Tom Cruise launched the seventh instalment of the Mission: Impossible franchise at the film's London premiere on Thursday.

The actor described Dead Reckoning - Part One as the "biggest moment" of the film series to date.

His co-stars Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby joined him on the red carpet.

Critics' reviews of the film will be published on 5 July, before the film's release on the 14th.

Cruise said the two-part film marked the "culmination of all my skills" and promised even those unfamiliar with the series would have an "epic adventure".

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One sees him reprise his role of Ethan Hunt, as the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) set out to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens humanity.

The film was shot partly in the UK and features the usual death-defying stunts, including one in which Cruise jumps off a cliff on a motorcycle.

Speaking at the film's London premiere, he said that even as a child he had always wanted to make movies, and had devoted himself to taking on new challenges and learning new skills.

"Since I was a little kid, that's what I did," the 60-year-old told the PA news agency.

"When I was three or four years old I was jumping off my roof and climbing trees - I wanted to make movies, I wanted adventure, I wanted to travel the world.

"So that's what I do, I train - I really enjoy taking on different skills, to work to become competent in everything that I do."

He continued: "It was actually years of training... because I fly jets, I fly helicopters, I fly aeroplanes. I'm a skydiver, I'm a parachuter, race cars, motorcycles.

"[This film] was a culmination of all my skills.... There's a lot going on there's a lot happening... [but] the most important part is getting the shot and getting the story across."

| PA MEDIA: Vanessa Kirby, who also stars in the film, walked the red carpet in London ahead of its premiere

The process of shooting the film was hampered by Covid-19 lockdowns, with an audio recording of Cruise shouting at production staff for apparently flaunting guidelines leaked in December 2020.

"In 2020 there was a lot going on that was a huge challenge just trying to figure out how to make a film in those circumstances," he told PA.

"We kind of wrote the rulebook on how to do it and it was an extraordinary experience just sort of getting through - it made the shoot a little longer, but I think it's made the film better."

Every Mission: Impossible film in the franchise to date has made at least $100m at the worldwide box office.

The most successful so far is the sixth instalment, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, which took $220m, although the early films were released at the turn of the millennium and their box office takings are not adjusted for inflation.

Cruise's other film credits include Oblivion, Vanilla Sky, Collateral, Jerry Maguire, Top Gun and its sequel Top Gun: Maverick.

The film is released in UK cinemas on 10 July.