Rock-Climbing Stunts in M:I-2 -- What's the Catch?

Factual Questions
1

I have now read in two seperate news accounts that (to quote today’s): “Director John Woo was impressed with Cruise’s physical courage and commitment, citing the stunning rock-climbing sequence at the start of M:I-2 which features Cruise – not a stuntman – dangling 1,500 feet above a canyon and leaping from one cliff face to another in a near free fall.”

OK, I can believe that Cruise was up there (i.e., not a blue-screen background superimposed over a set shot). But the further implication – that he was there “without a net”, doomed to be mincemeat if he made a misstep – I can’t buy it. Can anybody explain/elaborate? Where’s the (no pun intended) catch?

2

wires.

3

Cruise had a safety harness attached, which was edited out in post-production. It still would have taken a lot of guts to make that jump.

4

On the DVD, they also make the point that it really was a 15 foot vertical drop in that jump too. So even with a wire, it could’ve been landed badly with a broken ankle.

But the real point is that even stuntmen don’t do things that are really dangerous if they have any intelligence. They just do things that are riskier than you would normally let a very expensive actor do. So it’s somewhat unusual when the star does those same stunts himself.