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.
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, 10th 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 18th 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
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 Eurostar journeys at Trainline.com
An impenetrable building
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
A series of gadgets to get you inside
Probably the most famous gadget from the world of Mission: Impossible is the mask maker they use to infiltrate top-secret facilities. Appearing in every film, these hyper-realistic masks are so iconic, we could almost believe they’re real.
Sadly they’re not, but we’d like give an honourable mention to the gadgets that do, to an extent, exist. For instance, the magnetic climbing gloves from Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the contact lenses that scan faces, and the abseiling rig they use to break into the CIA in the first movie. To get these types of gadgets for yourself, you’ll need to shop around at a range of outdoor and tech stores, just make sure you’re not followed!
Buy climbing gloves from £5.05 at Alpine Trek
Buy VOXOS Smart Glasses for £179 at Currys
Shop abseiling gear at Go Outdoors
The perfect heist outfit
If you’re going to save the world, you need to look good while you’re doing it. If you’re going for the classic heist look, it’s black top and black trousers for you, and maybe a headset. But, if you’re looking to class it up like Rebecca Ferguson at the opera (who wouldn’t want that yellow dress?) then you can find the fancier outfits at Boohoo, John Lewis and Moss Bros. for men.
Buy satin corset maxi dress for £13 at Boohoo
Shop occasion dresses at John Lewis
Shop men's suits at Moss Bros.
The super-secret memory stick you’re there to steal
Now you’ve made your way into the building it’s time to get what you came for. Every Mission: Impossible movie has a MacGuffin that’s incredibly important and highly protected.
Usually, it’s a memory stick, so thankfully, these are super easy to come by and can range from basic £5 models to sophisticated £136 devices that have huge amounts of storage and Bluetooth capability.
Shop memory sticks from £5 at Currys
A daring stunt to escape
Quick, the guards are catching up with you, it’s time to make your death-defying escape! Will you bungee jump off a building or zoom away on a speedboat? Either way, there’s plenty of options in the UK for an adrenaline junkie like yourself, and you can find more inspiration in our guides to the best skydiving experiences.
Buy Bungee Jump experience from £60 at Virgin Experience Days
Buy Thames Rockets Speed Boat Ride from £54.95 at Virgin Experience Days
Buy 7,000ft skydive for £149 at Virgin Experience Days
A fast getaway vehicle
Next comes the Tom Cruise classic – at this point is there any vehicle he can’t drive or pilot? Anyway, whether it’s by plane, train, car or bike, you’ll need to commandeer something speedy to get away. In Mission: Impossible 2, Hunt gets away in a famous motorbike chase, and in the last film, Fallout, he tracks down Henry Cavill in a helicopter.
Here are some of the best options for you, but you can also find more in the best driving experiences and best steam train experiences.
Buy All Star Driving experience from £39 at Virgin Experience Days
Buy Introductory Flying Lesson for £150 at Virgin Experience Days
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A safe house to hide in
Once you’ve got away from the bad guys, you’re going to need somewhere to hide, and lets face it - Ethan Hunt’s choice of safe houses are not the way to go. From the first film all the way to now, he prefers to squat in derelict flats or underground tunnels.
We don’t want that for you, your safehouse deserves to be somewhere flashy and up-scale. Which is why you need to check out some of your options on Booking.com, Vrbo or Airbnb. From £14 you could be staying at a hotel in Istanbul, or from £83 you could be staying in a Jamaican villa. Plus, in the UK you can stay in anything from a glamping pod to a full-blown castle.
Shop holiday deals at Booking.com
For more dramatic days out, take a look at the best film and TV studio tours, or keep the adrenaline pumping with the best F1 experience days. And you can find out how to get cheap Alton Towers tickets.
