The tenth highest-grossing film of 2025, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, is landing on South African screens just in time for the holidays. Fans can stream the blockbuster on Showmax starting Wednesday, 17 December, or catch the broadcast on M-Net (DStv 101) at 8 PM on Sunday, 28 December.
In this final chapter, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) faces off against “The Entity,” a terrifying rogue AI. However, for local audiences, the real star might be the scenery. The film features a breathtaking 15-minute biplane chase sequence shot entirely in South Africa with the help of Moonlighting Films.
A Tour of South Africa’s Skies The sequence serves as a showcase of the country’s diverse landscapes:
Mpumalanga’s Blyde River Canyon sets the stage for the opening flight.
The Drakensberg hosts the hair-raising mid-air plane transfer and wing-walking.
The Wild Coast provides the backdrop for the climactic cockpit fight.
“That sequence is like Top Gun meets Mission: Impossible – the best of both worlds,” says Durban-born stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood, a franchise veteran who championed the locations.
Pushing the Limits of Physics To prepare, Cruise—who was over 60 during filming—trained at Duxford Airfield in the UK on modified 1940s Stearman biplanes. But the real work began in South Africa, where the team flew roughly 4,000 sorties to perfect the choreography.
“I knew I could do loops and rolls… Now I wanted to make sure I could explore and go Zero G out on the wing… without stepping over any boundaries that you cannot recover from.” — Tom Cruise
The physical toll was immense. Without a helmet or a cockpit to protect him, Cruise faced hurricane-force winds while performing heavy physical stunts on the fabric wings. Director Christopher McQuarrie describes the stress of filming as overwhelming, noting that he often had to hang out of a helicopter at 10,000 feet just to communicate with Cruise.
The Record-Breaking Finale The action culminates in a stunt where Hunt appears to jump from the biplane. In reality, Cruise leaped from a helicopter over the Drakensberg with a parachute soaked in fuel, which was ignited mid-fall. Filming with a Snorricam rig, he had less than three seconds to capture the shot before the burning canopy disintegrated.
The sequence earned a Guinness World Record for the “most burning parachute jumps by an individual.”
Having won Best Action Movie at the 2025 Critics’ Choice Super Awards, The Final Reckoning delivers exactly what Cruise intended: edge-of-your-seat entertainment. As Cruise puts it, “I bought the whole seat but only used the edge—that is what I want.”