Need For Speed

In Mission: Impossible: Fallout, Tom Cruise is back to save the world as daredevil spy Ethan Hunt. And to do that, he’ll be doing a lot of running and tons of jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, insurance premium-raising stunts. Here are a few things you need to know about the highly anticipated sequel, opening this week.

- Douglas Tseng

Back for more: Christopher McQuarrie, seen here with Tom Cruise, is the first filmmaker ever to return to direct a second Mission movie. “One of the signature elements of the franchise is that there has been a different director for every movie,” says the Oscar-winning scribe of The Usual Suspects who signed on one condition. “[It’s that] I could maintain the spirit of that tradition by completely changing the visual language from the previous film. I want people who watch Rogue Nation and Fallout to feel like two different people directed them.”

1 IT’S GOING TO BE AN EXPLOSIVE & EMOTIONAL STORY!

In Mission: Impossible — Fallout, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his intrepid Impossible Mission Force team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) are back to avert a global cataclysm orchestrated by Rogue Nation’s Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of terrorist group The Syndicate and the first recurring Mission villain. Racing against time, saving the world, performing death-defying stunts — so, this is just another day at the IMF office, right? Yes, and no, says writer director Christopher McQuarrie. “Ethan has always been a bit of a mystery,” explains McQuarrie, who also helmed Rogue Nation. “This time I wanted to be more inside of his head and feel his connection with other people. The title refers not only to nuclear fallout but also to the fallout of all of Ethan’s good intentions. He has walked into a situation beyond his control, and he has to go through it even though he knows he’s being manipulated.”

2 HENRY CAVILL’S HAIRY PREDICAMENT!