Tom Cruise was last at Cannes in 2022, when the film festival gave him an honorary Palme d’Or and, in return, got one of the last bona fide Hollywood stars to grace their red carpet as he launched “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Fighter jets swooped overhead, and Cruise, who hadn’t been to the festival in 30 years at that point, flashed that megawatt smile. Before you knew it, “Maverick” soared past one billion dollars at the box office.
Which needed the other more – the festival or the star? It doesn’t matter, the formula worked so well they commissioned a sequel to the whole spectacle.
On Wednesday night, Cruise ascended the steps of the Palais de Festivals once more for the gala premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.” As the cast assembled on the red carpet, an orchestra struck up a live rendition of Lalo Schifrin’s theme tune, Cruise flashed that smile and… well, as Jerry Maguire once said, “Show me the money.”
The film, which leans heavy on the franchise’s three-decade legacy, played well with the audience. Inside the Grand Theatre Lumiere, there was sporadic applause throughout for Cruise’s spy Ethan Hunt, series regulars Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames and newer recruits including Hayley Atwell.
Prolonged applause during the credits gave way to some words by director Christopher McQuarrie, who recalled being “one of those kids who didn’t quite fit in” when he was growing up.
“A lot of my life was imaginative play. I got to grow up and have my very own action figure, who was actually willing to do just about any crazy thing I could think of,” he said, gesturing to Cruise.
“I’m grateful for your support, your friendship, your insanely unquestioning devotion to this craft, and most of all for your artistry,” McQuarrie, a four-time director in the “Mission” franchise, added.
Cruise for his part noted McQuarrie’s expansion of the franchise’s ambitions while looking forward to making “a bunch of other kinds of movies” with the director.