Tom Cruise in Seoul: ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning’ is 30-year culmination

Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise said Thursday his latest movie, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” marks the culmination of the 30-year-long franchise.

Currently in Seoul on a promotional tour for the eighth installment, the actor-producer elaborated that the film represents a combination of everything he has learned and accomplished throughout his extensive cinema career.

“I try to take everything that I learned from one movie and apply it to the next,” Cruise said during a press conference, detailing his filmmaking mindset.

As in previous installments, the actor performs jaw-dropping, high-stakes stunts and adrenaline-pumping action sequences in the new film, which he and director Christopher McQuarrie have taken to even greater extremes.

“I always hope to just make it better,” he said. “McQuarrie and I have a thing at the end of every movie we make, you know, I turned to him, and I say, ‘We can do better.’”

He continued: “There’s always another mountain, always something that we’ve learned that we can then take to another level … I’m not just even saying stunts, but just storytelling, structure of stories and characters … We always set a new goal for ourselves.”

When asked if this was truly the final installment, he stayed evasive: “The audience has to go see the movie, as it is a culmination of the last 30 years of the franchise. So that’s what this is. And I don’t want to give anything away for audiences.”

The Seoul press conference also paid tribute to the actor’s 40-year career, featuring a video montage of memorable scenes from his films, including “Top Gun,” “Interview with the Vampire” and “Jerry Maguire.” A phrase in the video, “Everything you were, everything you’ve done has come to this?” appeared to underscore the symbolic significance of “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.”

Expressing deep love for cinema since his youth and gratitude for his enduring career, Cruise said: “There hasn’t been a day that I have not felt privileged … very grateful to be able to do what I do. Thank you for allowing me to entertain you. It’s an honor.”

It marks the actor’s 12th visit to the country since his first trip in 1994 to promote “Interview with the Vampire.” His most recent visit was in 2023 for “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One.”

Director McQuarrie, who has helmed four “Mission Impossible” films and is a frequent collaborator of the actor, said he was “especially proud of this one,” for “the level of detail with each and every character in the story.”

“Every character has their moment, every character has an emotional arc. And that’s really what we set out to do at the beginning of the whole journey,” he said.

The director acknowledged the challenges of filming increasingly ambitious action sequences but also mentioned the joy of the process.

“‘Mission’ is a living, breathing thing,” he said. “I go to work every day wondering what ‘Mission’ has in store for us, not the other way around … I’m endlessly surprised. And the more we give ourselves over to it, the more we create something unique,” he said.

Key to the long-running trust and partnership with Cruise, McQuarrie said, were practicality and a “no ego whatsoever” approach.

“We go to work with a plan, but we don’t get fixated or obsessed on that plan. It doesn’t matter how much work you put into an idea. If the idea is not working, drop it, move on to the other,” he said.

“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is set for local release on May 17.