’s clear that they staged the scene on a train-top set with wind machines aggressively pushing him and costar Jon Voight around. But looking at the Langley break-in, it’s abundantly and undeniably clear that Cruise performed that sequence himself — quite possibly utilizing some movie magic (I understand they had to weight his feet ever so slightly so that he could balance more easily while dangling inches off the floor), but it’s him, playing the role while tackling a real physical challenge that, well, not many other people could do. As accomplished and impressive as their work was during that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis and Will Smith never performed a stunt like that.

But Cruise not only did it in a thrilling demonstration of commitment and physicality, making it one of the few action sequences that come to mind that are so tense you could hear a pin drop during it, but setting a precedent that he would continue throughout the rest of the series. M:I-2 was sold purely based on Cruise’s free solo climbing scene that opens the film — a terrifying challenge that only a special agent would consider “relaxing.” Not only did Cruise do the climbing himself, but did it without a safety net (though he did have a harness, because Paramount quite justifiably was concerned about the actor falling to his death while filming). Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol featured Cruise scaling the outside of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai; Rogue Nation opens with Cruise hanging on the outside of an Airbus A400M Atlas, and later features scenes where Cruise holds his breath continuously for six minutes, and later very clearly does all of his own motorcycle driving himself. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible — Fallout features Cruise performing a high-altitude low opening (HALO) parachute jump, and later, piloting a helicopter through an elaborate chase sequence.

It’s not merely the physical risk-taking that makes these films so appealing, however. It’s their scale and intelligence, building a world around Cruise’s character with real and intriguing political complexities featuring a supporting ensemble of, well, adults. Even after seeing the original Mission: Impossible more times than I can count, I can still remember how baffled moviegoers were about its descriptions of the “NOC list” and usage of phrases like “mole hunt” which have since become considerably more commonplace, but not at the time. The franchise has sometimes overcalibrated its responses to some of these minor quibbles — that film really wasn’t so complicated, but Mission: Impossible 2 really went broad and sometimes actively dumb, especially in quoting the Langley sequence with a “bigger” one using a bunch of lousy, unbelievable CGI. But even if Hunt’s team has spent more time over the movies being “disavowed” than, well, simply carrying out their missions, the writers and directors have attempted to reckon with some real-world political realities alongside the staging of some incredible stunts.

By comparison, many other franchises that attempt to tell stories on this broad a canvas either use a whole lot of CGI, or contain the action to a select number of locations to allow filmmakers to re-use sets and save production costs. Certainly audiences get the big action of, say, the Avengers films, but few viewers are mistaking those scenes for intensely practical locations — and why would they need to be? When you can assemble your team from a series of small individual shoots that accommodate actors’ differing schedules and allow you to stage, light, edit and polish these shots to make them look like a universe-ending showdown, there’s little need to actually capture everything in camera. But whether or not you knowingly prefer one to the other, there is a palpable difference on screen that the Mission: Impossible films epitomize.

Again, the franchise has definitely used special effects to accomplish many of its big sequences; you may or may not already know that they did not actually fly a helicopter into the Chunnel, but even though Cruise’s HALO jump was real, they filmed it over the Abu Dhabi desert and composited in Paris’ Champs-Elyssess afterward. But Cruise’s and the series’ commitment to doing as much of this stuff as possible offers a refreshing alternative to a landscape that filmmakers seem less and less interested in even attempting to make look real. Ultimately, that’s somewhat understandable, if it minimizes risks, protects lives and gives storytellers the opportunity to scale up their creativity; but after 25 years, this franchise proves over and over again that it’s not, well, impossible, and we as viewers, and the movies themselves, are all better off for it.

Edge of Tomorrow is Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers.

Just imagine if Bill Murray’s cynical weatherman in Groundhog Day had been fighting aliens instead of trying to woo Andie MacDowell and you’ll have an idea of the plight of Tom Cruise’s luckless hero in the terrific sci-fi action thriller Edge of Tomorrow.

A cowardly PR expert unwillingly thrust into the front line as an army grunt, Cruise’s Major Bill Cage finds himself reliving the same day of terrifying combat against a seemingly unstoppable extraterrestrial force. The deadly alien Mimics have overrun most of Europe, sometime in the near future, and when the United Defense Force launches a D-Day-like assault against the enemy the shirking, smirking Cage reckons he will be reporting the fight from a safe distance.

Instead, demoted to private by Brendan Gleeson’s bullheaded general, he ends up getting sent into battle. Inevitably, he doesn’t last very long. Yet after being killed he doesn’t stay dead but awakens to start the same day again… and again and again. It appears he is somehow caught in a time loop and as he repeats the same situations of training and fighting he gradually hones his skills, teaming up with Emily Blunt’s badass veteran warrior, Rita Vrataski, in a bid to defeat the tentacle-waving enemy.

Get over the shock of seeing the usually heroic Cruise initially playing a clumsy wimp and you will find Edge of Tomorrow a blast. The darkly comic early scenes are by far the best, but although the film becomes more conventional as it goes along, Cruise is a winner all the way, whether he is being a gung-ho hero or the butt of the joke.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014), runtime 109 mins, Director Doug Liman.

Released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD and Limited Edition Steelbook by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Blu-ray and Steelbook contain the following special features:

• Operation Downfall - Adrenaline Cut
• Storming The Beach
• Weapons Of The Future
• Creatures Not Of This World
• On The Edge With Doug Liman
• Deleted Scenes