Some celebrities undoubtedly have charisma and attract attention. And then there are actual stars like Tom Cruise, who seems to have the world under control and who internalize and embody the Hollywood dream factory with all its glamour, gloss and gossip more than almost anyone else. At Cannes in 2022, Cruise was honored with the “Palme d’Or.”
Yes, Cruise may not be the easiest of contemporaries in private. Still, he loves to chat about Scientology, his enlightenment and how to succeed in life. Granted, if anybody can talk about the latter (and okay, the former, too), then Cruise can, as the 59-year-old has been one of Hollywood’s big players since the 1980s and is one of the world’s most influential entertainers.
Journalists and colleagues regard him as extremely professional and fair. Still, he is also a perfectionist who is strict with others and himself: Cruise gives everything for his films and even performs the most dangerous stunts, despite being almost 60 years old. And one can easily believe him in any role, probably also due to his ambition. Likewise, his filmography contains surprisingly few flops.
Cruise is polarizing, yes, of course, But Hollywood wouldn’t be the same without him. The following are the 10 best films that the mega star Tom Cruise has played in.
A Few Good Men (1992)
A private’s death on a U.S. naval base escalates into a scandal involving an arrogant officer. As newly minted lawyer Daniel Kaffee, Cruise finds himself suddenly caught up in a far-flung conspiracy and must ask himself what’s left when everything he believed in turns out to be a lie.
It’s refreshingly old-fashioned staging and a top-notch ensemble (besides Cruise: Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore) that pushes each other to acting heights. The script is by Aaron Sorkin, and the dialogues are correspondingly profound.
Minority Report (2002)
In Washington, D.C., in 2054, murders no longer happen. Killers are caught before they can commit their crimes. Pre-Crime, a police elite unit that evaluates the visions of the Pre-Cogs, three creatures with clairvoyant abilities, takes care of that and moves to action. It’s a perfect system.
And John Anderton (Cruise) is its perfect boss: ever since a tragic loss six years earlier, he’s devoted his life to hunting criminals with perfect passion. There’s no reason for him to doubt the system – until a vision shows him as a murderer himself. Thirty-six hours remain for him to commit the crime…
Steven Spielberg’s thriller is thought-provoking, visually gets under your skin and is a gripping mind game that continuously increases in tension. Big sci-fi cinema with socio-critical tones.
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
![Edge of Tomorrow - Official Trailer 1 [HD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vw61gCe2oqI/hqdefault.jpg "10 Best Tom Cruise Movies of All Time 3")
Tom Cruise is always at his best when he’s messing with uber-evil, throwing himself down from somewhere high above while grinning his toothpaste smile. Machismo par excellence, yet sometimes it just works wonderfully, like in this sci-fi spectacle, where Cruise goes up against aliens who can control and manipulate time.
Cruise gets caught in a time loop but gets help from Emily Blunt. That’s good. Stupid thing: Cruise has to die again each time to escape the eternal repetition. This is action-packed, picture-perfect and sometimes even really funny.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
In fact, the first installment of the successful action movie franchise is just as good as the sixth, but we went with “Fallout” after all. Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie have managed to add to the series after all these years and deliver one of the best action thrillers in recent years.
The film’s pace is breathtaking, and so are the stunts (performed by Cruise himself, of course); the style is cutting-edge but never lifeless. Quite the opposite: “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” engages from the first second and is exciting to the point of pain. There is no catching your breath here!
Magnolia (1999)
Twenty-four hours in L.A., nine people, nine destinies. Like a spider’s web, all of them are interwoven with each other. And a violent storm of emotions breaks over them. Just like Frank T.J. Mackay (Cruise): Is it a coincidence that the charismatic sex preacher sees his father again just today, so many years later? Once again, his hated childhood comes up. However, still, he became a star in the media hype just like his father, successful TV producer Earl Partridge …
Paul Thomas Anderson’s superbly directed and acted portrait of society focuses on life itself and is at once sharp-tongued and deeply moving while never cheesy. Even the sometimes poetic visuals contribute to the cathartic experience that inevitably occurs while watching the film. There are huge questions that “Magnolia” asks the audience.
Jerry Maguire (1996)
![JERRY MAGUIRE [1996] - Official Trailer (HD)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KUd3gwaf0KQ/hqdefault.jpg "10 Best Tom Cruise Movies of All Time 6")
Cruise, as smart sports agent Jerry Maguire, has to realize that money and success are not everything in life – even though he thought so for a very long time. Although – or perhaps because – he has had a stellar career, Maguire one day can no longer stand the ice-cold business of professional sports.
He argues for a more humane approach – and is promptly fired. Only the young colleague Dorothy (Renée Zellweger) fully supports Jerry’s ideas. Together with footballer Rod Tydwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as their only loyal client, they dare to make a new start.
This compelling mix of comedy, romantic drama and sports drama is charming and an insightful search for meaning about what’s really important in life. “Jerry Maguire” is that film with Tom Cruise that is quoted the most often; some of its dialogues are legendary and went into the vernacular. Cruise himself won his second Golden Globe for his role and was nominated for an Oscar.
Collateral (2004)
As a hitman, you also have to look at how you will get to work. Vincent (Cruise) takes a cab, which there are plenty of in Los Angeles. His driver is Max (Jamie Foxx), a failed screenwriter. Vincent immediately turns out to be a special kind of passenger, revealing himself to be a ruthless killer and forcing Max to chauffeur him from job to job (or rather: crime scene to crime scene). A life and death cab ride begins…
This intentionally unbalanced psychological duel between the two protagonists strains the nerves from the very first second. It impresses with a mix of psychological thriller and action banger. In addition, “Collateral” also knows how to convince visually.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
In the late nineties, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were, you kind of can’t believe it anymore, one of the hottest dream couples in Hollywood. Stanley Kubrick’s erotic drama (it’s the cult director’s last completed film and a modern adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s “The Dream Novella”) features the two as a married couple who get caught up in erotic fantasies including decadent costume ball orgies.
The real-life background of the two stars makes the joint sex scenes even more titillating, naturally. Still, the entire package is even more fascinating: Erotic reverie becomes a stylistic device here, staged seductively with the soul of a poet.
Rain Man (1988)
Yuppie Charlie (Cruise) learns after his father’s death that he has an autistic brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). Raymond gets three million US dollars of the inheritance, and Charlie himself is fobbed off with a 49 Buick. Feeling cheated, he summarily kidnaps Raymond, a mathematical genius, from a home for the mentally ill…
Rain Man” poses the courageous question of who enjoys life more and which of the two brothers is more caught up in and by himself: autistic Raymond or self-centered, dogged Charlie, with elegant grandeur, heartwarming humor, and the help of two great leading actors. A tender parable about humanity and love.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
The first installment could not make it into our list. Still, its sequel did, in which Cruise can once again be seen as daredevil fighter pilot Maverick a full 36 years later. In the meantime, Maverick works as a flight instructor but is still a rebel.
Though only just released, the movie is already considered one of the great highlights of Cruise’s career. The star pulls the nostalgia lever, but even without the sentimental glorification of the past, “Top Gun: Maverick” is an action furioso that is more than convincing visually (the flight scenes are spectacular) and emotionally. The fact that the film was a project of Cruise’s heart can be seen in the smallest scenes. Sequels sometimes do make sense.
