Tom Cruise’s version of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” has zero to do with honorable gay men & women serving in the United States Armed Forces.  He’s had his own version for over 20 years.  It’s an understanding with motion picture studios in regards to doing his own stunt work.  Hollywood is so overprotective of their superstars with good reason.  Things go wrong.  People who do stunts die.  It’s rare, but it does happen.  When stars get too close to the action, anything goes.  While Fighting as James Bond, Pierce Brosnan’s million dollar face had to get stitches when a stunt man caught him with a miscalculated punch.   Production was shut down for days.  That’s just one example.  In Tom Cruise’s case, that’s him on the outside of the train in the first “Mission: Impossible” flopping around with a jet engine blasting air in his face. Tom Recalls, “That’s wasn’t acting!  We were just hanging on!”

I love when an actor shows pain to get the role right.  A few examples: Natalie Portman transforming into a ballerina.  Daniel Day Lewis working with miner’s tools months before filming to play an oil man in “There Will be Blood.”  Christian Bale changing his appearance in “Rescue Dawn,” “The Machinist” & most recently, “The Fighter.”  On the other side of the coin,  when guys like Owen Wilson play a surfer in a movie, he trots out of the ocean with a surfboard safely ticked under his arm.  No pain, or dedication & the audience loses out.  If Tom Cruise was to play a surfer, you can bet he’s been out there in the ice-cold water for at least six months working it through with top rated surfers.  Even if it’s only for 30 seconds of footage, you know it’s Cruise in the surf  ‘going for it’ & mastering it.

“Going for it” describes “Mission  Impossible: Ghost Protocol.” (OK, I’m not crazy about that title) Tom’s character Ethan Hunt finds himself high atop, the Burj Khalifa Dubai Skyscraper. It’s quite simply the tallest building on the planet standing at 2,717 feet.  That’s a 1/2 mile straight up folks!

Yes there are safety straps in place, but when you’re that high up, nothing is safe.  I have friends on the inside telling me, the filming was doubly dangerous because of the IMAX factor.  IMAX cameras are clunky & awkward to maneuver.  The images are said to be incredulous.  Another dangerous  factor, the high speed Dubai winds at that altitude carry stinging sand particles. Not to mention hovering helicopters subjected to gusts of high winds.

No matter what you think of Tom Cruise, you gotta be impressed by his willingness to push himself.  Some people say too much.  These “Mission: Impossible” movies are arguably built ar0und action sequences & not where the focus should be, around a good story. Let’s hope the writers push themselves to create a story that matches the action.  That’s the movie I’d like to see, in IMAX.

“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” opens in theaters December 16th, 2011.

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