How to be like Tom Cruise and stage your own Mission: Impossible heist

With the release of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning in cinemas, it’s time to see whether you could survive a day with the IMF. Here’s our formula for the perfect Mission: Impossible heist.

By Olivia Garrett

Published: Monday, 10 July 2023 at 12:00 am

Welcome, RadioTimes.com reader. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to join the ranks of Ethan Hunt, Ilsa Faust and Luther, and perform your own impossible heist on behalf of the IMF.

Since 1996, the Mission: Impossible franchise has been breaking the boundaries of action movies and putting non-stop adrenaline-fuelled plots on the big screen. With each film, the stakes have got higher, the fights have got closer, and the stunts have become so jaw-dropping we can’t believe Tom Cruise is still alive.

Now, we’re in the run up to the release of the latest high-octane edition of the franchise: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Starring Cruise once again as Ethan Hunt, this movie will see the IMF come up against its biggest threat yet, with Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson also returning alongside the new addition of Hayley Atwell’s character, Grace.

Dropping on Monday, 10^th July, the film is expected to be yet another box office success, with the last film grossing nearly $800 million at the box office. In fact, the Mission: Impossible movies have made a total of $3.5 billion over the years, making it the 18^th highest-grossing franchise of all time.

So what exactly makes these movies so intoxicating? Well, that’s exactly what we’re here to answer, with this guide to how to stage your own impossible mission.

Featuring high-tech gadgets, daring stunts and an unreachable goal, we’ve got all the elements you need for an action-packed mission. Plus, we’ve included links so you can actually buy these ingredients and get yourself feeling like Tom Cruise.

Now get out of here, because this message will self-destruct in five seconds.

By the way, you can find all six Mission: Impossible movies available to buy or rent on Amazon Prime Video. While you’re there, be sure to check out the best Amazon Prime offers for this month.

Rent Mission: Impossible at Amazon Prime Video

The best formula for your own Mission: Impossible heist

A trip to a distant location

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Whether it’s Paris, Dubai or Shanghai, Mission: Impossible definitely feels like global franchise. Ethan Hunt can’t seem to go one film without hopping continents, often bringing his own brand of destruction to the streets of some of the world’s most beautiful cities. From flooding a restaurant in Prague, to driving through the markets of Casablanca.

We’re not suggesting you do the same, but if you want to set your mission up right, you’ll need to travel somewhere new and exciting. On sites like Expedia, you can find flights for as little as £30 and, on Trainline.com, you can get to Amsterdam from 40€. If this is still a stretch though, don’t worry, Tom Cruise finds his way back to London in Mission: Impossible’s five and six, so there’s plenty of action to be had close to home.

Shop flights at Expedia

Shop Eurostar journeys at Trainline.com

An impenetrable building

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Fancy climbing the Burj Khalifa? No, we don’t blame you. But to live like Hunt there’s got to be an important building you need to get into, like The Vatican or the Kyoto Tower (which you can visit for less than £5). When you go, you’ll have time to wander around, do all the tourist bits before cracking on with the objective. Again, if you’d rather stay in London, we would recommend taking your spy talents to the likes of The Shard or St Paul’s Cathedral.

Shop landmark tour tickets at Headout

Buy the View from the Shard from £28 at Virgin Experience Days