Tom Cruise running in Mission: Impossible gets a definitive supercut

The original Mission: Impossible Tom Cruise, a rotating team of directors and the spy-thriller saga have redefined it over 27 years. Brian de Palma began the franchise in 1996 with an old-school conspiracy flick, and John Woo took it to a new level four years later. A decade later, Cruise found himself dangling off the Burj Khalifa — and he was prepared to one-up himself with each subsequent sequel. The film begins with Cruise dangling off the Burj Khalifa. He was determined to outdo himself in each sequel. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning – Part 1The star was very clear in stating that his love for life-threatening practical stunts would not be slowing down. Later this month, he’ll be motorcycling off a cliffside for our enjoyment.

But if you look back at the Mission: Impossible films, there’s a clear connection between them, a commonality that gives each movie core: running like all hell.

Ethan Hunt’s personal mythology has become more knotted over the years, and the things that go boom have gone boomier thanks to 30 years of advances in moviemaking technology, but the real thing Cruise brings to every picture is his two high-speed feet. The man loves to run — and run and run and run. After that, he stops to rest. Then, he continues to run! Fans of the series have picked up on the actor’s devout belief in racing to a MacGuffin finish line on camera. Eating is to Brad Pitt as sprinting like there’s no tomorrow is to Tom Cruise. At this point, Cruise knows his reputation; his Instagram biography reads “Actor. Producer. Running in movies since 1981.”

The running in Mission: Impossible movies can go overlooked when squeezed under the tentpole sequences of each movie, but they are there, and when watched in succession in this mesmerizing supercut stitched together by Paramount Pictures’ crack team of archivists/editors, it becomes evident why the franchise has… legs. (Ahem.) The director will never shoot Tom Cruise in the exact same manner, nor should the context of the moment in which Ethan Hunt is required to run. This requires a level of nuance that we haven’t seen from anyone who has ever worked out. Set to the tune of Lalo Schifrin’s original M:I theme, the edit, debuting here on Polygon, is bliss for fans of this stuff.

Run, Tom. Run, Tom. Run. Run run run!

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning part 1On July 12, the movie will be released in theaters.