ranking of tom cruise movies

All 44 Tom Cruise movies, ranked from worst to best

• Tom Cruise has done every type of movie you can think of over his nearly 40-year career.
• Here we rank every one from worst to best.
• See where his latest, "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One," ranks in his career filmography.

43. "Rock of Ages" (2012)

Somehow Cruise got roped into being part of this feature-film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. But leave it to him to lay it all out there.

Though the movie is unwatchable, Cruise provides its only memorable moments when his rock-star character belts out classic songs like "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Wanted Dead or Alive."

42. "Endless Love" (1981)

Cruise's first appearance in a movie is this 1980s teen romance drama starring Brooke Shields that's best known for giving us the Diana Ross/Lionel Richie title song.

Cruise gets a brief bit of screen time as one of the male lead's friends. It's quite forgettable, but it's still better than "Rock of Ages."

41. "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (2016)

Between "Mission: Impossible" movies, Cruise tried to kick off another action franchise by bringing the main character of the Lee Child novel series to the big screen.

Though the first movie just got over the $200 million mark at the worldwide box office, the performance (or lack thereof) by the sequel indicated no one wanted any more Mr. Reacher. It barely made $162 million worldwide.

40. "The Mummy" (2017)

Cruise was all set to be the Robert Downey Jr. of Universal's Dark Universe with the release of this movie and promises of more creature pictures to come. But playing a soldier of fortune who tries to stop an ancient Egyptian princess from taking over the world didn't grab audiences. It was another franchise not meant to be.

39. "Losin' It" (1983)

Still getting his legs under him in the movie biz, Cruise signed onto this teen comedy in which he's one of four friends who go on a hard-partying road trip to Tijuana in hopes of losing their virginity. Yes, even Cruise couldn't hide from the teen-sex-comedy genre when he started his career.

38. "Mission: Impossible II" (2000)

Man, John Woo deserved better than this. The legendary Hong Kong director took over the "Mission: Impossible" reins after Brian De Palma kicked things off with the first movie, but Woo didn't find the same success.

"Mission: Impossible II" did go on to become one of the highest-grossing movies of 2000, with over $546 million earned worldwide, but with its weak plot and character development, it has not aged anywhere near as well as the first movie (or the other movies in the franchise).

37. "Jack Reacher" (2012)

Though "Jack Reacher" was the first time Cruise worked with his longtime "Mission: Impossible" director, Christopher McQuarrie, and it features the legendary director Werner Herzog as the movie's villain, Cruise as Jack Reacher is a seen-it-before character who isn't exciting.

36. "Oblivion" (2013)

Here, Cruise attempted to go the sci-fi route in hopes of having a breakthrough "Minority Report"-like experience for the audience. But the story was nowhere as sharp, and its postapocalyptic vibe left us all feeling uninterested.

35. "Lions for Lambs" (2007)

Marking the first movie released by United Artists after Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner took over (the two left UA after a couple of years) was "Lions for Lambs," a tense drama set around the war in Afghanistan and directed by Robert Redford.

Cruise gave his all playing an agenda-pushing senator and has some strong scenes opposite Meryl Streep. But the movie is just dull.

34. "Far and Away" (1992)

Cruise and his wife at the time, Nicole Kidman, paired together in this 1890s-set epic directed by Ron Howard. The two play Irish immigrants seeking a fortune in America. Outside the lush photography, there isn't much to enjoy about this movie. And don't get me started on Cruise's awful Irish accent.

33. "Vanilla Sky" (2001)

At the tail end of Cruise's heartthrob phase, the director Cameron Crowe teamed with him again after their hugely successful collaboration on "Jerry Maguire" to make a very different love story.

Based on the Spanish movie "Open Your Eyes," Cruise plays a vain New York City media playboy who has a different outlook on life after being in a horrific car crash. Though Cruise, Cameron Diaz, and Penélope Cruz (who also starred in "Open Your Eyes") all give top performances, Crowe goes too weird with the story, leaving viewers out in the void by the time the movie gets into the home stretch.

32. "American Made" (2017)

Mixing action and dark comedy in telling the real-life story of the drug runner Barry Seal seemed like a nice pivot for Cruise, but at the end of the day, the director Doug Liman's movie is just too glossy to be taken seriously. (Accent update: Cruise delivers a tolerable Southern drawl.)

31. "The Last Samurai" (2003)

Cruise stars as an American soldier in 19th-century Japan who embraces the samurai culture. The movie went on to receive four Oscar nominations, but it's the kind of title in which one viewing is enough.

And on a side note: Wow, would this movie get hammered on social media if it came out today.

30. "Valkyrie" (2008)

Another release from the time Cruise was calling the shots at UA, "Valkyrie" sees him playing one of the rogue Nazi officers who attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

(Accent update: Cruise — and basically most of the other Nazi officers — decided to not even bother with a German accent. Good choice; the audience didn't even notice [ holds back giggles ].)

29. "Cocktail" (1988)

It's one of the movies in Cruise's career that ride fully on his good looks. Honestly, this movie should have just been titled "Sex." Cruise plays a hot New York City bartender who has dreams of making it big, and it's his hotness that's going to get him to the top. It's classic Hot Guy Cruise — who cares that the story is garbage.

28. "War of the Worlds" (2005)

Steven Spielberg teamed up with Cruise after "Minority Report" for this blockbuster remake of the classic sci-fi movie. Though it made a lot of money, it was dark in tone — maybe a little too dark. Be honest: Have you wanted to see this movie again?

27. "Knight and Day" (2010)

This is one of those movies that don't get enough credit. The director James Mangold cleverly takes all the common action-hero traits and has Cruise make fun of them. You might want to give this one another viewing.

26. "Taps" (1981)

Unlike in "Endless Love," Cruise really capitalized on this small role. As a military cadet who takes his responsibilities way too seriously, Cruise is a standout in the movie and showed audiences (and Hollywood executives) that he had leading-man potential.

25. "Mission: Impossible III" (2006)

J.J. Abrams takes over the franchise for this one and does an impressive job. It also helps that you have the talents of Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the villain. It's better than "Mission: Impossible II," so we're going in the right direction.

24. "The Outsiders" (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of the classic novel brought all the biggest names from young Hollywood together, and Cruise was right there in the mix. With Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Emilio Estevez, and Rob Lowe, the movie is pretty heavy-handed with the drama, but it's fun to watch all these amazing talents on the screen together.

23. "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation" (2015)

Rebounding from the so-so performance of "Jack Reacher," McQuarrie jumps on the "Mission: Impossible" franchise and ups the action stakes. Yep, this is the one where Cruise hangs from the side of a giant plane taking off. The movie also got an extra jolt with the inclusion of Rebecca Ferguson in the supporting cast.

22. "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" (2018)

This "Mission: Impossible" could go down as one of the best action movies ever — its stunts and action sequences are that amazing. This time, McQuarrie gives us a deeper look at what makes Ethan Hunt tick and the values he lives by. But it's really the action that stays with you.

21. "Minority Report" (2002)

With its breakthroughs in CGI and tech, the first teaming of Spielberg and Cruise lived up to the hype. This movie was so advanced in its execution and what it showcased that it had a "Jurassic Park"-style ripple effect, in the sense that it has influenced countless action and sci-fi movies since.

20. "Tropic Thunder" (2008)

Though Cruise doesn't have a lot of screen time, his presence in this movie cannot be ignored. Playing a despicable movie executive named Les Grossman, he brings that patented intensity to a role that for most actors would have been a mail-it-in cameo role. In Cruise's hands, it's one of the best comedic performances of the early 2000s.

19. "All the Right Moves" (1983)

Two months after Cruise hit theaters with his first lead movie, "Risky Business," he was back again with this very different movie about a Pennsylvania high-school football player who clashes with his coach.

"Risky Business" showed that Cruise had no problem being the face of a movie, but "All the Right Moves" proved he could be more than the charming lead with good looks. This one showed he could be a serious actor.

18. "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" (2011)

It's the movie that breathed life back into the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. It came five years after "Mission: Impossible III," and in that time Cruise struggled with an image problem and a string of underperforming movies. He had a lot to prove with this one. And with the casting of Jeremy Renner, Cruise probably sensed he could lose his beloved franchise if the movie didn't work.

However, Brad Bird's direction and Cruise's disregard for common sense — in this one he climbs the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai — put him back on top, as the movie became a global hit.

17. "Top Gun" (1986)

Before "Days of Thunder," Cruise and Tony Scott teamed up for what would become one of the actor's most iconic roles: the fighter pilot Maverick. What Cruise doesn't pull off acting-wise he makes up for with brooding looks and shirtless volleyball skills.

16. "The Firm" (1993)

In "The Firm," based on the best-selling John Grisham novel, Cruise gives a fantastic performance as a hotshot lawyer who signs on with one of the most prestigious US law firms only to find it has quite a dark side. The era of "Tom Cruise runs" really launched with this movie.

15. "Legend" (1985)

Ridley Scott's beautiful fantasy movie is still a marvel of moviemaking. The practical effects and production design put into this movie, made back when CGI was scarce, are a treasure. And at the center is a fresh-faced Cruise who tries to get his girl back from the villain who gave me the most nightmares as a kid, Darkness (played perfectly by Tim Curry).

14. "Collateral" (2004)

We really don't talk enough about this one enough. Michael Mann's slow-burn crime movie stars Cruise as a hitman who forces a cab driver (Jamie Foxx) to drive him around Los Angeles as he goes on his "jobs." The acting by both Cruise and Foxx in this movie is some of their best work.

13. "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" (2023)

There are many things to love about the "Mission: Impossible" franchise: Its James Bond-like gadgets. Cruise's disregard for his life and safety when it comes to pulling off amazing stunts . But the biggest thing to love is that the films just seem to get better and better.

The first "M:I," directed by Brian De Palma, set the bar very high. However, since McQuarrie took the reins in 2015 with "Rogue Nation," the franchise has gotten a jolt in the arm. It seems to always outdo itself, and "Dead Reckoning" makes good on that promise.

The high stakes, the timely villain being AI, and, of course, Tom Cruise in the middle of some amazing thrills makes this film one of the best in the franchise.

13. "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999)

Cruise and Kidman teamed up again, this time under the watch of Stanley Kubrick in what would be his final movie. Both actors are pushed to the limits as the movie explores a marriage at a crossroads. Though "Eyes Wide Shut" is not close to Kubrick's best work, Cruise and Kidman are riveting.

12. "Top Gun: Maverick" (2022)

Thirty-six years after playing Pete "Maverick" Mitchell he returns to the role in the rare legacy sequel that's better than the original movie.

Though Tony Scott's landmark "Top Gun" made Cruise a superstar and became an instant 1980s classic, the director Joseph Kosinski has elevated the story with more death-defying dogfight jet stunts and a more compelling story.

This time Maverick returns to the Top Gun school to be a teacher of the new hot-shot pilots. But he must deal with his own demons as one of the students is the son of his best friend, Goose, who died in his arms in the first movie.

Cruise delivers one of his best performances in years.

11. "Days of Thunder" (1990)

It's pretty much everything you would think would be in a Tony Scott movie: lots of fast cars and big egos. Cruise is in his glory in every scene playing the hot-shot Nascar driver Cole Trickle (and Kidman appears as his love interest).

10. "Risky Business" (1983)

It's the movie that made Cruise a star. The coming-of-age story doesn't shy away from its mature storyline, and Cruise delivers a playful performance but also shows sparks of his dramatic chops that he'll showcase in the decade to come.

9. "Mission: Impossible" (1996)

Boy have things changed since the first "Mission: Impossible." With De Palma at the helm, the movie had its action, but it was encased in a tense whodunit thriller. Since then the action has only gotten bigger (and the story, well, less of a concern), but Cruise has always been fantastic as Hunt.

The first movie is his best acting work of the franchise. (Accent update: Cruise delivers another Southern accent while disguised at the beginning of the movie — one of those classic face-rip-off disguises. It's brief but effective in the scene.)

8. "Interview with the Vampire" (1994)

Cruise gives one of his best performances as Lestat, a vampire from the 1700s who finds a lot of drama in his undead life once he recruits Louis (Brad Pitt). (Accent update: His little hint of a French accent to stay true to the character's portrayal in the classic Anne Rice book is perfectly subtle.)

7. "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014)

Whether you want to call it "Edge of Tomorrow" or "Live. Die. Repeat.," it's just a really great action movie. With Liman directing and McQuarrie as a screenwriter, Cruise is surrounded by people he trusts to make a risky project: a soldier who relives the same day. But the MVP of the movie is Emily Blunt, who delivers a performance that makes Cruise kick it up a few notches.

6. "Rain Man" (1988)

Always at his best when he's playing a character with major conflict, Cruise plays a guy always looking to capitalize on the angles until he's finally in a situation in which he has to be on the level: building a relationship with his autistic savant brother (Dustin Hoffman).

5. "Jerry Maguire" (1996)

Receiving a best-actor nomination for his performance as a slick sports agent whose life turns upside down after having a moment of clarity, Cruise was, thanks to this movie, at his height of stardom and power in Hollywood.

4. "A Few Good Men" (1992)

Rob Reiner's courtroom drama has Cruise going up against Jack Nicholson, and it's pure magic. Yes, there's the "can't handle the truth" scene, but for us, it starts earlier in the movie when the two characters meet for the first time.

Thanks to the incredible dialogue by Aaron Sorkin, both actors subtly trade off with each other, but it's the fire being held back that makes the ending when they are face-to-face again so memorable.

3. "Magnolia" (1999)

No matter what you think of Paul Thomas Anderson's epic look at family, love, and forgiveness, it's hard to dispute that it has the most powerful performance of Cruise's career.

Playing a pickup artist who uses his talents to build a public-speaking career, Cruise appears as we've never seen him before. Anderson and Cruise connected over dealing with the loss of their fathers and use that darkness to create the character of Frank T. J. Mackey.

2. "The Color of Money" (1986)

Paul Newman won only one Oscar in his iconic career, and it was for this movie. But you have to give a big assist to Cruise.

Playing the protégé to the pool player "Fast Eddie" Felson — the role Newman first played in 1961's "The Hustler" — Cruise is a cocky player, and you can never tell whether he's on the level with Felson. Cruise proved once again that he's more than just a pretty face.

1. "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989)

Cruise got an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the veteran and activist Ron Kovic, who was paralyzed fighting in Vietnam. Oliver Stone traces Kovic's journey from being a wide-eyed soldier thinking he's doing what's right for America to coming home from the war to find everything has changed. Including the way he views his own country.

Cruise has never been better as he delivers a tour de force performance that still gives us chills.

• Main content

Every Tom Cruise Movie Ranked from Worst to Best

Kick the tires and light the fires.

Tom Cruise is one of our greatest living movie stars, plain and simple. While the term “movie star” is used less and less in today’s Hollywood landscape, Cruise remains a tremendous entertainer, a larger-than-life performer—an icon of the silver screen, truly. His persona transcends celebrity, and over the last nearly four decades he has delivered memorable performance after memorable performance, proving adept at traversing a variety of genres—some with more success than others. From the boyish 80s protagonist to classic leading man to action hero, Cruise’s film career is the epitome of success, and it’s a testament to his talent that he can be taken just as seriously in a dark, complex drama from an auteur filmmaker as he can in a major blockbuster franchise.

And while PR troubles led to a sharp left turn into exclusively blockbuster-type material in the mid-2000s, Cruise remains a reliable source of entertainment. Audiences can rest assured that when they see a Tom Cruise movie, the actor is leaving nothing on the table. This is the guy who literally hung off the tallest building in the world for our entertainment. It’s this focus on pleasing audiences that exemplifies Cruise’s status as “movie star,” but it’s the actor’s talent, ambition, and willingness to venture into uncertain territory that makes him our greatest living movie star.

As such, it felt appropriate to dive back into Cruise’s entire filmography, take a closer look at his entire body of work from Taps to Top Gun: Maverick , and rank every single film from worst to best. While at first, this seemed like a simple enough task, as I dove deeper into the actor’s oeuvre, I came to realize that Cruise has made more genuinely good movies than not. It’s one thing to have the kind of longevity that Cruise has enjoyed, but the actor’s filmography is consistently solid—even most of the “bad” Tom Cruise films have some sort of redeeming quality.

A couple of notes before we begin: this is a ranking of Tom Cruise films , not performances. As such, the order I’ve laid out here has to do with the film as a whole, not just Cruise’s performance in it. Additionally, I didn’t include 1983’s Losin’ It due to lack of availability, and also left off 1981’s Endless Love given Cruise’s lack of substantial screentime.

RELATED: To See or Not to See: ‘Minority Report’ on Surveillance and Data Collection

So, without further ado, I present to you every Tom Cruise movie ranked from worst to best.

41. Lions for Lambs

This 2007 Robert Redford drama came on the heels of Cruise’s PR issues, and at first glance was seen as a potential comeback for the actor, but in the end would mark Cruise’s final foray into straight drama territory. Whether that was a consequence of Cruise’s perceived image issues or the film’s quality is unclear, but Lions for Lambs is the worst film on the actor’s resume. It’s the equivalent of a political Facebook meme come to life—a pedantic, hollow “morality play” that goes nowhere and is so ineloquent with the handling of its subject matter that if you’re a self-professed liberal, it may have you questioning your political beliefs.

Cruise is fine as a conservative senator trying to sell a new military endeavor in Afghanistan, and the role had promise as Cruise has rarely tackled something so blatantly political, but Redford mishandles the whole thing, with a script by Matthew Michael Carnahan that reads like liberal fan-fiction. The ideas in the film aren’t wrong, but they’re spun with such smugness and lack of interest in telling some semblance of a story that they come off as groan-worthy. If you can watch this movie without rolling your eyes, you deserve a medal.

It’s no coincidence that Tom Cruise has yet to make even the slightest of forays into the fantasy genre since his lead role in Ridley Scott ’s original dark fantasy adventure Legend . The movie is, frankly, quite bad, with a meandering plotline and thin character motivations, all of which is underscored by a distractingly incongruous synth-heavy score by Tangerine Dream . The only good thing about Legend is the tremendously impressive makeup effects, which transform Tim Curry into a downright unrecognizable Lord of Darkness. As for Cruise, he’s clearly uncomfortable in the lead role, given little to work with from William Hjortsberg ’s script, and his first attempt to make the jump from promising leading man to blockbuster lead was an unsuccessful one—although he recovered quite nicely the same year with a little movie called Top Gun .

Taps is a competently made film about a bunch of dummies. When the entire premise hinges on a group of military academy kids who take over the school at gunpoint in order to prevent its closing, it’s hard to root for the “heroes.” Their whole plan is what we call flawed logic, and despite the fact that the characters come to realize their mistake as the film wears on, Taps spends far too much time heralding their “honor” and sense of duty. As for Cruise, this was his first major role in a feature film, and it’s kind of funny to see him playing the testosterone-fueled, dickish supporting character. It’s a personality type that he would toy with a couple other times in his career, but never with as much purity as Cadet Captain David Shawn.

38. Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages is a film in which Tom Cruise sings into Malin Akerman ’s butt, and yet, somehow Cruise remains pretty much the only good thing about Adam Shankman ’s musical adaptation. I suppose it shouldn’t be so much of a surprise given Cruise’s commitment to each and every role, but his consistently delightful performance as Stacee Jaxx is kind of incredible. The rest of the film…well, this is still a movie in which Tom Cruise sings into Malin Akerman’s butt. Shankman’s staging of the musical sequences is surprisingly lackluster, and the overabundance of autotune distracts from what should be a fun jukebox shuffle. The story is downright silly, and Rock of Ages as a whole stands as proof positive that not every musical is ripe for the feature film treatment.

37. The Mummy

The Mummy is one of the biggest wastes of Tom Cruise’s talent in recent memory. His Nick Morton character is wholly devoid of any engaging or unique character traits, and instead we get a blank slate protagonist who simply reacts to plot points and moves the story forward with no grace or agency. His motivations are murky, the audience is given no reason to root for him, and there’s a romantic twist that comes out of nowhere and doesn’t work at all. Morton is wholly devoid of the charisma, complexity, or darkness that makes Cruise’s action heroes so compelling, but it’s kind of in keeping with the blandness of the entire movie.

The Mummy wants to be funny and scary and adventurous, but only by going through the motions of comedies, horror movies, and adventure epics without any original ideas of its own. Even when Russell Crowe enters the film as Dr. Jekyll, what should be an exciting new twist on a classic monster has instead been turned into an exposition machine with few unique characteristics. The promise was there in developing a new twist on a classic Universal Monster with the starpower of Tom Cruise, but unfortunately The Mummy falls short in almost every capacity. A complete disappointment.

36. Mission: Impossible II

Mission: Impossible II is the only bad Mission: Impossible movie. Cruise was understandably eager to jump back into franchise mode after a series of intense dramatic roles in the late 1990s, but this action sequel is mostly a pointless chore of a film as director John Woo never comes close to crafting anything resembling a thrilling sequence—action or no—throughout the entire movie’s runtime. Add in the fact that the purpose of Thandie Newton ’s character is to literally distract the villain by having sex with him, and the whole movie really falls apart from the word “go.” Luckily, Cruise would recover with subsequent installments in the Mission: Impossible franchise, and while M:I II would eventually prove to be a necessary growing pain to allow for the evolution of this particular film series, it's still a bit of a rough watch.

35. Oblivion

Director Joseph Kosinski ’s 2013 sci-fi drama Oblivion is an absolutely gorgeous and incredibly boring spectacle. While Cruise characteristically gives this thing his all, the various “twists” are predictable and poorly executed, and the emotionally detached quality of Kosinski’s direction makes what should be a sweeping sci-fi drama a dull and overlong chore. Claudio Miranda ’s cinematography is certainly striking, and M83 ’s original score is epic in its scope, but the film just kind of rolls along like a very pretty, very hollow music video, and not even Cruise’s charisma can inject something resembling a pulse into this massively disappointing sci-fi pic.

34. Cocktail

The first 30 minutes or so of Cocktail are actually pretty good. The film has a breezy charm that’s typical of so many other 80s Hollywood films, and seeing Cruise begin his career as a bartender is pretty fun. But then the movie gets downright silly and continues to become even sillier as it goes along. This is a profoundly dumb movie in which not a lot really happens, and Cruise’s Brian Flanagan is interested in one thing and one thing only: Brian Flanagan. Indeed, the central driving force behind the story is the aim of making money, although this throughline makes sense within the context of the late 80s/early 90s yuppie culture.

Cruise’s performance is pitched a tad too high here, with his excitement more off-putting than infectious. But you can see shades of the natural charisma and charm that would be further honed in subsequent films, and Cruise’s range was on full display in 1988 as it was the year both Cocktail and Rain Man hit theaters.

33. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

I’m not mad at you, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back . I’m just disappointed. The first Jack Reacher was a surprisingly rich, thrilling, and artful twist on the action hero formula with Cruise delivering a dark and confident turn as the lead character. The sequel, however, feels like what should have been the story for Jack Reacher 3 or 4 , as it introduces a potential daughter into the mix that throws Jack Reacher’s life for a loop. We really could’ve used more time fleshing out the Reacher character first before introducing this “blast from the past” element, and in the hands of director Edward Zwick it mostly falls flat.

The story isn’t near as compelling as the first film, and the action lacks a certain oomph that director Christopher McQuarrie brought to the original (he passed on directing the sequel as he was busy with another Cruise vehicle, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation ). The film isn’t entirely devoid of merit: Cobie Smulders makes a strong case for leading an action franchise of her own, and Cruise delivers another solid performance. It’s just a disappointing step down in quality from the pleasant surprise of the first film.

32. Valkyrie

Valkyrie is one of the most curious entries in Cruise’s resume. On paper, this thing should’ve been terrific, with Bryan Singer helming a World War II dramatic thriller starring Tom Cruise, written by Christopher McQuarrie . But in execution, the story of the failed plot to assassinate Hitler fails to ever really take off. It’s a fascinating film in that it’s tough to really pin down exactly why it doesn’t work, but a big contributing factor is the simple fact that everyone watching knows exactly how this thing’s gonna end, so it’s tough to muster enthusiasm or root for this group of individuals whose plan is doomed for failure. Cruise is fine in the role of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the supporting cast is fine in capturing the inner workings of the Nazi army, and Singer is fine at stitching the whole story together. But in the end there’s little to write home about, and nothing that really makes the film stand out as anything more than a curious—but forgettable—oddity.

31. Days of Thunder

While the prospect of a reteaming of Tom Cruise and his Top Gun director Tony Scott for a film about NASCAR was incredibly promising, the end result left much to be desired. For everything Top Gun got right, Days of Thunder got wrong. There’s an engaging movie in there somewhere, but the end result is all flash and no substance, with none of the heart that made Top Gun so endearing. While the rapport between Cruise and Robert Duvall is interesting enough, it can only go so far, and at heart Days of Thunder is a film that’s running on fumes.

30. The Color of Money

A controversial ranking I'm sure, but what a disappointing film. Martin Scorsese working with Cruise and Paul Newman should’ve been reason to celebrate, but The Color of Money —a follow-up to the Newman vehicle The Hustler —is shockingly rote and by-the-numbers, marking one of the most disappointing films on Scorsese’s resume. The film came out in 1986, the same year as Top Gun , and it’s fascinating to compare Cruise’s over-excited and boyish performance here with the assured confidence and complexity with which he tackled Top Gun . Sure the hotshot character of Vince is meant to be more adolescent in nature, but Cruise and Scorsese overshoot and result in something that’s more akin to an annoying kid brother than a likable protagonist. The Color of Money just kinda sits there, not terrible but not great, wholly unremarkable and, frankly, boring.

29. All the Right Moves

It’s kind of surprising that Cruise managed to avoid so many cliché-filled 80s movies given that he was such a hot item throughout the decade, but 1983’s All the Right Moves really stands as unique in that regard. Director Michael Chapman ’s story of a hot-headed football player in a Pennsylvania town who wants nothing more than to go to college and escape a future working at the local plant is cliché-filled to the max, but Cruise manages to keep things somewhat interesting by bringing a curious intensity to the role, while Lea Thompson ’s girlfriend character almost manages to manifest into something resembling a real person. In the end, the story goes exactly where you think it’s going to go, and there’s not much else to make it worthwhile. It’s a minor entry on Cruise’s resume and his most forgettable film from the 80s, but it’s not out-and-out bad per se. Just incredibly familiar.

28. Tropic Thunder

Throughout the 2000s, Cruise had firmly left the comedic days of his early career behind. But following some bad PR and a couple of films that didn’t really work, the actor made one of his more ambitious leaps in filling the role of studio executive Les Grossman in Ben Stiller ’s satirical comedy Tropic Thunder . The result is a somewhat shocking and altogether hilarious turn from Cruise, who’s nearly unrecognizable in the part. It’s not a terribly substantial role so I considered leaving Tropic Thunder off this list altogether, but the film did mark the beginning of a career turnaround for Cruise, and thus stands as an important landmark on the trajectory of his film career.

The movie itself is a no-holds-barred skewering of self-important actors and the gluttony of Hollywood, and while it’s certainly a very funny comedy, the film ends up becoming the exact thing it’s making fun of, as Stiller tries to have his cake and eat it too by crafting his own bloated war epic that drones on for too long and loses sight of its central thrust along the way. And yet, it’s still really funny, and Cruise caps the whole thing off like a cherry on top of a sundae as Les Grossman’s grotesque dancing plays over the closing credits.

27. The Firm

In the late 80s/early 90s, Cruise nearly became pigeonholed as the sort of typical yuppie American businessman, and perhaps his most rote film of this time period was the 1993 John Grisham adaptation The Firm . While director Sydney Pollack ’s handle on the Wicker Man -esque tome is quite confident and the story is compelling to a point, the film is a bit too long and attempts to cover too much ground. A longform approach would have better suited this particular source material, and it’s no surprise that a TV series adaptation was attempted a few years ago. Cruise is fine though, his rapport with Gene Hackman is certainly the bright spot of the film, and the story is constantly engaging. But it’s a movie that starts to fade almost immediately after the credits roll. It’s the film equivalent of an airplane read—satisfying and disposable.

26. American Made

Post- Valkyrie , Cruise made a concerted effort to shy away from more dramatic material and focus on offering up the very best pieces of entertainment possible. This gave us great films like the Mission: Impossible sequels and Jack Reacher , but the lack of complexity in Cruise’s roles has been sorely missing. American Made is the closest Cruise has come to a "morally conflicted" lead since Collateral , and I don’t know if it’s the refreshing change of pace or Doug Liman ’s visceral filmmaking, but this thing works. Cruise brings a needed amount of charisma to the role of Barry Seal, a dude who does some very bad stuff; but he also completely delivers as Barry’s life spirals out of control.

The film still fits into Cruise’s “entertainment” mode as it’s a tremendously exciting movie, but it’s not as action-heavy as Cruise’s other recent films, and that gives the actor a chance to showcase his range far better than in something like The Mummy . While the film probably could have stood to embrace the darkness even more, as it stands it’s an exciting and refreshingly different kind of movie, at least for the present day Tom Cruise persona.

25. Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky is a weird movie, but I’m not altogether sure it’s a great one. Writer/director Cameron Crowe ’s ambition is admirable, as the film still stands as his biggest departure to date and sees him firmly tackling psychological thriller territory. But in the category of Tom Cruise movies that hinge on trippy dream sequences and leave much open to interpretation, it lags behind Stanley Kubrick ’s Eyes Wide Shut .

And yet, there’s a certain charm to Vanilla Sky and Cruise’s unhinged performance that make it quite watchable, even if Crowe himself seems to be unsure of what, exactly, is really going on. The soundtrack is unsurprisingly on point, and Cameron Diaz proves to be a solid foil for Cruise in their first of two onscreen pairings. While it far from sticks the landing, there’s a certain moxie to Vanilla Sky that makes it charming in its own unique way.

24. The Outsiders

Director Francis Ford Coppola ’s 1983 adaptation of The Outsiders famously had every hot young actor in Hollywood angling for a role, and indeed the ensemble (mostly) reads like a who’s who of future megastars. Cruise is among them, and while Steve Randle is a minor character in the scheme of the ensemble, Cruise does enough here to show that he’s in this thing called “showbiz” for the long haul. As for the film itself, it’s a terrific spin on the coming-of-age genre with a West Side Story twist, and the gaggle of youngsters leading the cast do a tremendous job of capturing life as a hot-headed adolescent in the 1960s. Moreover, Coppola’s willingness to cover the darker aspects of the novel elevates the film to a thematically rich and relevant watch. Stay gold, Ponyboy.

23. The Last Samurai

While the combination of the film’s title and the giant image of Tom Cruise on the poster rubbed many the wrong way, The Last Samurai is actually a surprisingly thoughtful and sensitive historical epic. Director Edward Zwick ’s handling of this post-Civil War Japan-set story is deft, resulting in something akin to Dances with Wolves albeit with even more heart. And Cruise is pretty terrific as a regretful, alcoholic solider who finds himself immersed in the world of the samurai—a dying breed. Ultimately The Last Samurai is a story of redemption, and while Zwick’s reverence for the subject matter sometimes starts to smother the film (the pacing is somewhat uneven), it’s ultimately a refreshingly unique spin on a genre that ruled the 90s. If anything, The Last Samurai is notable for being the only historical epic on Cruise’s resume.

22. Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher is the kind of film that looks like a movie you’ve seen a million times before, and in many ways is exactly the movie you were expecting, but is executed so perfectly that it transcends familiarity to become something altogether special. Writer/director Christopher McQuarrie spins one hell of a yarn in this Lee Child adaptation, and if casting Cruise as Reacher was genius decision number one, then setting Werner Herzog as the emotionless villain was a close second.

Cruise’s approach here is so sure-footed and confident that you buy every single move Reacher makes, but this role diverges from many of Cruise’s other action hero leads in that Reacher is not overly joyful. You can feel his annoyance every time someone underestimates him or puts another life in danger, and it’s that facet of the character that makes him so watchable and, ultimately, a memorable Tom Cruise role. The performer eschews his natural charm and boyish excitability in favor of a much dryer tone, and it suits him well. While the story is, again, nothing you haven’t seen before, thanks to skillful execution and a unique turn for Cruise, Jack Reacher is one of Cruise’s most watchable films.

• All His Movies, Ranked
• Crazy Stunts He's Actually Done
• Wild Facts All Fans Should Know
• What He's Like to Work With
• Stunts That Could Have Ended Him
• Over-the-Top Performances
• Favorite Characters
• Moments That Are So Tom
• Scientology Rumors

The 40+ Best Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked By Fans

Vote up the films starring Tom Cruise that complete you.

When it comes to Hollywood royalty, few can hold a candle to Tom Cruise. Over the years, this megastar has delivered one jaw-dropping performance after another, solidifying his place as a cinematic legend. It's a formidable task to narrow down the best Tom Cruise movies of all time, but hey, someone's got to do it. From high-octane action flicks to soul-stirring dramas, Cruise's filmography is as versatile as it is impressive.

Take, for instance, Top Gun , the adrenaline-pumping story of competitive fighter pilots that catapulted Cruise to international stardom. Or A Few Good Men , where he delivered one of his most powerful performances, proving that he could handle weighty dialogues with the same ease as he does action-packed sequences. These films are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to top Tom Cruise films that have left an indelible mark on cinema.

But how did we curate such a coveted list? Well, it started with movie experts who have an eye for performances that define careers, creating a shortlist of films that truly showcase Tom Cruise at his best. Then, we turned it over to the fans, whose votes have shaped this definitive ranking. Whether you're a die-hard Cruise fan or just a movie buff looking to revisit some cinematic gold, this list has got you covered.

As an adrenaline-pumping display of aerial combat and rivalry, this movie takes viewers into the world of elite fighter pilots, with the lead actor embodying the brash, fearless pilot Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. The audience follows Maverick's journey through the prestigious Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School as he battles his own ego, engages in astonishing dogfights, and learns the true meaning of teamwork. The sizzling on-screen chemistry with Kelly McGillis, the thrilling action sequences, and the beloved rendition of " Take My Breath Away " make it an unforgettable 80s classic.

• Dig Deeper... Ranker Rundown: Flying High With 'Top Gun: Maverick'
• # 110 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 17 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked

Top Gun: Maverick

Returning to the iconic role of Pete "Maverick" Mitchell after decades, the anticipation for this sequel has been immense, and it promises to deliver the same captivating thrills and aerial combat sequences of the original. As a mentor to the next generation of fighter pilots, including the son of his late best friend Goose, the protagonist guides these young talents while still facing his own personal demons and unresolved past. The combination of a compelling storyline, breathtaking stunts, and a nostalgic return to the character that made him a household name ensures this will be another hit.

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• # 19 of 164 on The Best Movie Sequels Ever Made
• # 37 of 81 on The Most Rewatchable Action Movies

A Few Good Men

In this tense courtroom drama, audiences are captivated by the exceptional performance as a young military lawyer assigned to defend two Marines accused of killing a fellow comrade. Alongside powerful performances from Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, the film flawlessly showcases the protagonist's gradual transformation from a cocky, fresh-faced attorney into a fierce, skilled advocate determined to uncover the truth. The iconic line "You can't handle the truth!" immortalizes the film's memorable climax and solidifies the protagonist's status as one of Hollywood's most dynamic actors.

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The lead character delivers a heart-wrenching performance as Charlie Babbitt, a hustler who discovers he has an autistic savant brother named Raymond after their father's death. Through their cross-country road trip, Charlie learns to appreciate the gentle genius of his older brother while he evolves from a selfish, money-driven man to a compassionate and loving brother. This emotional journey resulted in a Best Actor nomination, and the film itself won numerous awards, including Best Picture, highlighting the powerful and touching bond between the two main characters.

• Dig Deeper... Movies That Won Best Picture at the Oscars and Golden Globes
• # 56 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 256 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Mission: Impossible

In the role of super-spy Ethan Hunt, the leading man had audiences on the edge of their seats with the thrilling action and elaborate plots of this espionage thriller series. As Hunt, he displays an unrivaled level of physicality and commitment to his craft, performing most of his own stunts, resulting in a rollercoaster ride of adventure and suspense for moviegoers. The franchise has become synonymous with jaw-dropping stunts, twisty plots, and an evolving ensemble cast that perfectly complements the main character's charisma and determination.

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• # 29 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
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Jerry Maguire

In this romantic dramedy, the audience witnesses a sports agent's fall from grace and subsequent redemption through his relationship with his sole client and love interest. Audiences are charmed by the stunning performances, emotional vulnerability, and undeniable chemistry between the characters, as well as the classic line, "You complete me." The film earned the lead actor an Academy Award nomination and remains an enduring favorite for its heartwarming relationships, brilliant dialogue, and bittersweet exploration of ambition and love.

• # 41 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
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• # 556 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Edge of Tomorrow

Featuring a mix of action-packed sequences, science fiction elements, and dark humor, this film showcases the protagonist as a reluctant hero, forced to live the same day repeatedly while fighting alien invaders. The compelling story of survival and personal growth, alongside the intriguing concept of time loops, make this an unforgettable cinematic experience. Supported by a strong performance from Emily Blunt, this thrilling, fast-paced adventure cements its status as a modern sci-fi classic.

• # 136 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 403 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 23 of 165 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies

Minority Report

Set in a dystopian future where crime is predicted and prevented by a specialized police force, this Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi thriller sees the lead actor as a detective accused of a crime he has yet to commit. With its unique premise, thought-provoking themes, and stunning visuals, the film became an instant classic and served as a showcase for the protagonist's range and versatility as an actor. The combination of gripping storytelling, groundbreaking special effects, and a strong ensemble cast cement its status as one of the best sci-fi films of the 21st century.

• # 30 of 165 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 22 of 91 on The 95+ Greatest Dystopian Action Movies
• # 146 of 675 on The Best Movies Roger Ebert Gave Four Stars

The Last Samurai

Set in 19th-century Japan, this epic historical drama follows the journey of Capt. Nathan Algren, an American military officer who becomes deeply immersed in the samurai culture. The protagonist brilliantly portrays a tortured soul seeking redemption and finding it through his connection with the titular warriors, resulting in a soulful and emotional performance. Aesthetically stunning and emotionally engaging, this film is impressively crafted and features outstanding performances from Ken Watanabe and the rest of the cast.

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• # 95 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 547 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Risky Business

As the high school senior who turns his family's home into a brothel after getting involved with a call girl, the lead actor delivers a charming and iconic performance that launched his career as a Hollywood heartthrob. The famous scene of the character dancing in his underwear to " Old Time Rock and Roll " has become a pop-culture staple, and the film itself remains a beloved 80s classic. With its unique blend of teen angst, dark comedy, and romance, this coming-of-age story showcases the beginnings of a truly remarkable talent.

• # 36 of 113 on The 100+ Best Movies About High School
• # 104 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 630 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The fourth installment in the adrenaline-fueled franchise sees the protagonist perform even more heart-stopping stunts, including scaling the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, further solidifying his reputation as a fearless action star. With a fresh team of dynamic actors, including Simon Pegg and Paula Patton, this film raises the stakes and balances its thrilling action with lighter moments of humor. Picking up where its predecessors left off, the film delivers an exhilarating, globetrotting adventure that leaves audiences eager for more.

• # 22 of 81 on The Most Rewatchable Action Movies
• # 34 of 98 on The Best Movies Based On TV Shows
• # 23 of 73 on The Greatest Movies About CIA Agents & Operatives

In this gripping adaptation of John Grisham's best-selling novel, the protagonist plays an ambitious young lawyer who becomes entangled in a dangerous web of deceit and corruption at his prestigious law firm. The intense plot and stellar performances from the ensemble cast, including Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter, and David Strathairn, keep the audience absorbed and guessing until the very end. The smart script, thrilling twists, and central performance make it a must-watch for legal thriller enthusiasts and fans of the leading man alike.

• # 39 of 50 on The Biggest Movies Of The '90s, Ranked
• # 119 of 371 on The Best Movies Based On Books
• # 46 of 81 on The 75+ Best Whodunit Murder Mystery Movies

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

The fifth installment of the popular action franchise sees the protagonist reprise his role as Ethan Hunt, this time facing a powerful, clandestine organization known as the Syndicate. With incredible stunts, including a breathtaking underwater sequence and a thrilling motorcycle chase, the lead actor continues to push the boundaries of what's possible in action cinema. Alongside new additions to the cast such as Rebecca Ferguson and Sean Harris, this thrilling adventure offers non-stop excitement and intrigue that maintains the high standards of the series.

• # 15 of 99 on The Best Movies Of 2015
• # 49 of 98 on The Best Movies Based On TV Shows
• # 38 of 72 on The Greatest Movies About CIA Agents & Operatives

Interview with the Vampire (1994)

Portraying the tormented vampire Lestat in this adaptation of Anne Rice's novel, the protagonist delivers a mesmerizing and seductive performance that captivated audiences worldwide. Sharing the screen with Brad Pitt and a young Kirsten Dunst, the actor's portrayal of an immortal craving companionship and grappling with the morality of his actions is both chilling and heartbreaking. Though controversial at the time for its dark themes and explicit content, the film has since become a cult classic, showcasing a different side of the leading man's abilities.

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• # 205 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

In his sixth turn as super-spy Ethan Hunt, the main character's commitment to performing his own stunts reaches new heights with a harrowing high-altitude-low-opening (HALO) jump. Additionally, the film's electric helicopter chase and intense fight sequences showcase the actor's relentless dedication to delivering pulse-pounding action. With a gripping storyline that delves deeper into the personal life of Hunt and an exhilarating finale, this entry is widely regarded as one of the best in the long-running series.

• # 40 of 73 on The Greatest Movies About CIA Agents & Operatives
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• # 10 of 13 on 13 Movie Heroes And Villains Who Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin

In a rare turn as the villain, the lead actor plays a cold and calculating contract killer in this crime thriller directed by Michael Mann. Sharing the screen with Jamie Foxx's unsuspecting taxi driver, the actor's menacing performance offers a fascinating look into the psyche of his character and contrasts sharply with the vulnerable, heroic roles that have defined his career. With its gritty atmosphere, taut pacing, and unforgettable performances, the film stands as a testament to the versatility and range of the protagonist.

• # 31 of 99 on The Best Movies Of 2004, Ranked
• # 45 of 51 on The Best Movies to Watch on a Home Theater
• # 8 of 13 on 13 Times Tom Cruise Came Close To Disaster Doing His Own Movie Stunts

The Outsiders

Based on the classic novel by S.E. Hinton, this coming-of-age drama set in the 1960s features the lead actor as part of an ensemble cast that includes Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Rob Lowe, among others. As the youngest member of the "Greasers" gang and the brother of Ralph Macchio's Johnny, the actor delivers a tender performance that showcases his talent at an early age. The film has since become a cult classic, with its heartfelt portrayal of friendship, loyalty, and the trials of growing up.

• # 50 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 309 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
• # 75 of 279 on 'Old' Movies Every Young Person Needs To Watch In Their Lifetime

Days of Thunder

Reuniting with the Top Gun director, the protagonist stars as hotshot NASCAR driver Cole Trickle in this high-octane racing drama. With thrilling race sequences and an exploration of the competitive world of stock car racing, the movie allows the lead character to demonstrate his undeniable screen presence and physical prowess. The electrifying on-screen chemistry between the actor and his future wife, Nicole Kidman, adds to the allure of this compelling sports drama.

• # 59 of 207 on The Best Sports Movies Ever Made
• # 28 of 90 on The Best Movies of 1990
• # 45 of 69 on The Greatest Sports Drama Movies of All Time

The Color of Money

In this sequel to the 1961 classic The Hustler, the lead character plays pool protegé Vincent Lauria, who is mentored by Paul Newman's "Fast" Eddie Felson. A dynamic on-screen duo, they brilliantly convey the tension and rivalry between their characters, making for a compelling examination of ambition, redemption, and the cost of success. The film stands as a worthy follow-up to its predecessor, with a superb performance that further cemented the protagonist's status as a versatile leading man.

• # 216 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 77 of 207 on The Best Sports Movies Ever Made
• # 101 of 164 on The Best Movie Sequels Ever Made

Jack Reacher

Adapted from Lee Child's bestselling novels, the movie features the leading man as the tough-as-nails former Army investigator and drifter who finds himself entangled in a complex conspiracy. Showcasing his impressive range as an actor, the protagonist delivers a gritty and physical performance that captivates audiences and brings the beloved literary character to life. The film's thrilling action sequences, unexpected twists, and solid supporting cast make it a standout in the action-thriller genre.

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• # 672 of 772 on The Most Rewatchable Movies
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In this 80s drama, the leading man portrays an ambitious bartender who dreams of success and navigates the trials and tribulations of love and friendship. The role allows the protagonist to showcase his charm, charisma, and signature smile, resulting in a captivating performance that further establishes him as a Hollywood heartthrob. With memorable scenes and quotable dialogue, the film has earned a special place in pop culture nostalgia.

• # 179 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 153 of 233 on The Best '80s Comedy Movies, Ranked
• # 63 of 99 on The Greatest Movie Soundtracks Of All Time

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

The upcoming seventh installment in the blockbuster franchise promises to deliver even more breathtaking stunts, explosive action, and intriguing espionage as the lead character reprises his iconic role of Ethan Hunt. As the first part of a two-part cinematic event, the film will undoubtedly raise the stakes and further solidify the protagonist's status as an unstoppable action hero. With returning and new cast members, fans are eagerly anticipating the next thrilling chapter in the ever-evolving series.

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Born on the Fourth of July

In a powerful and transformative performance, the lead actor takes on the real-life story of Ron Kovic, a disillusioned Vietnam War veteran who becomes an anti-war activist. Earning his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, the protagonist impeccably portrays the emotional turmoil, physical pain, and ultimate redemption of his character. The film's unflinching depiction of the war's aftermath and its impact on soldiers makes it a poignant and unforgettable viewing experience.

• # 211 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 272 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked
• # 83 of 133 on The Most Utterly Depressing Movies Ever Made

Mission: Impossible III

With J.J. Abrams at the helm, the third installment of the blockbuster franchise brings a personal and emotional depth to the series, as protagonist Ethan Hunt faces a ruthless villain with ties to his personal life. The leading man's captivating performance, along with an incredible supporting cast and intense action sequences, make this entry a standout in the spy thriller genre. Fans of the series appreciate the balance of character development, emotional stakes, and adrenaline-pumping action that this installment delivers.

• # 25 of 101 on The Best Movies Of 2006
• # 42 of 98 on The Best Movies Based On TV Shows
• # 27 of 104 on The 100+ Best Third Movies In A Film Series

Tropic Thunder

In a surprising and hilarious turn, the protagonist takes on the role of an over-the-top Hollywood producer in this satirical war comedy. Sporting a bald cap and thick prosthetic makeup, he is nearly unrecognizable as he lampoons the movie industry with biting humor and infectious dance moves. His comedic prowess and willingness to poke fun at himself contribute to the film's status as a modern classic in the comedy genre.

• # 234 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 97 of 702 on The All-Time Greatest Comedy Films
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In this gripping historical thriller, the lead actor portrays German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who leads a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler during World War II. With a strong supporting cast and a suspenseful narrative, the protagonist delivers a compelling performance that highlights his versatility as an actor. The film is a riveting exploration of moral courage and determination in the face of insurmountable odds.

• # 67 of 264 on The 200+ Best War Movies Of All Time
• # 89 of 240 on The 200+ Best Movies Based On A True Story
• # 269 of 308 on The 300+ Best Epic Movies Of All Time

In this visually stunning sci-fi thriller, the protagonist plays a drone repairman tasked with maintaining Earth's defense system after an alien invasion. Unraveling a twisted web of secrets and lies surrounding his mission, the lead actor delivers a gripping and emotional performance that keeps audiences engaged from start to finish. With its breathtaking cinematography, thought-provoking themes, and memorable score, the film solidifies its place as a captivating entry in the science fiction genre.

• # 61 of 165 on The 150+ Best Futuristic Dystopian Movies
• # 61 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens
• # 46 of 91 on The 95+ Greatest Dystopian Action Movies

War of the Worlds

In this modern adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic novel, the protagonist portrays a divorced father who must protect his children during a sudden alien invasion. Under the direction of Steven Spielberg, the lead actor excels in conveying the terror, desperation, and determination of his character while navigating a world on the brink of destruction. The film's riveting storyline, impressive special effects, and powerful performances create a thrilling and suspenseful ride for viewers.

• # 31 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens
• # 12 of 143 on The Best Movies of 2005
• # 213 of 371 on The Best Movies Based On Books

Far and Away

Starring alongside Nicole Kidman, the protagonist takes on the role of an Irish immigrant seeking his fortune in America in this sweeping romantic epic. The film's lush landscapes and stirring score provide an exquisite backdrop for the passionate love story between the main characters. Despite some mixed critical reception, the undeniable chemistry between the lead actors and the film's grand scope make it a memorable viewing experience.

• # 33 of 80 on The Best Period Romance Movies
• # 218 of 228 on The 200+ Best Film Scores Of All Time
• # 45 of 98 on The Best Movies of 1992

American Made

Based on a true story, the protagonist plays a commercial airline pilot turned drug smuggler and CIA informant in this fast-paced crime drama. The lead actor's charismatic performance, combined with a fascinating real-life plot and a vibrant 80s aesthetic, makes for an entertaining and thrilling ride. The film showcases the protagonist's ability to tackle complex characters and deliver engaging performances in diverse roles.

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All about the life and career of the ageless actor Tom Cruise.

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Every Tom Cruise Movie Performance, Ranked

No one better than Tom Cruise exemplifies the breed of megastars who dawned during the 1980s, felt like gods during the 1990s, and are now a curious class of their own in the twilight of the traditional stardom they represent. Since the early ’80s, Cruise steadily and successfully carved out a career fueled by his boyish megawatt smile, a practiced brand of charisma, and an interest in physically throwing himself into his roles with dangerous gusto. His work has run the gamut. He’s swaggered through dramas, romantic comedies, heaps of science fiction, and most often, action films — including his latest, Mission: Impossible — Fallout . In honor of the actor’s latest big-screen spectacle, we revisited and ranked all of Cruise’s performances in order to interrogate why he’s remained such a fixture in the public imagination all these years.

42. Rock of Ages (2012)

The worst thing a star can do is refuse to grow. Cruise has had performances that reached high yet fell short, but in his turn as rock star Stacee Jaxx, he’s never been more unengaging or laughable. Jaxx illustrates the reasons for many of Cruise’s recent duds: a lack of self-awareness, a refusal to adapt as he’s grown older, an element of humorlessness. Watching Cruise shirtless-singing to ’80s metal hits like “Pour Some Sugar on Me” tips into self-parody. It’s a train wreck of a performance that lacks any of the charm necessary to not come across as an unintentional joke, making this Cruise role hard to forget for all the wrong reasons.

41. The Mummy (2017)

No matter how miscalculated his moves, Tom Cruise isn’t usually the kind of actor you’d ever call listless. He’s known for that manic energy and sheer force of will that marks so much of his work. But in The Mummy, playing Sergeant Nick Morton — a military man who unintentionally unearths the tomb of Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella), who haunts him after choosing him to be the vessel for the god Set for some damn reason — Cruise is drained of any energy. He leaves no distinct impression; the part feels like it could be played by anyone and no one in particular. It doesn’t help that the film is more or less terrible, but sometimes Cruise can rise above that. Not this time: His performance comes up empty.

40. Endless Love (1981)

Cruise’s first big-screen appearance is a brief role in this 1981 romantic drama about a bunch of teenagers in the Chicago suburbs. It has none of the vitality to hint at the star Cruise would become later in the decade. (Also, 19-year old Cruise has a surprisingly high-pitched, annoying voice.)

39. Losin ’ It (1983)

Losin’ It is one of a string of films that pockmarked the decade that brought Cruise to prominence. They are failures to be sure, but forgettable enough to not rank lower. This charmless teen comedy, hinging on a group of friends trying to lose their virginities, marks Cruise’s first starring role, one that’s unfortunately saddled by dullness. There’s not enough appeal here to make this more than a masochistic exercise for Tom Cruise completists.

38. Cocktail (1988)

For some, Cocktail is a beloved albeit thoroughly ridiculous testament to the cinematic excesses of the 1980s. To others (including myself), it’s a testament to how easily Cruise can read as loathsome and smarmy rather than buoyantly alluring. The film focuses on Brian Flanagan (Cruise), a student who turns to bartending to make ends meet. Cruise is energetic to a manic degree (which doesn’t always work in his favor), producing a vibe that repels rather than seduces.

37. Legend (1985)

I have a bit of a soft spot for this Ridley Scott–helmed dark fable, one of Cruise’s only forays into fantasy territory. But it’s hard to ignore how miscast he is as the adventurous, dashing young man saving his beloved from the Lord of Darkness (an unrecognizable and amazing Tim Curry). He’s a bit lost and even seems perpetually confused in this muddled story, unable to create the gravitational pull he’d go on to prove capable of elsewhere.

36. Knight and Day (2010)

Knight and Day reteams Cameron Diaz with Cruise in a markedly different film than their first collaboration, Vanilla Sky. This spy/romantic romp should play to Cruise’s strengths, but there’s something severely miscalculated about his performance as Roy Miller, an oddball superspy on the run who ropes Cameron Diaz’s everywoman into his mission against her will. What’s supposed to be played as eccentric ends up falling into an uncomfortable territory that kills any sense of romance or intrigue. This role, more than any other he’s played, shows how easy it is for the hypercapable, badass superspy character to tip into asshole/know-it-all territory, more eye-roll-worthy than charming.

35. Lions for Lambs (2007)

Tom Cruise seems tailor-made for the role of a Republican senator pointedly trying to cajole and enchant a liberal-minded journalist (Meryl Streep) in order to get positive coverage for a new initiative in this muddled Iraq War drama. But he lacks the slipperiness and conviction necessary to elevate the dialogue, and the movie suffers for it, coming across as a well-intentioned morality play with little heft.

34. Far and Away (1992)

It is often said about actors of Cruise’s stature that they are merely stars that play themselves again and again. It’s an argument I disagree with for a number of reasons. In Far and Away, the tepid 1992 romantic drama directed by Ron Howard, it’s clear Cruise purposefully working against that notion — but in all the wrong ways. He adopts a shaky Irish accent in order to play a boxer/immigrant who joins Shannon Christie (Nicole Kidman) in America looking for a better life. Cruise gives it his all.

But he’s an actor best suited for our times, coming across as uncomfortable in period dressing. His energy and style is far too modern to pull this off completely, although his chemistry with Kidman remains a bright spot in an otherwise drab entry.

33. Days of Thunder (1990)

I can see how Days of Thunder seemed like a good idea, as it reteams Cruise with Top Gun director Tony Scott. And Cruise, as a race-car driver trying to make a name for himself, does have nice rapports with co-stars Robert Duvall and Nicole Kidman. But it isn’t enough to craft a strong emotional center to what is an ultimately bland performance.

32. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

This misguided, tonally confused sequel is an example of a decent Tom Cruise performance dragged down by the lackluster film that surrounds him. Cruise is highly dedicated as the titular character, going at it with a scrappiness and sense of focus that’s fun to watch. Unfortunately, he’s burdened by a makeshift family story line (which includes Cobie Smulder as a wrongfully framed colleague and a teenager who may be Reacher’s daughter?) as he goes on the run. Cruise admirably nails the action-oriented scenes, but when he’s called to sell the emotional reality of his predicament (particularly with his maybe-daughter character) he fails to deliver.

31. The Last Samurai (2003)

Cruise is widely considered one of the last stars in today’s Hollywood ecosystem whose sheer force of personality and high-wattage smile is a brand unto itself. But not even he has enough confidence to distract from how ill-formed this bloated epic is, or how ill-suited he is to lead it. Cruise himself doesn’t seem convinced in his portrayal of the bitter, alcoholic war veteran who travels to Japan and finds himself fighting alongside the rebellion he was originally tasked to help quell. This is just more fuel for my belief that something about Cruise’s energy is all wrong for period pieces (except for one example that comes later) — especially a 19th-century period piece set in Japan. Co-star Ken Watanabe provides the authenticity and complexity that Cruise lacks, leading him to steal the film entirely.

30. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

After the success of the first outing, the franchise moves into vastly different territory, thanks to Hong Kong action legend John Woo and screenwriter Robert Towne doing a  very obvious riff on Hitchcock’s Notorious and, more broadly, operatic action films that rely on a lot of slow-motion. These qualities are important to understanding what doesn’t work about Cruise’s performance as he’s asked to handle clashing tones and earnest romance, leaving him out of his depth. A part of me actually enjoys his chemistry with leading lady Thandie Newton, who plays an amoral thief. Unfortunately, Cruise sometimes tips into skeezy territory, and his best action work relies on a sort of simpleness that Mission: Impossible 2 seems allergic to. Despite his considerable efforts, Cruise often gets lost in the movie’s bombast.

29. The Firm (1993)

I’ve seen The Firm several times, but not much of it, including Tom Cruise’s starring performance, sticks with me. It’s a capably structured legal thriller but not much else. Cruise seems disconnected from the story, lacking the right mix of raw-nerved paranoia and intensity to rise above the admittedly lacking narrative. Mark this as another solid but otherwise uneventful performance.

28. The Outsiders (1983)

With a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s beloved classic, Cruise turns in a solid if not altogether memorable turn, dimmed a bit by the presence of his more fascinating co-stars, including a magnetic Patrick Swayze.

27. All the Right Moves (1983)

As a football player hell-bent on leaving his dead-end small town with a scholarship, Cruise provides the kind of tender and heartfelt performance the film calls far. He convincingly communicates the intensity and grandeur that comes with high-school sports, in which every win or loss feels like a harbinger for rest of your life.

26. Valkyrie (2008)

Cruise was far from the best choice to play doomed German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who aims to assassinate Adolf Hitler and undermine the Nazi Party with his dedicated crew of peers. But he actually finds a nice rhythm as the stakes for his character escalate, even if he doesn’t bring the kind of electricity needed to stand out from the film’s ensemble.

25. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)

After the critical failure of Mission: Impossible 2, the franchise course-corrected; any sort of emotional arc would play a distant second to Cruise’s interest in difficult stuntwork. Good: The franchise is pure thrill-ride cotton candy. Still, not all thrill rides are created equal. Cruise’s return as superspy Ethan Hunt has its pleasures, yes; a particular highlight is watching Cruise work with Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust, an undercover MI6 agent with steely intensity. The primary joy of Rogue Nation , however, is in watching Cruise pivot from one action scene to another, running with a peerless frenzy. It’s fun one, if a bit weightless.

24. Vanilla Sky (2001)

Cruise’s work in Cameron Crowe’s trippy, messy psychological thriller is best described as an admirable failure. He plays David Aames, a rich and powerful publisher whose romantic cruelty has disastrous results when a former paramour (an unhinged Cameron Diaz) drives their car off a bridge. Post-accident Ames is disfigured and plagued by visions that question the nature of his reality. Unsurprisingly, Cruise is able to play up Aames’s narcissistic and exacting qualities, but as the film ventures into more confusing, less emotionally well-thought out territory, he loses hold of the character.

23. Taps (1981)

Taps was only Tom Cruise’s second performance on the big screen , but it already shows the nascent version of a character type he’d later perfect: a man who’s determined to the point of psychosis. Cruise plays Cadet Captain David Shawn, a rigid young man whose youthful aggression becomes sinister when his fellow military students decide to take over their school in hopes of saving it from closing. He proves to be the perfect foil for the conflicted Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer (Sean Penn) and more thoughtful lead Cadet Major Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton). Cruise’s performance lacks the fine-tuning he’d demonstrate down the line, but it is an impressive early turn that nearly dominates the entire film and proves his star presence.

22. Jack Reacher (2012)

What makes a truly good action film? I’m talking about the bare-bones qualities of an action film that forgoes the fantasy or horror gleam that many modern examples have these days. I’ve thought about this question a lot, especially while watching Tom Cruise in his first appearance as the titular Jack Reacher, a bruising U.S. Army military police corps officer with no fixed address. Cruise is notably completely wrong if you’re looking for a direct adaptation of the Lee Childs hero. His fights are more brutal and occur in closer range. His humor veers from dry to downright caustic. He’s a bit darker-edged than the typical lead Cruise tends to adopt. And while there are moments when Cruise doesn’t quite nail the tone — or the blunt, vaguely offensive jokes (like the clip above demonstrates) — this performance still holds many delights.

21. American Made (2017)

American Made is a confused film, unsure whether it wants to be a glossy Hollywood anti-hero romp or a grimy 1970s crime flick. Tom Cruise’s leading performance as Barry Seal — a perpetually sweat-drenched hot-shot TWA pilot turned gun/drug runner for the American government and narcotics smuggler for the Medellín cartel — reflects that confusion. It isn’t a wholly terrible performance. Cruise is engaging, carrying a blend of cocksure bravado and befuddlement at the sheer ridiculousness of the situations he finds himself in. American Made feels like an throwback to Cruise’s well-worn playbook; it’s particularly in line with his work in Top Gun. It’s mostly fun, though Cruise does lose points for trying (and failing) to pull off a Baton Rouge accent that can be best described as Generic Southern Accent That Doesn’t Really Exist™.

20. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)

Ghost Protocol sees the MI franchise eschew even the semblance of reality. It’s full-on cartoonish, bombastic action, and it’s clear Cruise is having a ball with the increasingly inventive dilemmas his superspy is forced into. Ethan Hunt is a bit more world-weary here than he’s been before (can you blame him?), but the film never gets dour thanks to Cruise’s great chemistry with castmates Simon Pegg and Paula Patton.

19. Tropic Thunder (2008)

To survive at Cruise’s level of stardom, you have to understand how the business works. That veteran insider knowledge goes to great use in his small but uproarious turn in Tropic Thunder. He’s nearly unrecognizable as studio exec Les Grossman, who makes venomous, expletive-laden insults an art form. But Cruise’s approach to the character is the chilling undercurrent he lends Grossman. Just look at the dead-eyed glare he gives Matthew McConaughey when he calmly explains how to use an actor’s death to his own advantage. It’s rare but refreshing to see Cruise cut loose and be a little less concerned about endearing himself to the audience.

18. Oblivion (2013)

At first blush, Oblivion looks to embody some of the more noxious issues that mark a lot of recent Cruise work: a sterile action film with a science-fiction sheen; thin emotional through lines; Cruise paired with actresses notably younger than he is . Thankfully, Oblivion proves to be a fascinating, if uneven, study on the nature of loss, much of which is thanks to Cruise’s turn as a futuristic repairman in Earth’s devastated future — a role that gives him the opportunity to stretch a bit more than he’s had to lately.

17. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Edge of Tomorrow adds new wrinkles to the typically hypercompetent military figure he’s played elsewhere. This time he’s an official with no combat training thrust into a messy war with an alien species — and he dies nearly immediately when he hits the battlefield. He ends up reliving his final day again and again, dying in creative ways each time. In truth, the movie’s true badass is a curt Emily Blunt as Sergeant Rita Vrataski, who whips him into shape, creating a fun tension between the two. But it’s exhilarating to watch Cruise lean into the physical humor and meld together the various personae that have come to define his career as a leading man.

16. A Few Good Men (1992)

Legal dramas — particularly those written by the likes of Aaron Sorkin — can be tricky pursuits for actors, requiring a verbal dexterity that can easily overpower them. But Cruise is excellent here, conveying an ease and gravitas as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, who must work a thorny case when a Marine is murdered and a cover-up ensues. Cruise more than holds his own against the bluster of Jack Nicholson, an actor who can easily dominate whatever scene he’s in. But by the end of the film Cruise has a confidence and steadfast demeanor that proves to be a fascinating, subtle transformation.

15. The Color of Money (1986)

In an interview on Inside the Actors Studio , when discussing this Martin Scorsese–helmed sequel to The Hustler, Cruise described co-star Paul Newman as an idol. It’s clear here that Cruise is learning from Newman’s trademark ease and depth as an actor, rising to the challenge the movie asks of him. Cruise has played plenty of young, talented hot shots early in his career, but his work as Vincent Lauria is particularly noteworthy for the exuberance he carries, and how wonderfully he plays off the weary Newman.

14. Risky Business (1983)

In her excellent essay collection This Is Running for Your Life, Michelle Orange wrote, “True movie stars are born twice.” She’s right. There is, of course, the first story of how their stardom happened. The second birth is when they do something fans can’t forget, moments that became singed into the cultural consciousness. Cruise has produced a handful of them, but one of the most important happens here , when he dances to “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Bob Seger. Risky Business helped launch Cruise’s stardom, and it’s no wonder why.

13. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Tom Cruise has not appeared in many romantic comedies, and for good reason. Not many modern rom-coms could play toward his strengths — that practiced allure, the charming opportunism behind his easy-but-calculated smile, and the distinct impression that he’s holding something back. All of these qualities are used to great effect in this Cameron Crowe rom-com/sports drama, which gives Cruise some of his most iconic lines. But most importantly, it gives him a venue to chart a fascinating progression from a self-obsessed sports manager with shadings of a classic fuckboy to a man who reckons sincerely with his more loathsome instincts.

12. Mission: Impossible III (2006)

The third installment of what’s now Cruise’s signature franchise sees Ethan Hunt retired from fieldwork, training new recruits, and eventually squaring off with Philip Seymour Hoffman, who relishes and dominates every scene he’s in. The story line involving Michelle Monaghan as Hunt’s kept-in-the-dark fiancée has some well-worn beats, but Cruise is still an absolute pleasure to watch. The film’s otherwise excellent team dynamics allow him to expand his repertoire within the franchise, showing off some wry humor and even a surprising tenderness opposite Keri Russell.

11. Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)

During its short time thus far in theaters, Mission:Impossible — Fallout has proven to be an action master class, marrying ridiculous plot turns with astounding set pieces. Cruise matches the bravura of the film around him with gusto. He throws himself headlong into his outrageous stunts — one of which led to an injury, which brings up a host of questions about how his career can continue in this manner. But Cruise is a blast to watch as he navigates confusion and double crosses, his performance dented only by the requirement of traditional romance (although his scenes with Michelle Monaghan bristle with an intriguing awkwardness). He shares the glory here with some great supporting cast, most notably Henry Cavill’s surprisingly effective turn as a bruiser with slippery loyalty and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa, the gimlet-eyed agent turned quasi–love interest.

10. Rain Man (1988)

While Cruise is obviously adept at providing the presence and physical dexterity action films require, his skills as an actor really shine through in drama films of this caliber. Rain Man gives Cruise the chance to stretch his abilities without resting on his typical charms. The entire film depends on his ability to capably communicate his character’s tricky arc: Cruise plays Charlie Babbitt, an unscrupulous and cunning yuppie who finds out that most of his estranged father’s estate is being given to an older brother he didn’t know about (Dustin Hoffman in an Oscar-winning role). As the two brothers travel across the country, Cruise delivers a genuinely touching portrayal of a man shedding his abrasive, self-centered nature to become a protective, tenderhearted brother. He has rarely felt so vulnerable onscreen.

9. Top Gun (1986)

Maverick is the quintessential cocksure, determined, highly skilled leading character that Cruise has spent a career perfecting. For many people, Top Gun is synonymous with the actor — it’s the first image they think of when they think of Tom Cruise. And while the film, directed by Tony Scott, exemplifies some of the worst aspects of Reagan-era America, Cruise himself isn’t dragged down by this one bit. It’s easy to see why this performance has left such an impact on the pop-culture imagination. His physical bravado, confidence, and joyfulness cast a spell.

8. Mission: Impossible (1996)

It’s easy to believe that Tom Cruise The Action Star has always been with us. But Mission: Impossible is when he became the real-life action figure we know him as today. And what a doozy it is. Helmed by Brian de Palma, in the film Cruise effortlessly toggles between espionage-thriller mood and impactful physicality. The movie perfectly demonstrates how smoothly Cruise can shift between tones when he needs to — just look at the infamous Pentagon break-in sequence, where he blends sweaty anxiety with light humor and, on top of all that, the action-movie tension needed to make it all work.

7. Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report is a sleek, absorbing science-fiction yarn that manages to turn a Philip K. Dick story into an expressive blockbuster action film. But Tom Cruise’s performance as John Anderton, an on-the-run detective in a futuristic world in which people can be arrested for crimes before they’ve even committed them, pushes the dark social commentary and exhilarating nature of the story to new heights. As Anderton, Cruise marries the best of his genre-film talents into one impressively gripping performance. There’s a haunted quality to his Anderton, the kind of man who carries his past wounds with him. Cruise proves to be extremely potent as a neo-noir lead.

6. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

This adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic (played by Cruise) is an emotional gauntlet for the actor — and it requires a dramatic physical transformation too. I’ve lamented Cruise’s work in period pieces, but he works well in this film’s ’60s and ’70s settings. One of Cruise’s specialties is to dissect the American myth, and he gets ample opportunity to do so here as he charts Kovic’s transformation from a fresh-faced soldier to an emotionally wounded, paralyzed, war-protesting vet. A mirror opposite of the more traditional military leads Cruise tends to play, his performance here is arresting, raw, and powerful.

5. War of the Worlds (2005)

Cruise is not exactly the first actor you’d expect to play an Everyman like Ray Ferrier, the longshoreman at the heart of Steven Spielberg’s 2005 sci-fi epic . But he brings gravity and heart to the central dynamic of the film — Ferrier’s desire not to be a failure as a father, and the all-consuming goal to protect his children from the alien havoc decimating the world. It’s an excellent, absorbing, humane performance that sees Cruise’s typical mania soften into a heartwarming dedication to save his family.

4. Magnolia (1999)

Few modern actors understand the mask-like quality of celebrity better than Tom Cruise, who interrogates these ideas with aplomb in Magnolia. Has Cruise ever been more utterly disturbing or strangely entrancing than as self-help guru and living embodiment of toxic masculinity Frank T.J. Mackey? Cruise only plays a supporting role here, but he’s what the viewer is drawn to most; he embodies modern masculinity’s most noxious qualities. And when all that bravado is threatened by the mere mention of his family, the way Cruise communicates the damaged vulnerability lurking beneath the surface is a marvel.

3. Collateral (2004)

In a Black Book interview, director Mary Harron shared that actor Christian Bale found inspiration for American Psycho ’s obsessive serial killer Patrick Bateman in Tom Cruise. “We talked about how Martian-like Patrick Bateman was, how he was looking at the world like somebody from another planet, watching what people did and trying to work out the right way to behave. And then one day he called me and he had been watching Tom Cruise on David Letterman, and he just had this very intense friendliness with nothing behind the eyes, and he was really taken with this energy.” It’s for precisely this reason why Cruise never feels like a truly capable romantic lead: There’s something practiced, even unnatural about his charisma, like a mask being worn. Most directors miss out on this quality, but Michael Mann capitalized on it. Cruise delivers one of his most assured and complex performances as Vincent, a hit man who ropes in an unsuspecting cabdriver played by Jamie Foxx. Cruise’s charisma is finally used as a weapon, not a lure.

2. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Dr. Bill Hartford is an unlikely part for Cruise. He’s humiliated, confused, and frequently out of his depth in Stanley Kubrick’s odd erotic drama Eyes Wide Shut. But it proves to be one of Cruise’s richest and most complex performances as he navigates a strange milieu of sexual desire. The tension between him and then-wife Nicole Kidman, playing his movie wife Alice Hartford, along with Cruise’s utter lack of an equilibrium make this as much about sexuality as it is about the trials and tribulations we endure to find any sense of happiness.

1. Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Lestat, the preening and egotistical creation by Gothic novelist Anne Rice, is the photo negative of a typical Tom Cruise role — at least that’s how he seems at first. He doesn’t run or channel manic energy or do stunt work; he saunters and stalks with the coolly focused energy of a wolf. He’s languid and frightening, lupine and menacing. But Lestat does share one trait that snakes its way through Cruise’s greatest work: bold narcissism. Interview With the Vampire allows Cruise to lean into that. It lets Cruise be something he’s rarely been — archly humorous, disturbingly erotic, truly dangerous. It’s wondrous watching him turn from sincere to brutal as he plays off the cheerfully cruel Kirsten Dunst and the solemn Brad Pitt.

More importantly, this is one of the rare performances in which Cruise utterly cuts loose and experiments beyond the usual archetypes he’s grown accustomed to. It isn’t a perfect performance — it’s better than that. Beguiling and malevolently anti-charismatic, Cruise has never been more fun to watch.

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Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best

He's more than a guy who looks good in Ray-Bans and runs a lot.

A movie so bad, it was the first and last entry in Universal’s planned monster movie cinematic universe.

Rock of Ages

Amazon Hulu

In this extremely unfortunate musical about ‘80s hair metal, Tom Cruise plays a karaoke version of a rock and roll god named Stacee Jaxx.

Amazon Tubi

Released the same year as Risky Business , Tom Cruise plays the hunk in this high school sex comedy that time forgot. Get it? They’re "losin’ it"—as in their virginity.

Endless Love

In his first on-screen appearance, Tom Cruise is some random shirtless kid in Daisy Dukes bragging about being a pyromaniac.

Lions for Lambs

Nearly a decade before Trump coined the term “Fake News,” Tom Cruise plays a morally corrupt senator making a presidential bid by planting a story through a journalist played by Meryl Streep. In the end, this pretentious and convoluted plot says very little about its moving parts.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Though the tagline warns to never go back, Cruise unfortunately did go back to play the titular Jack Reacher, in a sequel that plays out like dumb, less tech-savvy Mission: Impossible.

Tom Cruise and Mia Sara try to protect the last of the unicorns from Tim Curry, who is some sort of awesome devil muppet. It’s also the only straight-up fantasy movie Cruise has ever done—and it’s pretty obvious why.

Far and Away

Seven years before they co-starred in Eyes Wide Shut (and two years after their wedding), Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman played star-crossed lovers and Irish immigrants trying to make it in America.

In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, Cruise is a drone repairman who’s also into American sports. When he finds a group of survivors (led by Morgan Freeman), he begins to question the nature of his entire reality. As always, Cruise holds down what is otherwise a pretty clunky plot.

YouTube Pluto TV

Tom Cruise plays a German officer with an American accent who leads a group of German soldiers with British accents in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler during WWII. It’s based on an actual military plot that could have entered some intriguing territory, had it not settled for being average historical escapism.

Knight and Day

In this action comedy, Cruise is once again a secret agent who accidentally ropes Cameron Diaz into an international conspiracy. For all his macho spy stuff, Cruise proves in Knight and Day that he can take this hero stuff lightly too.

Mission: Impossible II

Paramount+ Netflix

The worst of Cruise’s six Mission: Impossible movies, this one sees Ethan Hunt trying to stop a deadly weaponized virus that’s going to be released by terrorists. Unfortunately, director John Woo’s style didn’t quite fit with the international espionage of this franchise.

Jack Reacher

In his first of two movies playing the titular former military police-officer-turned-vigilante-drifter, Cruise’s character tries to stop a military sniper on a killing spree. Of course, Cruise also did all his own driving stunts.

The Outsiders

Coming down from the golden phase of his career, Francis Ford Coppola assembled an incredible upcoming cast for The Outsiders that included Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane.

In his second-ever onscreen role, Cruise plays David Shawn, one of the military cadets who attempt to protect their academy from being torn down for local condo developers. Pretty low stakes as far as military dramas go.

War of the Worlds

In this Steven Spielberg re-imagining of the H.G. Wells novel, Cruise plays a father attempting to keep his children safe throughout an alien invasion. Though it has all the highlights of a Spielbergian sci-fi, it wasn’t quite enough to cause riots like Orson Welles’s infamous radio broadcast.

The Last Samurai

Amazon Netflix

A white savior complex brings down what is otherwise a well-acted period period piece about an American Civil War veteran sent to train a 19th century Japanese army.

Mission: Impossible III

Before he was put in charge of both Star Wars and Star Trek , J.J. Abrams’s big Hollywood blockbuster movie directorial debut was at the helm of Mission: Impossible III , which saw a retired Ethan Hunt brought back in the game to stop an excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Vanilla Sky

Cruise stars in this philosophical thriller as a man haunted by the specter of a former flame after becoming disfigured in a car crash. (Fun fact: Penelope Cruz plays the same character in this remake of her Spanish film, Abre los Ojos .)

Days of Thunder

NASCAR moved into the mainstream thanks to this movie in which Cruise plays a promising driver hoping to making it in the big leagues.

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Every Tom Cruise Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

The best and worst of Tom Cruise's eclectic and transformative filmography.

Since his big screen debut in 1981, Tom Cruise has held strong as one of Hollywood's most successful megastars, a title he has justified time and time again over the years, even as his career has taken on different forms and his controversies behind-the-scenes have threatened to derail him entirely.

He's starred in iconic rom-coms, political thrillers, rock musicals, epic ensemble dramas, enrapturing war biopics, legal thrillers and some of the most innovative, adrenalised action films of the last 20+ years, and he's given his all in almost every one.

A three-time Oscar nominee with a thirst for doing his own stunts and one-upping himself wherever possible, Cruise seems to have done it all, even if many of his films have laughably missed the mark and - in one extreme case - killed an entire franchise.

With the long-awaited Top Gun sequel on the horizon and production on the next two Mission Impossible films well underway, now seems a good time to take a deep breath before the next wave of Cruise Fever, and remember the highs and lows of the cinematic titan's filmography, by ranking all 42 Tom Cruise movies worst to best...

42. Rock Of Ages (2012)

It's tough to figure out why Tom Cruise's performance in Adam Shankman's painfully dull and misguided musical Rock of Ages was so applauded when it came out, but time has proven the film's original supporters wrong.

Cruise's role as arrogant rock star Stacee Jaxx finds the actor noticeably out of his element, trying his damnedest to belt out tunes by Def Leppard and Bon Jovi and lacking any redeeming charm to stop his performance coming across as tacky and hilariously forced.

To be honest, the role is a summary of the entire dismal film, which is nothing short of an embarrassment for everyone involved.

I get to write about what I love, so that's pretty cool. Every great film should seem new every time you see it. Be excellent to each other.

An impossible mission: Ranking Tom Cruise's 25 best movies

An impossible mission: ranking tom cruise's 25 best movies, from risky business to mission: impossible—dead reckoning part one , we're counting down the finest work by hollywood's most enduring star.

No one has made a better case to be Hollywood’s most enduring movie star over the past four decades than Tom Cruise. With this year’s Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One and last year’s Top Gun: Maverick , the 61-year-old continues to prove he’s ageless in real life and bulletproof on-screen. His career, much like his Top Gun and Mission: Impossible characters, simply cannot be killed.

In the 40 years since Cruise slid across a hardwood floor in his socks, button-down shirt, and tighty-whities in 1983’s Risky Business , he has remained at the forefront of the cultural conversation, thanks to a virtually unrivaled string of hits. More than just about anybody from his generation of actors, Cruise has created a body of work that’s notable for its consistent quality, versatility, and his fierce commitment to pushing his own limits.

To commemorate the penultimate film in the Mission: Impossible series , Dead Reckoning Part One , The A.V. Club is ranking Cruise’s 25 best movies, a considerable challenge for a performer with at least 56 credits under his belt since 1981.

25. Oblivion (2013)

One of only a few Cruise forays into pure sci-fi, Oblivion coasts on its coolly sophisticated dystopian visuals, its central mystery, and the fact there are only about a dozen people in the entire movie and one of them is an A-list actor we can’t take our eyes off of. Cruise plays a technician who repairs drones on a planet Earth that’s been nearly destroyed and rendered uninhabitable by an invading alien civilization. He gives the movie more than its thin story deserves, by not only demonstrating his physicality but also imbuing his character—mostly alone save for his lover, played by Andrea Riseborough, and someone whose identity is best not spoiled, played by Morgan Freeman—with some dimension. Directed by Tron: Legacy ’s Joseph Kosinski, the twist-filled Oblivion is a victory of style over substance that’s absorbing enough and deserves a second look, even as a minor entry in the Tom Cruise canon. [Mark Keizer]

24. Taps (1981)

Cruise’s first major movie role was in director Harold Becker’s 1981 drama Taps , where he plays one of the rebellious students fighting to save his military academy from being torn down and replaced with condominiums. The film also stars the great George C. Scott as the school’s top muckety-muck and—in his film debut—Sean Penn. Even at the tender age of 19, Cruise showed an intensity and seriousness of purpose that would serve him well as he began his career as a leading man and climber of tall mountains and buildings in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Cruise was originally only going to be a background player in Taps , but when Becker saw Cruise during boot camp training with his fellow actors “out-marching the other cadets on the parade field,” he was upped to the crucial role of the academy’s gun-happy, gung-ho rebel. [Mark Keizer]

23. The Firm (1993)

By 1993, Cruise was firmly established (no pun intended) as an A-list star, and his adaptation of The Firm kicked off a series of high-profile films based on John Grisham’s page-turners. The Firm accelerated Cruise’s transition from an enforcer of institutions (as he was in Top Gun ) to someone who begins to question them (as wunderkind law firm hire Mitch McDeere). Cruise had already worked with Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Ron Howard, and Rob Reiner by this point, so teaming up with Sydney Pollack was a no-brainer, especially on a film that leveraged Pollack’s political-thriller pedigree to such brilliant effect. Holly Hunter, then on her own hot streak, ended up being the only cast member to receive an acting nomination, but as the anchor of an ensemble that also included Jeanne Trippelhorn, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn, and the great Gene Hackman as Mitch’s benevolent, feckless mentor, Cruise sprinted his way to box office glory and acting acclaim. [Todd Gilchrist]

22. Valkyrie (2008)

Cruise released four movies between Mission: Impossible 3 and Ghost Protocol and they show his career listing a bit while he attempts escape velocity on the rocket ship of M:I sequels. The worst of the four was 2007’s boring PoliSci lecture Lions For Lambs and if you remove the failed franchise starter Knight And Day , and his glorified cameo in the hilarious Tropic Thunder , you’re really left with 2008’s Valkyrie as the best of the bunch. Cruise plays real-life German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, who led an assassination attempt on Adolph Hitler in 1944. Cruise, attempting a measured twist on his all-American persona by playing a Nazi who nevertheless wants to kill Hitler, doesn’t always look comfortable in his eyepatch and questionable German accent. However, the film is a meticulously plotted retelling of a fascinating chapter in the history of World War II. Whatever its merits (or demerits) the film did one thing right: it introduced Cruise to writer Christopher McQuarrie who would go on to direct Cruise in 2012’s Jack Reacher and then shepherd the M:I series starting with 2015’s Rogue Nation . [Mark Keizer]

21. War Of The Worlds (2005)

War Of The Worlds , Cruise’s second collaboration with Steven Spielberg, put him at the mercy of the filmmaker’s post-9/11 introspection as they teamed up to adapt H.G. Wells’ iconic science-fiction novel into a meditation on the terror, physically and psychologically, of existential and largely unknowable threats. Cruise bravely takes on one of his least flattering roles as a deadbeat dad who has to take care of his estranged son (Justin Chatwin) and anxiously dependent daughter (Dakota Fanning) as they make the trek to reunite with his ex-wife. Under Spielberg’s confident guidance, Cruise gives the character the right amount of unlikeable elements, even as he and his children face escalating challenges to find safety in the face of an alien invasion. The director’s muscular set pieces create some unforgettable moments, although the film’s emotional throughline doesn’t measure up to Minority Report , the previous Cruise-Spielberg collaboration. [Todd Gilchrist]

20. Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (2011)

Nowadays, the Mission: Impossible series is best known as the franchise in which Tom Cruise risks his life trying some crazy stunt for the sake of an Imax screen. In the beginning, however, it was an extension of Cruise’s desire to work with visionary directors, from Brian De Palma to John Woo, and allow them to put their own distinctive spins (or doves) on the material. Ghost Protocol was the installment in which the transition occurred, and remains the best fusion of both approaches. The feature live-action directorial debut of beloved animation auteur Brad Bird, Ghost Protocol was the first in the M:I series to really feel like a “team saving the world” movie rather than a mostly personal revenge narrative—with Bond-level nuclear war stakes. When the inevitable big stunt comes—Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa, on the outside —it’s telling that, as enthusiastic as Cruise himself may have been to do the stunt, Ethan Hunt’s in-character reluctance (and frustration that the circumstances keep getting worse) is palpable. For maybe the last time, Hunt felt like a genuine underdog. [Luke Y. Thompson]

19. Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

The Mission: Impossible series has one thing in common with the James Bond franchise pre-Daniel Craig: despite spending decades watching the character’s exploits, the amount of things we know about them personally can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. There’s only a handful of actors we’re willing to spend that much time with while knowing next to nothing about who they’re playing, their history, their desires, and their personal wants and needs. Cruise is, of course, one of them. All we really need to see is Cruise running, jumping, and fighting and we’re happy. Seven films in, he continues to be a real-life action figure and his performance in Dead Reckoning Part One is less one of character-crafting than physical endurance and a willingness to possibly die on camera. To that end, Cruise continues to kill it, so to speak, and his advancing age only makes Ethan Hunt seem more mortal ... even if we’ve been paying good money for 27 years to disavow ourselves of that knowledge. [Mark Keizer]

18. Rain Man (1988)

Dustin Hoffman won a Best Actor Academy Award for his role as an autistic savant in Barry Levinson’s 1988 Rain Man . But despite the verbal and physical tics that suggest Hoffman was the Oscar-worthy thespian, Cruise also had a tough assignment: hold the entire film together. He plays Charlie Babbitt, a fast-talking car salesman who discovers that his late father’s fortune has been placed in a trust meant to support Raymond (Hoffman), the autistic brother he never knew existed. So Charlie takes Raymond on a cross-country road trip with the ultimate goal of fleecing him out of his money. Because Raymond cannot change as a character it’s up to Cruise to take the emotional journey. And he’s more than up to the task. He shows great range and subtlety as he goes from an egocentric huckster trying to take advantage of his brother to a much less egocentric huckster who chooses family over money. According to Hoffman, Tom even wrote his dialogue over and over in his own handwriting to better internalize the words. Rain Man , which was almost directed by Steven Spielberg before he jumped off to helm the third Indiana Jones movie, went on to become Cruise’s first and, so far, only Best Picture Oscar winner. [Mark Keizer]

17. Risky Business (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola was so impressed by Cruise’s performance in his 1983 drama The Outsiders that he offered him a role in his next film, Rumble Fish . Shockingly, Tom turned down the genius behind Apocalypse Now and The Godfather to star in a comedy by a novice director about a high school teen who transforms his home into a brothel while his parents are on vacation. Talk about a risk! But the film, Paul Brickman’s teen lark and capitalist satire, Risky Business , afforded Cruise his first leading role. He auditioned for the part of clean-cut, smooth-talking entrepreneur Joel Goodsen while still sporting his chipped tooth and greasy hair from The Outsiders . But Brickman trusted Cruise, who proved he’ll do whatever it takes for a role by shedding 14 pounds of muscle in five weeks and then adding a layer of baby fat to convey Joel’s youthful insecurity and vulnerability. Otherwise, Tom’s unshakable confidence, sly intelligence and megawatt smile are all deployed in full for the first time. When Cruise slid across the living room floor to Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll” wearing only socks, underwear, and a dress shirt, he also slipped into the hearts and minds of movie lovers—where he remains to this day. [Mark Keizer]

16. A Few Good Men (1992)

One of the most overlooked qualities that Cruise frequently brings to the screen, especially in his earlier roles, is the resonant sense of being in over his head. That ability serves him exceedingly well in A Few Good Men , where he plays a plea-bargaining Naval JAG officer known for taking the easy way out of legal showdowns. When faced with the ugly institutional truths he discovers while tasked with a murder case, Cruise must engage in the ultimate courtroom confrontation against a decidedly hostile witness in the form of Jack Nicholson, as formidable and intimidating a cinematic scene partner as they come. Armed with smart, elevated dialogue by Aaron Sorkin and snappy, actor-friendly direction from Rob Reiner, Cruise uses his skill for out-of-his-depth-but-resolute conviction to effectively face down the screen-devouring Nicholson. Cruise’s brief moments of scenery-chewing serve his rattled character’s cause well as he baits and turns the tide against the fearsome Marine colonel. A suitably knotty plot, core themes of morality and accountability and an excellent supporting cast—Demi Moore, Kevin Pollack, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland and the late, great J.T. Walsh—help distinguish the film as a crackerjack courtroom potboiler, and one that stands the test of time. [Scott Huver]

15. Mission: Impossible (1996)

In combining the derring-do of a Bond film with the real-world spy craft of a Tom Clancy novel, Mission: Impossible didn’t just require Cruise to take a big leap in the physical sense. Comfortably into his thirties, it was also Cruise’s first producing effort and, by all accounts, he took it seriously, slam dunking this big-budget reboot of a faded TV series, which is mostly remembered for Lalo Schifrin’s theme music. Considering Cruise has performed increasingly perilous stunts with each M:I sequel, it’s rather quaint that in the franchise’s 1996 debut, America’s success on the geopolitical stage rests on a single bead of sweat dangling from his glasses as he hangs from wires in a temperature controlled vault. But dammit, it’s still a heart-stopping scene and arguably the most iconic moment of the entire series. Like most Mission: Impossible films, the mission of understanding the plot is impossible to accept. But as long as Cruise, as superspy Ethan Hunt, knows what’s going on, we’ll just sit back and enjoy the ride. It would take a sequel or three before the series really took off, but let’s give Tom some credit for foresight: before the IP era completely swallowed Hollywood, Cruise had already established his own movie franchise. [Mark Keizer]

14. Tropic Thunder (2008)

Cruise has carefully crafted his onscreen persona over the decades, and a large part of that has come down to him being instantly recognizable as Tom Cruise and all that encompasses. Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder gave Cruise a chance to cut loose, get low, and escape his movie star looks with the help of prosthetics in order to become the crude, hot-tempered producer Les Grossman. What originally began as a smaller role, one eventually filled by Matthew McConaughey, became a newly created supporting one after Cruise suggested adding a studio head to the satire. From his hairy, over-sized hands, his dancing to Flo Rida’s “Low,” and his foul mouth—something audiences weren’t used to seeing from Cruise on screen—Grossman became one of the breakout characters from the summer of 2008. The role is even more refreshing in context, landing right between Cruise’s roles in the more self-serious Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie . Cruise reprised the role at the MTV Movie Awards in 2010, leading Paramount to announce a spin-off centered on the character, which has yet to materialize. Even if we never see Grossman again, the role set the stage for Cruise’s career over the next decade, reminding audiences that even a star as well-known as Cruise was still full of surprises. [Richard Newby]

13. American Made (2017)

Director Doug Liman’s American Made is not based on existing IP which made some audiences believe that Cruise—by now entrenched in his many impossible missions—had signed up by mistake. But it’s the film’s relative lack of blockbuster pretense that made it so refreshing. In what can only be described as the moral flip side to Top Gun , Cruise plays real-life TWA pilot Barry Seal, who was recruited to fly reconnaissance missions and take surveillance photos for the CIA but winds up transporting drugs for a South American cartel. None of this sounds very “Tom Cruise” which is why American Made unfairly flew under the radar. It’s more fun than you think with Cruise getting about as topical as he’s been since 1989’s decidedly less fun Born On The Fourth Of July . But this time, he does it with a charm and bravado bordering on that distinctly American brand of devil-may-care foolishness. [Mark Keizer]

12. Top Gun (1986)

If Cruise had never made another film after this one, he would likely still have attained a cinematic immortality akin to that of James Dean. He was, quite simply, the perfect star for the perfect movie at the perfect moment, embodying every iota of the rah-rah, buffed-up, live-fast American machismo, however occasionally overconfident, that epitomized the 1980s. His performance was further enhanced by director Tony Scott’s decidedly groundbreaking, nail-biting visual style—inspired by the hyper-speed edits of MTV music videos—and dynamically decorated by sleek aerial hardware supplied by the U.S. Navy. If Risky Business had strongly hinted at Cruise’s movie star promise, Top Gun took it supersonic.

Every star-turn talent that Cruise possesses, he expresses in its purest form here as Maverick, and it all plays like gangbusters: striking romantic sparks by butting heads with an initially antagonistic love interest (Kelly McGillis); giddily bro-ing out with his devoted sidekick (Anthony Edwards); cockily squaring off with his rival (Val Kilmer); defying the authority of his superiors (Tom Skerritt); self-flagellating when he crashes and burns; and emerging triumphant against tall odds. All of these would be key elements of Cruise’s pumped-up flight plan for the next three-plus decades, and—even wilder—the film, which was also a boon to military enlistment, still sends audiences into the stratosphere today. [Scott Huver]

11. Collateral (2004)

Still in the thick of his quest to work with film’s leading auteurs, Cruise found his way to Michael Mann, the foremost maker of starry, moody crime dramas that were both atmospheric and action-packed. Their collaboration on Collateral was, perhaps unexpectedly, potent indeed, with Cruise taking on a rare—and quite effective—turn as the film’s principal bad guy, a contract killer whose cool, efficient exterior belies a deeply sadistic streak underneath when he casually terrorizes his hapless taxi driver (Jamie Foxx, in winning Everyman mode). Cruise leans into elements of his superstar persona; he’s a relentless, well-oiled machine in his action sequences, hinting at the increasingly impressive commitment to stunts ahead in his career. Though still in remarkable condition, he’s less immortal-looking when aged up with salt-and-pepper hair that complements his slate-gray business suit. The story is territory that Mann always navigates entertainingly, and the director’s penchant for two-handers featuring top talent pays off with the Cruise-Foxx pairing throughout the majority of the film, with both stars playing against type and striking combative sparks along the way. [Scott Huver]

10. Minority Report (2002)

After a decade of looking for a project to embark on together, two of the screen’s towering titans—Cruise and director Steven Spielberg—landed on Minority Report , a gem of a sci-fi thriller built out of ideas from visionary author Philip K. Dick: a dark, dystopian future landscape with thorny, still highly resonant moral questions at its heart. Cruise is a cop tasked with neutralizing crimes before they’re committed—“precrimes”—with the aid of precognitive predictive system that proves faulty. We get prime versions of two of the most enjoyable Cruise screen personas: first, the confident, capable action hero; and then, when the cop himself is accused of a future crime, Cruise turns to out-of-his-depth, struggling-to-survive mode. It’s a film noir scenario given fresh, vivid life by the lavishly detailed and startlingly plausible future environs that Spielberg crafts; beyond world-building the director further amps up the excitement by putting the very able Cruise through the paces of a classic Hitchcockian hero in a cyberpunk setting. The actor’s star-wattage perfectly complements Spielberg’s cinematic razzle-dazzle, and the result is a top-notch film that often goes underestimated in both Cruise and Spielberg’s body of work. [Scott Huver]

9. Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018)

While two of the Mission: Impossible movies didn’t make this list— M:I—2 and Mission: Impossible 3 —the ones that did stand out. Mission: Impossible—Fallout , like Rogue Nation , was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. But where Rogue Nation branched off from what had come before, Fallout felt like a cohesive thought that wasn’t inheriting its ideas. Here McQuarrie adds to the series’ foundation without being derivative in a film that   also features mind-blowing set pieces that leverage Tom Cruise’s willingness to risk life and limb for the audience’s entertainment. In this installment, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt finds himself caught in the crossfire of an inter-organizational squabble as the IMF and the CIA both seek to regain nuclear weapons that Hunt sadly lost while saving his own team. The resulting pursuit, which not only involves parachuting over Paris, racing down the Champs-Elysses, and a helicopter chase over the Himalayas, creates extraordinary visuals and breathtaking action. The film is thrilling and genuinely affecting at the same time. [Todd Gilchrist]

8. Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Time travel, mech suits, aliens, Emily Blunt’s iconic push-up, and Tom Cruise playing a coward. Edge of Tomorrow really does have it all, along with plenty of heart, which is why it’s one of the best science-fiction movies of the past decade. Given its subject matter it isn’t surprising that Doug Liman’s adaptation of Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s sci-fi light novel gets better every time you revisit it. The film offered Cruise a chance to do something we’d never seen from him before—portray an action hero who’s really bad at the action stuff, at least at first. Despite his lengthy history in action movies, Cruise is completely believable as Cage, who gets caught in a time loop that forces him to relive the same day over and over each time he dies. There’s a subtlety to the gallows humor in Cruise’s performance, which is finely tuned to make him charismatic and sympathetic without being a Maverick-esque alpha. And there’s real chemistry between Cage and Blunt’s Rita, which is the driving force of the story. Watching Cruise fight aliens is always cool, but watching him struggle, learn, and face a never-ending tide of death and heartbreak makes it one of his best performances. [Richard Newby]

7. Born On The 4th Of July (1989)

History has given a thumbs down on the theory that Tom was destined to star in 1989’s Born On The Fourth Of July because he was born on the third of July. He took on his first great acting challenge because he was ready to stretch himself, work with a tough director in Oliver Stone and tell a politically charged story that was destined to be controversial. Cruise plays real-life Vietnam War vet Ron Kovic, who would serve his country in one way during the war and serve it in an entirely different way after the war. The film required Cruise to go from gung-ho solider to bitter, wheelchair-bound veteran to long-haired anti-war activist. And it was Tom’s clean cut, American hero image that made Kovic’s descent into anguish and alcohol so devastating to watch. Although the real Kovic was initially hesitant (Al Pacino was originally cast in the role), Cruise proved himself by attending boot camp (twice), meeting with dozens of Vietnam vets and visiting VA hospitals. The result is a riveting and heartbreaking performance that earned Cruise his first Oscar nomination and put Hollywood on notice that there was no role he couldn’t play. [Mark Keizer]

6. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015)

Tom Cruise’s onscreen partnership with writer/director Christopher McQuarrie, which began with 2008’s Valkyrie and continued through Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow , hit the next level when the two teamed up for the fifth installment of the Mission: Impossible series. The entry finds Cruise’s Ethan Hunt on the run following the disbanding of the Impossible Missions Force and fully introduces the adversaries from the ’60s series, Syndicate. The stunts are some of the best in the series, including a high-speed motorcycle chase that puts all others to shame, and an underwater cooling system sequence that begs viewers to hold their breath right along with Cruise. Returning faces and the introduction of new characters like Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa Faust and Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane broadened the scope of the franchise in ways that are still paying off. Even though Cruise had played the role for 19 years by the release of Rogue Nation , a longer tenure than any actor to play Bond, he still managed to bring new layers to Hunt and retain an enthusiasm that feels like the series is just getting started, rather than moving towards its endgame. [Richard Newby]

5. The Color Of Money (1986)

Released just five months after the cinematic sonic boom that was Top Gun , director Martin Scorsese’s gritty yet operatic pool hustler drama The Color of Money demonstrated that Cruise was more than just a freshly minted movie star: he was a top-notch actor as well. Cruise twists his glimmering charisma and all-American cockiness, turning low-level billiards savant Vincent into a brilliant protegee/foil/adversary for Paul Newman’s “Fast Eddie” Felson, a character reprised, in a then-unique move, from the 25-years-earlier film The Hustler . Cruise clearly learned a slew of lessons about navigating Hollywood from Newman, whom he befriended and revered, that he cannily employed as his own career flowered; the actor also began following a very canny path of working with genuine auteurs like Scorsese, who was near the height of his visual prowess here. The filmmaker’s kinetic sense of cinema is ideally paired with Cruise’s hyperactive take on Vincent, and he allows Cruise a convincing foray into darkness without sacrificing his appeal. Superficially seeming to riff on his early brand of cocksure hotheads, Cruise is in fact showing early stages of the emerging character actor lurking beneath his movie star surface. [Scott Huver]

4. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

This film’s reputation will likely grow over time, but out of the gate Top Gun: Maverick stands as perhaps the ne plus ultra of Cruise’s screen career, tapping into all of the various aspects that have defined him. Returning to his most popular screen role 36 years after the fact, in a matured form of his trademark masculine/vulnerable alpha male, Cruise checks every box—ultra-magnetic star power; deft execution of dramatic moments; daddy issue resonance; a charmingly self-aware cockiness; that remarkably preserved physique; unrepentant behind-the-scenes stunt daredevilry; a shrewd script assist from frequent muse Christopher McQuarrie; and that still powerfully potent root-ability. It’s through astonishingly executed star turns like these that Cruise transcends any passing missteps in his public life and the occasional box office dud to remain, all these decades later, one of the big screen’s truest and most constant superstars. Beyond that, the film is a crowd-pleasing, adrenaline-packed blast in and of itself, dropping Cruise into a cutting-edge take on dynamic aerial dogfights and surrounding him with sparring partners like Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm and Glen Powell, who are all up to the task of holding their own opposite him. [Scott Huver]

3. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

The year is 1999 and Tom Cruise is firing on all cylinders. He’s an action star but also putting in more humanistic performances with films like Rain Man, Far and Away and Jerry Maguire. He’s worked with Scorsese ( The Color of Money ) and Oliver Stone ( Born on the 4 th of July) and is a few years out from his kick-ass Spielberg films ( Minority Report , War of the Worlds ). So it was beyond huge news when Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman signed on to star in Stanley Kubrick’s mysterious Eyes Wide Shut . Little did Cruise (or likely, anyone) know that this film would take nearly a year-and-a-half to film, be Kubrick’s last and (many believe) help lead to the dissolution of his marriage to Kidman. But look at how much Eyes Wide Shut has grown in respect since it came out: Cruise’s portrayal of Dr. William Hartford is weird yet giving, anchored by his sheer star power. The stoic nature of the role also allows Kidman to dive into a sexy, esoteric performance, unmooring her onscreen and IRL husband with confessions of desire that shake him irreversibly out of his marital complacency. Without Cruise’s steady yet curious onscreen presence Kidman cannot be allowed to be the presence she is onscreen. Could anyone else but Tom Cruise have added the star power and acting chops shown in Eyes Wide Shut ? Not likely. [Don Lewis]

2. Jerry Maguire (1996)

In 1996 Tom Cruise was an actor capable of doing anything onscreen. This was long before his final Cruise incarnation of strictly an “action star.” While he indeed had quite a career going by this point, it wasn’t terribly rich in terms of romantic-comedy and, for good reason. Cruise’s chiseled good looks and rather straightforward demeanor make for a tough sell when it comes to rom-coms. Enter Cameron Crowe’s stellar Jerry Maguire . This outstanding film still holds up 25 years later; it remains funny, touching and, at times, thrilling. And while Cuba Gooding Jr. got the lion’s share of the publicity and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (followed closely by adorable newcomer Renée Zellweger), none of this works without Cruise’s all-out performance as the film’s titular character. It takes a very particular kind of actor, precisely the type that Cruise is, to introduce an intense character like Maguire yet also allow him to be fragile and empathetic. He’s at once a sports-bro but with a morality that flies in the face of that tough guy persona. He’s very handsome but that works so well that Zellweger’s heartfelt Dorothy Boyd can’t believe a dude this hot and passionate would be into her. Without Cruise, Jerry Maguire wouldn’t have had audiences at hello. [Don Lewis]

1. Magnolia (1999)

Oscar fans have a long history of holding a grudge when it comes to snubs and Tom Cruise not winning the Best Supporting Actor in 2000 from his incredible performance as Frank “T.J.” Mackey in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia is a biggie. How does one even describe this role without going as over the top as Mackey himself does in this film? It’s a masterful performance that has everything to do with Cruise’s ability to capture an audience with his looks and physicality as the severely traumatized and misogynistic Mackey. Yet the gut-wrenching trauma that drives this character doesn’t even come to the fore until about halfway through the film, when Cruise’s sad past is brought forth by a reporter who pokes all sorts of holes in Mackey’s arrogant ladies man persona. At this point the audience is laughing at, cringing at, and fairly shocked by, such a bombastic turn by Cruise. But then he kicks it up a notch with an all-time great onscreen meltdown as he confronts the father who inflicted so much pain upon him, which forged the bullshit façade of a human he now inhabits. Shortly after this film Cruise stopped doing dramatic roles. While there are probably myriad reasons why, one of them is that he wasn’t getting the respect he deserved. Case in point, his magnificent role in Magnolia. [Don Lewis]

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Every Tom Cruise film performance, ranked

I currently write about Fast & Furious, The Office, and Will Smith. One day, I will write Hitch 2.

Mission: Possible—Ranking Tom Cruise's performances

There will never be another Tom Cruise . For decades, his star power has endured, even as he faced controversy offscreen and flops onscreen. He might be the biggest household name to never win an Oscar, but he's put together an unmatched career of blockbusters, scene-stealing cameos, and frenzied dramatic turns. To relive it all, we've taken on the impossible mission of ranking every Cruise film performance. Yes, we're showing you all the money roles!

44. Knight and Day (2010)

How do you secure the bottom position in these rankings? Well, having more than a dozen writers work on the script and then clocking in as the lowest leading man box office performance of Cruise's career is a good start. The combination of Cruise, Cameron Diaz , and director James Mangold should have been a formidable trio, and, instead, this action comedy isn't funny, looks cheap, and Cruise's spy Roy Miller is nothing more than an even cheaper Ethan Hunt knockoff.

43. Losin' It (1983)

In this 1960s-set sex comedy, Cruise's shy, straitlaced Woody (on the nose, huh?) heads to Tijuana with a few pals to lose their virginity. Among the young talented group of Cruise, pre- Cheers Shelley Long and Jackie Earle Haley (who looks like a 50-year-old high schooler), no one screams future star, but it is nice to imagine Cruise's action hero origin story started here when a potential tussle ended immediately with Woody being punched in the throat. "I will never lose a fight again," Cruise, probably.

42. Days of Thunder (1990)

After scoring his first Oscar nomination, Cruise—for some reason—played a NASCAR driver named Cole Trickle. This film is notable for being the first collaboration between Cruise and future wife Nicole Kidman , as well as reuniting Cruise with Top Gun director Tony Scott . And the interesting facts about Days of Thunder end there, with both the movie and character being amongst Cruise's least memorable.

41. The Mummy (2017)

Remember the Dark Universe ? 'Twas a simpler time, 2017. Going into this list, I was fully prepared to shock the world and put The Mummy and Cruise's Nick Morton higher than anyone would have expected...and then I rewatched The Mummy. Nothing here works, and a lot of that can be put on Cruise, who reportedly took full control of this unnecessary reboot (#JusticeForBrendanFraser). That being said, the ending set up a never-to-be-seen sequel about the adventures of Mummy Cruise and Back from the Dead Jake Johnson , and, to be honest, I wouldn't not want it.

40. Lions for Lambs (2007)

You couldn't ask for a better pedigree, but you could have asked for so much more from Robert Redford 's war drama that is not so secretly disguised as a bunch of boring, preachy lectures. And, somehow, the back and forth between Cruise and Meryl Streep is the worst of the three simultaneous stories. Starring as Jasper Irving, Cruise almost seems too all-American to play an all-American Republican senator. Plus, Redford didn't do him any favors, essentially throwing Cruise to the lions by hoping he could sit in a room for one long extended scene and go toe-to-toe with a powerhouse like Streep.

39. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Cruise should have taken the title as a sign to have never gone back to Jack Reacher . And if that didn't do it, then maybe the very tepid reception to the first film should have done it. Beyond the bloodied, intriguing opening, Cruise's reunion with The Last Samurai director Edward Zwick doesn't bring anything new to the table, whether via exciting action or further developing Reacher.

38. The Outsiders (1983)

Brat Pack assemble! In Cruise's breakout year of 1983, he takes a backseat to young stars like Ralph Macchio , Patrick Swayze , Rob Lowe , Emilio Estevez , and Matt Dillon , but he does convincingly pull off being a working-class Oklahoma grease monkey.

37. Valkyrie (2008)

When discussing these rankings with a friend, he reminded me that we walked out of Valkyrie . And here's a few reasons why: Cruise is too handsome for this role, he didn't even try a German accent, his Nazi rebellion leader Claus von Stauffenberg demonstrates no charisma, and Cruise's butt is totally fake.

36. Cocktail (1988)

Over the years, I heard so much about Cocktail that I assumed it was an '80s classic. I have now seen Cocktail and can report that I was very, very wrong. I mean, I guess it's iconic in the fact that it helped Cruise be the only person to ever star the same year in both the Razzie Worst Picture and Oscar Best Picture winner. Cruise didn't win the Razzie for Worst Actor, but he earned the nomination with his unconvincing basketball scenes and painful overacting upon discovering his dead friend. Also, were bartenders famous in the '80s?

35. Oblivion (2013)

Oblivion is fine, and Tom Cruise is fine in Oblivion . There's not really anything else to add, and I think that says it all about Oblivion .

34. Legend (1985)

You can't accuse Cruise of not being committed in Ridley Scott 's dark fantasy epic (and not just because he's bent down low for most of the film), but I'm convinced this ambitious snooze fest made Cruise go, "It didn't work out with Ridley, so let me try his brother Tony next," and that's why he followed Legend up with Top Gun .

33. Endless Love (1981)

Is it worth sitting through this two-hour, six-time Razzie nominee just for one 50-second long scene of Cruise? Well, upon our initial glance of a sweaty Billy, he takes off his shirt and laughs about being an arsonist as a child. And that is how you make your film debut!

32. Taps (1981)

In Cruise's first major role, he plays a Dungeons & Dragons-loving, hot-headed military academy cadet. His character, David, ends up so unhinged that he starts firing at innocents when the rest of his comrades stand down. "It's beautiful, man," he joyfully declares, with spit even coming out of his mouth, terrifyingly showing how unstable he is.

31. Far and Away (1992)

Cruise and Kidman display better chemistry in Ron Howard 's sprawling romantic drama Far and Away than in Days of Thunder , but it's hard to buy Cruise in this period piece setting. And still, he does really sell Joseph Donnelly's anger over Shannon's (Kidman) disrespect of his hat. Even if picking a woman up, throwing her in a water-filled bathtub, and screaming, "Tell me you like my hat," all while you're not even wearing said hat, seems like a slight overreaction.

30. All the Right Moves (1983)

There are many problematic elements in this gritty high school football drama, whether it's Craig T. Nelson using a racial slur or Cruise's star player Stefen getting too sexually aggressive with his girlfriend. But Cruise's stellar work opposite Nelson and Chris Penn helps distinguish this from being another by-the-numbers sports film.

29. Vanilla Sky (2001)

Cameron Crowe and Cruise's Jerry Maguire reunion is so bad that it's good, and that goes double for the actor's performance. The "wtf is happening right now" psychological thriller manages to feature both the charming, best-looking guy in the room Cruise and the disturbed man in a cheap-looking mask Cruise. And his character, David Aames, getting drunk and being verbally abusive at a nightclub is probably the roughest and most uncomfortable to watch scene of Cruise's career.

28. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

The third Austin Powers begins with a Mission: Impossible -style opening that is revealed to be Steven Spielberg 's Austinpussy , starring Cruise as the shagadelic spy. Cruise only has two lines, but he nails taking off the glasses and dropping Powers' "Yeah, baby!"

27. Rock of Ages (2012)

We can all agree on the following things about Rock of Ages : It's bad; leads Diego Boneta and Julianne Hough are bad; female journalists are portrayed poorly...again; and Cruise is the best part. As rocker Stacee Jaxx, he oozes sex appeal, especially with his impressive performances of "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

26. Interview With the Vampire (1994)

While Brad Pitt doesn't attempt to hide how miserable he is ( previously telling EW that he even tried to buy himself out of his contract), Cruise is really going for it as merciless killer vampire Lestat de Lioncourt. A young Kirsten Dunst is the real standout, but the movie suffers when Lestat and his flair disappear, so much so that Interview author Anne Rice , who was initially critical of Cruise's casting, later admitted she was wrong.

25. Jack Reacher (2012)

The opposite of Anne Rice's opinion reversal happened to Cruise in Jack Reacher . Fans of Lee Child 's book series were critical from the start of Cruise's casting, considering the description of Reacher's stature to more closely resemble Dwayne Johnson than Cruise. In announcing a Reacher TV series , Child would admit that the readers were right and they'd look for a more suitable actor. Despite that, Cruise did an admirable job making the film Reacher feel intimidating, no matter the size. He's particularly great with his insults and warnings ahead of a street fight. "Remember, you wanted this," he says, before taking out five guys with ease.

24. The Firm (1993)

Sydney Pollack 's John Grisham adaptation is a solid legal thriller and Cruise is good as promising young lawyer Mitch McDeere, but both the film and performance suffer from having to follow courtroom drama A Few Good Men , which appears much higher on this list.

23. Minority Report (2002)

In Steven Spielberg's eerily prescient sci-fi flick, Cruise commands the screen and finds a worthy adversary in Colin Farrell .

22. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

It only felt right to have all of the Mission: Impossible s grouped together, so prepare for an Ethan Hunt run (and lots of Tom Cruise running). What you probably weren't prepared for is Cruise's signature franchise and character to land in the middle of these rankings. Remember, this is based on his performances, and as fun as the Mission movies are, they're not exactly giving him meaty material to rip into. And that's why Mission: Impossible 2 comes up first. In what almost feels like an outlier in the series, for the one and only time, Cruise appears to have lost his grip on Hunt.

21. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation (2015)

By the time Cruise gets to the fifth M:I film, he knows Hunt like the back of his hand, and, like Fast & Furious , seems to walk into each installment wondering how to top the last. With Rogue Nation , the answer is hanging from a plane 5,000 feet in the air and submerging himself underwater. In the end, Cruise will probably die filming one of these films and there's surely no way he'd rather go.

20. Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol (2011)

How great was Cruise in M:I 's big comeback film? So great that Jeremy Renner was clearly brought in to take over the franchise and, instead, the Avengers star was gone after two rounds as the second banana, while Cruise cemented his action icon status.

19. Mission: Impossible (1996)

It's been over 25 years and numerous sequels since Cruise made his debut as Ethan Hunt and, despite all of the high-stakes action that has taken place in-between, the quintessential moment is still the on-the-run spy breaking into CIA HQ and dangling from the ceiling. He doesn't say a word, but Cruise's sweat and face do all the work in the quiet, tense-filled sequence.

18. Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018)

If this was a ranking of Cruise's best or most fun movies, then the sixth M:I would be near the top, whether it's Henry Cavill making an argument that he's actually good, Vanessa Kirby confirming that she is very good, and one incredible action sequence after another ( Cruise breaking his ankle and that take making it in the movie is the perfect flex).

17. Mission: Impossible III (2006)

It's no coincidence that the two M:I films featuring Michelle Monaghan in a substantial role are 1–2 in these rankings. The presence of Ethan's wife Julia provides sentimental stakes lacking from the other death-defying installments.

16. The Color of Money (1986)

Imagine the pressure of being only a few years into your acting career and getting cast opposite Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese 's quasi-sequel to The Hustler . There's much to love about billiards prodigy Vincent's look (his hair, his "VINCE" T-shirt), but Cruise brings more to the lovable, gullible simpleton and never seems out of his league in legendary company.

15. The Last Samurai (2003)

Cruise probably wouldn't be your first guess for who was playing the title character in the Japan-set The Last Samurai , but he manages to make it believable. While there's definitely a conversation to be had about the white savior trope, Cruise and Ken Watanabe are well-paired, with both being very much worthy of their awards recognition.

14. War of the Worlds (2005)

Cruise has no right to be as good as he is in this sci-fi reunion with Spielberg. As Everyman Ray Ferrier, Cruise nails the divorced dad vibe, and where teen angst can often be the death of these types of films, Cruise and Justin Chatwin hit the right emotional beats as father-son, while Cruise and Dakota Fanning 's chemistry is off the charts.

13. American Made (2017)

Outside of Mission: Impossible , is Tom Cruise still a movie star? That's a valid question—but only if you haven't seen American Made . Telling the true story of Barry Seal, a pilot-turned–drug smuggler–turned–DEA informant, director Doug Liman 's film didn't dominate at the box office or win any awards, but it featured a throwback, swagger-filled, movie-star performance from Cruise. It's worth the watch solely for Seal crash landing in a neighborhood, being covered in cocaine, paying a little kid for the damage and his bicycle, and riding off to avoid the authorities.

12. Tropic Thunder (2008)

In the strangest and funniest performance of his career, Cruise donned a bald cap and fat suit as the profanity-spewing, Flo-Rida -dancing studio head Les Grossman. It was a much-needed win for Cruise, who was coming off of being dropped by Paramount Pictures and facing criticism for his views and behavior. This probably would have ranked higher if Cruise didn't tarnish the character's memory by over-exposing him via an MTV Movie & TV Awards hosting gig. The Les-son: Les is more.

11. Top Gun (1986)

While Risky Business put Cruise on the map, Tony Scott's '80s classic secured his place at the top of Hollywood. Maybe it's something about a man in a uniform (and fighter jet), but Cruise as Maverick feels similar to Will Smith in Independence Day , displaying that all-elusive "it" factor. Armed with corny scenes or lines that shouldn't work (looking at you, "I feel the need...the need for speed!"), the 24-year-old can't help but have your attention.

10. Born on the Fourth of July (1990)

How can Cruise's first Oscar-nominated performance barely crack the top 10? Well, no extra points are given for roles like this, which are seemingly built in a lab for the sole purpose of earning awards attention. That being said, while Cruise is showy in his portrayal of Ron Kovic, an idealistic recruit–turned–outspoken paraplegic Vietnam vet, the young actor delivers a rangy, unexpected turn. Also, there's no way that Cruise being born on July 3rd didn't factor into his decision to make this movie.

Related : Stars who have never won an Oscar

9. Risky Business (1983)

When you think of Tom Cruise's breakout film, you think of Cruise's Joel Goodson in his shirt, socks, and underwear, sliding across his empty house and singing Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll." But this is not another Ferris Bueller's Day Off , instead, it's a dark sexual adventure, which taught us that sometimes you have to just say "what the f---" and immediately put an up-and-comer on the A-list.

8. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Considering the circumstances surrounding the final film from visionary director Stanley Kubrick , Dr. William Harford might be the most impressive work of Cruise's career. Between Kubrick's never-ending search for perfection and the exhausting 15-month shoot, Cruise and then wife Nicole Kidman were pushed to the brink, on and off screen. For much of the erotic psychological drama, Cruise is the audience's avatar through an underworld of sex among New York's upper class, only to have the weight of recent events catch up to him in a raw, emotional final act breakdown. And bonus points for showing the importance of wearing a mask.

7. A Few Good Men (1992)

Cruise's perfection of cocky swagger comes in handy for hotshot Navy lawyer Daniel Kaffee, and the moments early in Rob Reiner 's film where that's on full display would have been enough to put this somewhat high on the list. But it's the scene that catapults Kaffee to one of Cruise's best. While Jack Nicholson screaming "You can't handle the truth" is the legacy of their courtroom scene, Cruise's performance in the back-and-forth shouldn't be overlooked. He has to go from reluctant to step over the line, to turning it up at the flip of a dime to demand the truth, to showing genuine shock that he got it.

6. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Suffused with magic-hour sunlight and nostalgia for an America that no longer exists, Cruise's second run as Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell was more than mere fan service (and the star's biggest box office to date). Cruise used the opportunity to play a career flyboy haunted by guilt; his scene with Val Kilmer is some of the most open-hearted acting of his entire career. Let this be the start of a whole new phase for TC: the action hero in gentle decline.

5. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Released almost 30 years after Top Gun , it's appropriate to place this rightfully beloved sci-fi action spin on Groundhog Day right above its sequel, considering how much Edge of Tomorrow plays with Cruise's action hero image. For one of the few times, a Cruise character (media relations specialist Major William Cage) is out of his element in battle, resulting in one of his funniest performances. But what really sets Edge and Cruise apart here is his crackling chemistry with full badass-mode Emily Blunt .

4. Rain Man (1988)

Dustin Hoffman 's Oscar-bait performance as an autistic savant was rewarded with the Best Actor trophy, but, decades later, it's Cruise as Raymond's younger brother Charlie that stands out as the glue that holds this Best Picture winner together. Beginning as one of his more unlikable characters, the odd couple's road trip across the country ends with the money-motivated Charlie wanting nothing but what's best for Raymond. In a very moving scene, Cruise emotionally hammers that home by somberly repeating over and over, "Why didn't anyone tell me I had a brother?"

3. Collateral (2004)

Villain Tom Cruise! He's played a Nazi, a vampire, and a Republican senator, and yet, cold-blooded hitman Vincent in Michael Mann 's thriller somehow feels like Cruise's only true evil turn. Costar Jamie Foxx earned a Best Supporting Actor nom for Collateral , but Cruise is what you leave talking about. The role of Vincent could have gone either way and it works because of the little things that Cruise does. When Foxx's Max asks Vincent if he killed a guy who just landed on his cab, Vincent replies, "No, I shot him. The bullets and fall killed him." We've heard that line many times before, though Cruise doesn't play it for laughs, but instead for chills. Later, in the film's best scene, Vincent and Max are in a jazz club listening to the owner tell tales of the good old days, and Vincent is so engaged, loving every minute of Miles Davis' stories—until he flips the script out of nowhere, casually shooting the man. From beginning to end, it's a killer performance.

2. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Cruise had us at "Show me the money!" In Cruise's career year of 1996, he both launched his billion-dollar franchise with Mission: Impossible and scored his second Oscar nomination with Cameron Crowe's winning romantic sports dramedy. Working with an incredible script, Cruise shines throughout as sports mega-agent Jerry Maguire deals with his fading career prospects. Cruise isn't exactly known for having compelling dynamics with his female leads, but he and Renée Zellweger are a great team, and still she lands behind Jonathan Lipnicki and Cuba Gooding Jr. when it comes to their work with Cruise. Between constantly yelling with Gooding Jr., displaying impressive physical comedy skills, and delivering the sweet "You complete me" declaration, Cruise showcases all of the different levels to his talent.

1. Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia should have been Cruise's Oscar. After winning the Golden Globe for chauvinist motivational speaker Frank Mackey, he'd lose to Michael Caine for The Cider House Rules , a decision that deserves to go down as an all-time egregious outcome. Leading man, movie star Cruise takes a rare backseat for Paul Thomas Anderson 's small, sprawling ensemble drama, and in a film loaded with actor's actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman , John C. Reilly , William H. Macy , and Julianne Moore , it's Cruise who steals the show, first as a cocky ladies' man, which is then revealed to be a front for an emotionally-scarred son who reunites with his estranged dying father. It's the type of role we haven't seen from Cruise since, but, hopefully, it won't take frogs dropping from the sky to see it again.

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10 best tom cruise movies, ranked.

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood's biggest stars. From comedies to action movies, the actor has done it all.

• Tom Cruise's extensive filmography includes some of Hollywood's most iconic movies, showcasing his versatility as an actor and his ability to tackle different genres and roles.
• Many of Cruise's movies are considered classics and rank among the best films ever made, thanks to their quality and Cruise's strong on-screen presence.
• Cruise's talent as both a dramatic and physically skilled actor is evident in movies like Rain Man , A Few Good Men , and the Mission: Impossible franchise, where he delivers powerful performances and defies the laws of physics in thrilling action sequences.

Known for his prolific filmography, Tom Cruise is one of the most recognizable actors worldwide, and his best movies include some of the most iconic that Hollywood has ever produced. Cruise has done it all, from teen sex comedies to neo-noir thrillers to high-octane action flicks, and many of his movies have been cemented as classics. Given the nature of the actor's screen presence and the commercial success of many of his projects, he has deservedly gone on to become one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors .

Although known primarily for his huge blockbusters in the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises, Cruise initially got his start in the slow-burn dramas Endless Love and Taps before breaking out with the more comedic Risky Business . Whereas some actors enjoyed massive success early in their careers before fading into obscurity, Cruise's star power has endured throughout many decades . Whether because of his acting chops or the movies' overall quality, many of the projects in Cruise's extensive body of work rank among some of the best films ever made.

Related: 1 Failed Tom Cruise Movie Franchise Proves His Star Power Better Than Top Gun & Mission Impossible

10 Interview With The Vampire (1994)

Tom cruise plays lestat de lioncourt, interview with the vampire.

Tom Cruise is primarily known for heroic roles, but Interview with the Vampire sees him play a villainous character, and despite the controversy over his casting, he absolutely nails the part. Based on the novel by Anne Rice, the movie focuses on an 18th-century vampire who tells his story to a modern-day reporter in order to make peace with his past. Cruise portrays Lestat, another, once-charming vampire who finds himself regretting his near-immortality after turning an innocent girl into one of their kind. The adaptation takes a uniquely sobering approach to vampirism , and its cinematography and set design are among the most convincing and immersive ever seen in a film.

Related: Interview With The Vampire's Controversial Tom Cruise Casting Explained By Director

9 Risky Business (1983)

Tom cruise plays joel goodsen, risky business.

Starring Tom Cruise when he was a relative newcomer, Risky Business sees the actor play an over-achieving high school student who is left home alone while his parents go on vacation. Risky Business made Cruise a star with one iconic scene where he jams out to the song "Old Time Rock and Roll." The lasting appeal of this moment speaks to its quality and impact as well as Cruise's suddenly clear magnetism. Risky Business is notable for its screenplay by Paul Brickman, who also directed the movie, as it perfectly showcases the challenges of a popular teenager whose parents and teachers constantly push him to be the best.

8 The Color Of Money (1986)

Tom cruise plays vincent lauria.

Directed by Martin Scorsese and adapted from the Walter Tevis novel of the same name, The Color of Money is a late sequel to the 1961 film The Hustler . Paul Newman reprises his role as Fast Eddie, a pool hustler who recruits Cruise's character, Vincent, to help him swindle other players. The Color of Money is about greed and how it changes people, and the effects of Vincent and Fast Eddie's intense rivalry on their personal lives is a strong reinforcement of the theme. Released shortly after his blockbuster success with Top Gun , this is a cool, entertaining movie and an early showcase of Cruise's talent as a dramatic actor.

7 A Few Good Men (1992)

Tom cruise plays lt. daniel kaffee, a few good men.

A Few Good Men is a legal drama that stars Tom Cruise as a military lawyer defending two U.S. Marines charged with murder. One of the best movies based on a stage play , it marks the screenwriting debut of Aaron Sorkin, adapting his own work, and showcases some of the best dialogue ever written . At the movie's center is the theme of valor in the face of uncertainty, as Cruise's character bravely fights the case despite the seemingly infinite odds stacked against him. Cruise brings a certain intensity to his role, and his ability to rile up Jack Nicholson's Col. Jessep in the film's iconic courtroom scene also speaks volumes.

6 Rain Man (1983)

Tom cruise plays charlie babbitt.

Rain Man follows a heartwarming story about the power of family over financial worth and features a surprisingly nuanced take on the complex nature of brothers. Tom Cruise plays Charlie, a charming schemer obsessed with money who attempts to manipulate his way into his autistic older brother's good graces upon discovering their father cut him out of his will. A film about solidarity, compassion, and love, Rain Man successfully gets its messages across in a way that's heartfelt and believable .

Related: 10 Tom Cruise Movies That Still Need Sequels Made

5 Magnolia (1999)

Tom cruise plays frank t. j. mackey.

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Magnolia tells a series of seemingly unrelated stories that follow the same themes of loss and regret. While the subject matter makes for challenging viewing, its reprieve comes in the form of its ability to make its drama compelling. Tom Cruise's usual charm and intensity are in full effect in the movie, but his heart-breaking scene with his father (played by Jason Robards) on his deathbed is one of the strongest performances the actor has ever delivered , and out of all the movie's different characters and storylines, his best reinforces the film's themes.

4 Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Tom cruise plays imf agent ethan hunt, mission: impossible - dead reckoning.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One delivers tons of action , as is expected from the franchise. Mission: Impossible is famous for its stunts, and this installment is no different as it sees Tom Cruise's character — and the actor himself — again defying the laws of physics to accomplish his latest world-saving operation. This time, his character, IMF agent Ethan Hunt, works with his team of operatives to stop the influence of a powerful rogue AI. Despite the movie ending on a cliffhanger, it offers enough thrills to make it one of the best movie sequels ever made .

3 Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Tom cruise plays major william cage, edge of tomorrow.

Based on a manga, Edge of Tomorrow sees Tom Cruise as Major William Cage, a public relations officer with minimal combat experience who is forced by his superiors to aid in fighting an alien-occupied Europe in a dystopian future. Moreover, Cage dies and reboots repeatedly throughout the movie after discovering he's caught in a time loop. One of the best sci-fi movies of the 2010s , Edge of Tomorrow offers a unique take on its source material with its intense action and sharp humor .

2 Collateral (2004)

Tom cruise plays vincent.

Michael Mann's Collateral is a neo-noir thriller that sees a burned-out taxi driver pick up a mysterious man who turns out to be a hired killer. As one of Michael Mann's most memorable characters , Cruise delivers an exceptional performance in the role of the hitman, Vincent, with his usual charisma making the assassin all the more threatening. He also has excellent chemistry with Jamie Foxx, who plays the driver, Max; together, they almost make viewers forget that they're actors during some of their more intense scenes in the movie. Collateral also features Mann's signature moody, atmospheric depiction of Los Angeles, which effectively draws viewers into the film's unique neo-noir world .

1 Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Tom cruise plays cpt. pete "maverick" mitchell, top gun: maverick.

Another one of the best sequels of all time, Top Gun: Maverick sees Tom Cruise's Pete "Maverick" Mitchell return to the titular school to train the next generation of graduates while also dealing with some of his longstanding demons. This is a movie that's just as much about family and trust as it is about exhilarating dogfights, which makes it a surprisingly deep and thoughtful blockbuster. Top Gun: Maverick cemented Cruise's status as one of Hollywood's biggest stars as its heartfelt story and creative action scenes helped the sequel gross over $1 billion.

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30 of the Most Notable Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best

Released on May 27, Top Gun: Maverick has not only cemented Tom Cruise as a must-see action star, but broken multiple box office records, too. As of now, it’s the sixth highest-grossing film domestically , which means it’s beat out James Cameron’s Titanic (1997). Outside of the U.S., the long-awaited is also a huge success, holding steady in 12th place on the list of highest-grossing films globally. 

If you missed Top Gun: Maverick in theaters, you can now stream it from the comfort of home — and add to the film’s landmark success. After all, it’s also the first Tom Cruise movie to cross $1 billion in earnings. With all of this in mind, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the actor’s most successful — and call out his least successful — outings. 

And while Cruise has an extensive filmography, we’ve narrowed it down to 30 notable films — some great, some downright awful. Let’s start with the bad. 

The 15 Worst Tom Cruise Movies

30. losin’ it (1983).

With only a dismal 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, Losin’ It holds the honor of being the worst Tom Cruise film on our roundup. One of the actor’s earliest movies, this teen comedy is about four high school buddies who travel to Mexico with just one goal in mind: lose their virginities before the trip is over. Boring and unfunny, Losin’ It ’s position here shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

29. Cocktail (1988)

Brian Flanagan, a young student craving a high-paying job, needs money for a business degree, so he decides to take a bartending job in Jamaica. The problem? Well, not much happens in this one — and the silly end makes Cocktail even more hopeless. Called shallow and dry by critics, audiences gave it a dismal 9% rotten score. 

28. The Mummy (2017)

While trying to top the Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz classic that was The Mummy (1999) — and even The Mummy Returns (2001) — is a ridiculous premise, Universal sure tried. At the time, the studio wanted to prepare an Avengers-esque squad of classic movie monsters.

That’s right, the likes of the Invisible Man and the Mummy were going to team up for the studios’ “Dark Universe” — Universal’s own interconnected cinematic world — but… that plan quickly fell apart. And a lot had to do with the atrocious The Mummy (2017), which couldn’t deliver scares nor campy humor. 

27. Rock of Ages (2012)

Adapted from the popular Broadway musical of the same name, Rock of Ages celebrates hair metal bands. Here, Cruise plays the frontman of a fictional metal band called Arsenal. While the production costs crossed $75 million, Rock of Ages made less than $60 million worldwide, proving that not every musical should make the jump to the silver screen. 

26. Lions for Lambs (2007)

Often regarded as Cruise’s most boring movie, Lions for Lambs is a two-hour class on the evils of war. Even convincing performances from Meryl Streep and Robert Redford can’t save this one. Honestly, there’s really not much more to say about Lions for Lambs — and that kind of tracks. 

25. The Last Samurai (2003)

While The Last Samurai might have good scores from critics, it ranks among one of the worst Tom Cruise movies because of its premise. In many ways, it’s the ultimate white savior film, following problematic plot beats with such precision that, when described, they feel like something out of a parody of white savior films. 

24. Legend (1985)

In this forgettable fantasy film from the ‘80s, Tom Cruise’s character heads on a mission to save the world’s unicorns. There’s also a character called The Lord of Darkness, so we’ll let you assume just how trite it is on your own. The only good things on display here are the makeup, and, at the time Legend came out, the special effects.

23. Vanilla Sky (2001)

Starring big-name actors like Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz and Kurt Russell, Vanilla Sky seems like it should be a winner based on its ensemble cast alone. However, the incoherent conclusion and Cruise’s egocentric character made this unlucky remake of the Spanish movie Abre Los Ojos ( Open Your Eyes ), which came out just four or so years earlier, hard to watch.

22. Far and Away (1992)

Coming out on the heels of blockbusters like Top Gun and critically acclaimed movies like Rain Man — that one earned Cruise his Oscar — Far and Away was a pretty far cry from Cruise’s good fare. The story of Irish immigrants hoping to make it to America, the movie co-stars Cruise’s then-wife, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman. But even the movie star appeal couldn’t help Far and Away make back its budget. 

21. Mission: Impossible II (2000)

One of the least impressive Mission: Impossible films, this one sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) being sent to Sydney alongside Nyah Hall (Thandiwe Newton) to save the world from a genetically modified disease known as “Chimera”. Although the action scenes are solid, it’s not as fresh or fun as other Cruise action flicks. 

20. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

While the first Jack Reacher was a pretty compelling movie full of fun, adrenaline-pumping action sequences, the sequel was pretty lukewarm — at best. In Tom Cruise movies of this ilk, the star is pretty dependable, but the movie itself lacked excitement, making it something we’ll Never Go Back to again.

19. Oblivion (2013)

The sci-fi drama Oblivion was another pretty unfortunate attempt for Cruise to find his footing again in the 2010s. Predictable with painfully long scenes, this Tom Cruise movie is watchable — it co-stars the likes of Morgan Freeman and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ( Game of Thrones ), after all — but the most memorable part of it is the M83 soundtrack. 

18. Valkyrie (2008)

Set in 1944, Valkyrie dramatizes German officers’ attempt to assassinate Hitler. There’s definitely some potential in the premise. Sure, Inglourious Basterds (2009) was more of a comedic take — and it had the added benefit of centering Jewish characters as the heroes — but its success shows there could’ve been something going for this historical thriller. Instead, it’s pretty unremarkable and the performances are bland. 

17. Knight and Day (2010)

With co-stars like Oscar winner Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Cameron Diaz and Peter Sarsgaard, you’d think this Tom Cruise outing would be better than it is — and yet… It’s pretty clear Cruise and Diaz shouldn’t team up on screen again, we’d say.

Yes, they have some real charm and chemistry — and that’s why this isn’t lower on the list — but this action-comedy movie feels like an international adventure (with a reluctant sidekick) that you’ve seen before. 

16. Interview with the Vampire (1994)

The cast of Interview with the Vampire , which is based on the acclaimed Anne Rice novel of the same name, seems like a ‘90s dream come true. You’ve not only got Tom Cruise, but Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and a young Kirsten Dunst. While this one is certainly something you can throw on, the actual casting choices are strange. 

“The Tom Cruise casting is so bizarre, it’s almost impossible to imagine how it’s going to work,” Rice said in an interview with Movieline ahead of the film’s release. Although Rice would go on to praise Cruise and the film — even though she wanted Pitt and Cruise to swap roles — this is kind of a love-it-or-hate-it adaptation for book loyalists , making it the best of the worst for us. 

The 15 Best Tom Cruise Movies

15. american made (2017).

Barry Seal, a pilot who’s hired by the CIA, finds himself in charge of one of the greatest secret operations in U.S. history. That’s the premise behind American Made , a surprisingly watchable film that brings with it a kind of mile-a-minute verve.

Not to mention, Cruise gets to showcase a kind of charisma and levity here that he hadn’t in awhile, given the laundry list of Jack Reacher and Mission: Impossible fare he was making at the time. 

14. The Color of Money (1986)

Although Top Gun was the hit of the year in 1986, The Color of Money still stood out from the pack thanks to incredible performances from Cruise and Paul Newman, who finally nabbed an Oscar for his work. While audiences weren’t totally in love with the movie, critics had other thoughts, calling the Martin Scorsese film a “joy” to watch .

13. Top Gun (1986)

Despite receiving mixed feedback from critics — believe it or not, this classic has a rotten score from critics on the Tomatometer — Top Gun grossed a stunning $357 million globally against its production budget of $15 million.

And decades after its debut, Top Gun ’s incredible aerial footage, stellar cast and killer soundtrack help it more than hold up. If someone asks you to name a Tom Cruise movie, odds are you’ll say this one. 

12. Magnolia (1999)

This epic drama depicts multiple characters’ stories as they search for love, meaning and forgiveness. In Magnolia , Tom Cruise undoubtedly gives us one of the best performances of his career.

And while the film is ambitious and winding, it stays captivating thanks to the great cast — Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman, to name a few — and some genuinely compelling threads. 

11. Collateral (2004)

A dark thriller, Collateral stars Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith and Mark Ruffalo — and if that doesn’t convince you to watch it, maybe the premise will. The movie tells the story of a cab driver and a contract killer; the driver, Max (Foxx), realizes he’s been driving a hitman, Vincent (Cruise), from target to target. 

Will Max be able to stop Vincent from killing off the last witness on his list? And, more importantly, can he do so without adding his name to Vincent’s kill list? Full of excitement, this stylish modern noir is a must-watch. 

10. The Outsiders (1983)

One of Cruise’s first feature films, The Outsiders is an adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s coming-of-age novel of the same name. While it wasn’t as initially as successful as director Francis Ford Coppola had hoped, The Outsiders has since gained a cult following. While Cruise’s role is smaller here, he’s part of a truly stellar cast — Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillion, just to name a few — and we still think about that iconic backflip .

9. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation (2015)

Were you waiting for one of the Mission: Impossible films to pop up? While the original is certainly a good film, some of the more recent entries in the series raise the stakes to a new level. Rogue Nation is a thrilling adventure, anchored not just by Tom Cruise, but by the brilliant Rebecca Ferguson. There are some unforeseen plot twists here and there, and it’s anything but traditional when it comes to the onscreen romance. 

8. Jerry Maguire (1996)

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Jerry Maguire here. It’s even made our list of the 20 greatest football movies of all time . Here, Cruise plays the titular character — a sports agent whose client is Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Rod Tidwell, an NFL wide receiver.

But this isn’t a one-note film; it’s also a rom-com of sorts, and the chemistry between Cruise and Renee Zellwegger is fun to watch. From iconic lines like “You had me at hello” to “Show me the money!”, Jerry Maguire might also be the most quotable film on this list. 

7. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick — and the last movie of his impressive career — Eyes Wide Shut has been categorized as an erotic thriller, but it also has some Lynchian elements that keep us revisiting this one time and again. Here, Cruise plays a doctor who gets into an argument with his wife (Nicole Kidman — the two leads were still together in real life while filming) about fidelity. 

After Nicole’s character admits to having some unfulfilled desires, Cruise’s character leaves, having a string of decidedly surreal (and at times cult-y) sexual encounters. Eyes Wide Shut remains a must-watch film for the ways it dissects the connection between anonymity and sex — and the way that we can still be strangers to those closest to us. 

6. Mission: Impossible—Fallout (2018)

With an impressive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, Mission: Impossible — Fallout is definitely the best Mission: Impossible movie. With its stunning visuals, incredible action sequences, and solid performances, the film — and director Christopher McQuarrie — managed to top previous installments. This is, hands down, one of the greatest action movies of all time. 

And while we won’t be adding yet another Mission: Impossible to our list here, we will give a shout out to the formidable Ghost Protocol (2011). 

5. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Edge of Tomorrow — which boasts a telling tagline: Live. Die. Repeat. — is an original, pulse-pounding narrative about a soldier who’s trying to save the Earth from an alien invasion. After dying rather quickly within the first moments of the film, Cruise’s Major William Cage realizes he’s stuck in a time loop. 

Although he dies only to be revived every time the brutal fight takes place, he’s also getting stronger each time. Co-starring Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow is a dynamic sci-fi adventure that’s as compelling as it is inventive. 

4. A Few Good Men (1992)

This traditional courtroom drama is straightforward in concept: a few good people do the right thing, putting morals over profits. Full of memorable lines and career-high performances from Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore, A Few Good Men is a classic — and one of the best Tom Cruise movies around. 

3. Risky Business (1983)

When his parents take off for a few days, high school student Joel Goodsen (Cruise) is, naturally, looking to have some fun. As you’d expect, things quickly get out of hand. One of Cruise’s best early performances, Risky Business helped lay the groundwork for an incredibly successful (and long) career. Not to mention, it gave us this iconic dance scene . 

2. Minority Report (2002)

Minority Report isn’t just one of Tom Cruise’s best movies, it’s one of the best films of all time. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it tells the story of an officer who’s accused of a murder he hasn’t yet committed.

A mystery-thriller film with all the sci-fi inventiveness you’d expect from a Philip K. Dick adaptation, this meditation on free will versus determinism is well worth your time. 

1. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

We couldn’t dedicate the first spot on this list to any other movie but Top Gun: Maverick . While it’s easy to give a nostalgia vote to the top spots on similar lists of actor’s greatest films, Maverick kind of has the best of both worlds: it’s a throwback, but it’s also fresh.

The aerial tricks are epic. The adrenaline boost you’ll feel watching it is unparalleled. Without a doubt, Top Gun: Maverick top-tier when it comes to Tom Cruise movies.

Tom Cruise Movies That Get an Honorable Mention

Both of these films undeniably shaped Tom Cruise’s career, but it’s difficult for us to rank them given the way certain characters are portrayed. In both instances, there’s ableism, and both movies likely perpetuate harm by helping to shape society’s views of disability and autism. 

Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Born on the Fourth of July is a movie that’s hard to critique; it’s based on someone’s lived experiences, after all. At the same time, it deals with internalized ableism in a way that’s not really given too nuanced a look. Directed by Oliver Stone ( Platoon ), the film tells the story of Ron Kovic, a soldier eager to fight in the Vietnam War and who becomes paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the fighting. 

Often described by critics as an exploration of what it means to have one’s “manhood taken away” , there’s no denying the inherently ableist stance there. While a character experiencing internalized ableism should certainly have their story told on screen, this one doesn’t seem to realize the harm it’s feeding into. Not to mention, having an able-bodied actor playing the lead role in a film about a disabled character isn’t great. 

On a similar note, we have Rain Man , the 1988 Oscar-winning film that stars Cruise and Dustin Hoffman as estranged brothers. Hoffman’s character marks one of the first on-screen depictions of an autistic person. “Released [over] 30 years ago… Rain Man begins when self-centered hustler Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) discovers he has an older brother, Raymond (Hoffman) — an autistic savant who has inherited all of their father’s $3 million fortune,” The Guardian notes of the movie’s plot. 

As you might imagine, Rain Man — which did well at the box office, won Oscars and became a widely discussed pop cultural reference — has an aftermath that’s damaging to autism awareness. It may not portray the autistic character in a “bad” light, but it certainly reiterated harmful stereotypes, shaping how generations see autistic people. Again, Cruise might give a notable performance here, but the movie’s legacy remains complicated. 

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Tom Cruise’s Best Movies Ranked

Tom Cruise is lauded as a movie star, but often overlooked as an actor. Here are 15 performances to change that perception.

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Tom Cruise may be the last person standing when it comes to old-fashioned Hollywood movie stardom. While others have fallen by the wayside, Cruise still has the ability to deliver crowd-pleasing, spectacular movies that appeal to the all-important “four-quadrant” demographic when it comes to paying customers at the box office—at least as long as the words “Top Gun” or “Mission: Impossible” appear somewhere in the title, anyway.

Whether Cruise can score with movies outside those two intellectual properties is a subject for a different article, but it’s clear that he’s done so plenty of times in the past. More importantly, what has often gotten overlooked in Cruise’s long string of successes is that not only is he a movie star, but he’s also a damn good and frequently underrated actor, with a range that has taken him beyond the “Tom Cruise” brand a number of times.

Below is our unscientific ranking of Tom Cruise’s best performances. This doesn’t mean every film was wall-to-wall great, but most of them are, and all benefit from a stellar Cruise appearance. You may have your own choices as well, but here are the ones we found not just iconic but also indicative of an actor working at the peak of his craft.

15. Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia may be one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s more divisive films. Coming after the relatively accessible and often fun Boogie Nights , it was a difficult piece for audiences to wrap their minds around, but it certainly pushed PTA’s trademark glittering ensemble cast into new frontiers as actors. Chief among those was Tom Cruise, who felt his portrayal of the disagreeable sex-seminar guru Frank Mackey was so outside his usual brand that he kept a low profile during the film’s advance promotional efforts.

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That made sense in a way, because Cruise’s star power would have overshadowed the shock value (we mean that in a good way) of seeing his performance for the first time. Cruise is so unpleasant, so shady, and yet so larger-than-life that it’s almost a palate cleanser after the frigid nature of his previous performance in Eyes Wide Shut from the same year. And his climactic scene in Magnolia , at the deathbed of his father (Jason Robards), packs a weighty emotional punch. It remains one of Cruise’s boldest strokes as an actor.

14. Risky Business

Tom Cruise’s fifth feature film role is considered his breakout performance, and it’s easy to see why. Still very young (he was just 20 when he made the film), Cruise nevertheless began to establish the “Tom Cruise” persona with this movie that would be the template for many of his roles: a flawed, smart, often cocksure young man who thinks he knows more than he does, gets his ass handed to him as a result, but comes out of it as a better person and (in his early films, anyway) a true adult.

In addition to his iconic dance in briefs and button-down shirt (an image which arguably helped and hindered his career), Cruise gives a well-rounded and fully-developed performance as Joel, the college-bound rich kid who learns a thing or two about business from a hooker and her pimp. Aside from being funny and cynical, the movie is hot; Cruise and a sizzling Rebecca De Mornay share a sexual chemistry that Cruise has rarely found since (one of his career blind spots).

13. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

You’ll notice that the original Top Gun is nowhere on this list: that’s because a) it’s not a very good movie at all (nostalgia goggles be damned), and b) the young Cruise was still figuring out how to modulate his then charismatic but largely superficial performances. Last year’s sequel , however, was an entirely different story. While the movie was formulaic to a large degree, its infectious energy, dazzling air sequences, and high cinematic value almost hid the fact that Cruise was also acting at the top of his game.

His Pete “Maverick” Mitchell is aging, careworn, and seasoned by both the experiences and disappointments of his life while haunted by regret and also burdened with the decisions he took on for others. Yet he is still a leader in every way, and a courageous fighter on his own, making this version of Mitchell far more complex and empathetic than that cocky young pilot we met nearly 40 years ago. It’s Cruise acting his age, and the movie is all the better for it.

12. Rain Man (1988)

The amazing thing about watching Rain Man today is that while Dustin Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the autistic savant Raymond Babbitt, it’s actually Cruise who delivers the more complex, nuanced performance as Raymond’s younger brother Charlie, a fast-talking hustler of collectible items who initially sees Raymond as an impediment both financially and personally, but ultimately grows to love and protect the sibling he only has a vague childhood memory of.

Cruise’s initially callow Charlie has the real character arc of the movie, and Cruise’s beautifully modulated work anchors the film, even as the already confident young star concedes the spotlight to Hoffman’s more showy performance. The film itself is modest, formulaic to a degree, and yet warm and funny. This and the less effective The Color of Money from two years earlier represent a turning point for Cruise’s maturity as an actor.

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11. Jack Reacher (2012)

Yes, we know: Jack Reacher in Lee Child’s books is a monster of a man—six-foot-five!—while Tom Cruise is nearly a foot shorter (he’s five-seven). We realize that Alan Ritchson, who currently plays Reacher on the Prime Video series, is a much more physically accurate version of the character. But, admittedly never having read the books, we still find much to like in Cruise’s tough, no-nonsense, dark performance as the mysterious drifter who helps people solve their problems.

Cruise is front and center and does his part justice, and even if the script is fairly routine , the action is terrific. We mean, who doesn’t like a movie where Werner Herzog is cast as a terrifying Russian villain? We respect Reacher fans (and ultimately Child himself) not caring for Cruise’s work here, but we dig it. On the other hand, the sequel ( Jack Reacher: Never Go Back ) just plain sucks.

10. Minority Report (2002)

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg only collaborated twice, but both projects were science fiction and both proved to be among the darkest films of each man’s career (the other is 2005’s War of the Worlds ). Minority Report is based on a Philip K. Dick short story and stars Cruise as John Anderton, the grief-stricken, drug-addicted head of a specialized police department known as Precrime. The experimental operation prevents crime by arresting the perpetrator before the crime ever happens thanks to three psychics who can foresee the future. Naturally, Anderton himself is soon fingered by the psychics, called Precogs, and goes on the run as he tries to prove he’s innocent of a murder he’s yet to commit.

This one is a winner all around , from Spielberg’s breathless direction to Cruise’s complex performance (and a striking supporting turn by then-newcomer Colin Farrell). Even the world-building of the film, which envisions a society where surveillance of all kinds (including advertising) is omniscient and ever-present, appeared to predict much of our modern world today. It’s an immersive, kinetic thriller, marred only by one of Spielberg’s famously tacked-on “happy” endings, making for the only flaw in an otherwise top-notch collaboration.

9. Interview with the Vampire (1994)

We’re old enough to remember when late author Anne Rice objected to the casting of Tom Cruise as her signature creation, the vampire Lestat, only to turn around and admit she was wrong after actually seeing Cruise perform the role in the film. And we remember how we felt seeing Cruise in his 18th century vampire garb as well: tickled and entranced by his larger-than-life, decadent, campy performance, almost utterly unlike anything else he had done up to that point. Eyes glittering, blonde wig flowing, and teeth stained with blood, Cruise is decadent and deliciously evil in the role.

Neil Jordan’s adaptation of Rice’s horror classic is atmospheric and seductive as well, finding the right atmospheric balance between romance, homoeroticism, and depraved Gothic chills to support Rice’s rather thin narrative. We’ve always been mixed on Brad Pitt’s mopey turn as Louis, Lestat’s long-suffering vampire companion, but Cruise is a delight when he’s onscreen and nearly matched by Kirsten Dunst’s debut as the child bloodsucker Claudia.

8. The Firm (1993)

Based on John Grisham’s 1991 pile of unreadable crap massively best-selling novel, The Firm is one of those big Hollywood movies that actually sort of transcends its source material and provides an entertaining good time on its own merits. A large part of that is the cast, a glittering ensemble confidently led by Cruise and including some of the most reliable character actors in the business, including Gene Hackman , Wilford Brimley, Hal Holbrook, Ed Harris, and Paul Sorvino (not to mention Holly Hunter in a movie-stealing, Oscar-nominated turn as a sexy-smart secretary).

Directed by Sydney Pollack, The Firm is the epitome of a legal thriller, and Cruise effectively portrays Mitch McDeere’s transformation from wide-eyed, ambitious young lawyer to cynical yet principled dealmaker as he navigates both his crooked law firm and the crime family it represents. It’s a fine performance in a crowdpleaser of a movie.

7. Jerry Maguire (1996)

“Show me the money.” Audiences did indeed show Jerry Maguire the money, turning out in droves for Cameron Crowe’s effective, sharply written mix of romantic comedy and biting sports agency satire . Cruise is brilliant as the title character, a sports agent whose sudden crisis of conscience (a no-no in his business) results in him losing his job, his fiancée, and almost all his clients. His sole remaining one, Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.), needs to reappraise his life as well. Meanwhile Jerry also unexpectedly finds love with his new company’s sole staff member, Dorothy (Renee Zellweger).

Jerry Maguire finds both writer-director Crowe and star Cruise at the top of their powers, with Cruise giving Crowe’s incisive character study everything he’s got emotionally. The movie is a rare rom-com for the actor, an avenue he had potential to explore more if he didn’t pursue the sci-fi and action route so aggressively. Cruise received his second Best Actor nomination for the film; we’ll get to his first in a bit.

6. Tropic Thunder (2008)

It’s tempting to call Les Grossman—the vulgar, megalomaniacal, preening movie producer in Ben Stiller’s side-splitting skewering of Hollywood—Tom Cruise’s finest hour onscreen. To begin with, he’s unrecognizable . It’s only a few minutes in, once you get past the bald pate, the beard, the extra padding, and the glasses, that you realize whose voice and eyes those are. And then your mouth drops open as it washes over you that we’ve never, ever seen Cruise like this before.

“Take a big step back… and literally fuck your own face!” Grossman screams down the phone at someone, just one of the unending river of profanities that emerge shockingly (and hilariously) from Cruise’s mouth. We don’t know (and may not want to legally say) who Cruise based his performance on, but Grossman is the distillation of every monstrous, boorish, money-and-power-driven movie producer you’ve ever heard horror stories about, and he remains the most out-there thing Cruise has ever done.

5. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

It’s a strange fact of film history that Tom Cruise has starred in some of the best science fiction movies of the modern era, including Minority Report , War of the Worlds , the underrated Oblivion , and this, which also counts as one of his finest films in general of the past decade. Cruise appears this time as the rather timorous William Cage, a public relations officer for the military who is involuntarily thrust into the frontlines against an incredibly relentless, hostile alien force. When he is splattered with alien blood, however, Cage soon learns that he has acquired the beings’ ability to reset time. He then finds himself looping through the same day and frantically trying to find a way to change the outcome of the war so he’ll stop dying.

Cage is a classic Cruise character in a way, a smooth-talking hustler with little under the surface who’s then forced to grow into a better human being. It’s a great performance in a powerful story (with the usual gaps here and there in time-loop tales), aided by excellent work from Emily Blunt as a soldier who joins Cruise on his quest every time he loops around. Largely neglected by audiences upon release, it continues to grow into a well-deserved genre classic status.

4. A Few Good Men (1992)

Rob Reiner directs this adaptation of Aaron Sorkin’s hit play (adapted by Sorkin himself, with an assist from William Goldman), in which two Marines go on trial for the death of a fellow Marine and have only a shallow young Navy lawyer (Cruise) to defend them. But as Cruise’s Lt. Daniel Kaffee builds his case, with the help of the righteous Lt. Cdr. Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore), he begins to uncover a web of deceit and corruption under the command of the sadistic Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson).

The courtroom drama may be conventional in structure, but the movie rockets along on the strength of its performances, especially those of Cruise, Moore, Kevin Bacon, and of course the explosive Nicholson. Kaffee’s evolution is slow and effective, and it’s arguably here, while going toe to toe with the formidable firepower of “Jack,” that Cruise firmly proved once and for all that he could hold his own alongside the screen’s biggest legends. He’s marvelous, as is the entire gripping movie.

3. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

If Rain Man marked the first stage of Tom Cruise’s growth as an actor, then this Oliver Stone epic the following year solidified the young star’s standing as a genuine screen talent capable of range and depth. Based on the real-life story of Vietnam-veteran-turned-antiwar-activist Ron Kovic, Born on the Fourth of July was also the second of Stone’s unofficial trilogy about that most pointless of wars, nestled between Platoon and Heaven and Earth . And it’s certainly as strong as the former.

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In a role originally conceived for Al Pacino back in the late 1970s, Cruise is simply electrifying, smoothly moving through the different phases of Kovic’s life, from the war through his drug-addled aftermath in a series of increasingly decrepit hospitals, and finally to his fawakening as a paralyzed but fired-up protester. The performance earned the actor his first Best Actor nomination at the Oscars, and he probably should have won: his Kovic is impassioned and mesmerizing, and still a high point of Cruise’s long career.

2. Collateral (2004)

Michael Mann’s hot streak as a director, which began in 1986 with Manhunter (and included efforts like Heat , Ali , and The Insider ), largely came to an end with this intense crime thriller, but at least he managed to do something that was very rare in Hollywood: get Tom Cruise to play an out-and-out villain. And man, did Cruise take to the assignment. His hair colored a premature gray, Cruise is malevolently magnetic as Vincent, an assassin on a hit spree who recruits a terrified cabbie (Jamie Foxx, also spectacular) as his unwilling driver.

Nihilistic and racking up perhaps the single biggest onscreen killing spree of Cruise’s career, Vincent is an empathy-free killing machine. Cruise once again subverts our expectations of his abilities with his portrayal of this monster, who never redeems himself as so many of the actor’s other characters have done. But then again, Cruise has never played, either before or since, someone as sociopathic as Vincent, making this one of his finest and most distinctive films.

1. Mission: Impossible (1996-2024)

As we say in our review of Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One , Tom Cruise has been constructing his magnum opus over the past 27 years with this always intelligent, thrilling, and keenly visceral action franchise. After a first movie that upended the conventions of the elderly TV show it was based on, and a couple of initial sequels that struggled to find the right tone, the film series became not just a true ensemble effort but a showcase for Cruise’s overall skill as an actor and his devotion to doing everything humanly possible to please his audience.

Cruise’s IMF leader, Ethan Hunt, has transformed from a young spy into a furiously independent leader and global protector, with the character evolving along with the actor himself. Ethan may not be Cruise’s greatest or most in-depth creation, but he’s been the most consistent, especially in a world where we regularly change Batmen and James Bonds decade or so. And the series itself has only gotten bigger and better over its seven installments to date, an impossible mission that only Tom Cruise could pull off. Perhaps we’re all the better then that he chose to accept it.

Don Kaye | @donkaye

Don Kaye is an entertainment journalist by trade and geek by natural design. Born in New York City, currently ensconced in Los Angeles, his earliest childhood memory is…

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The top 20 Tom Cruise movies – ranked!

As the actor returns with Mission: Impossible – Fallout, we rank his 20 best films, from 1983’s The Outsiders to 2008’s Tropic Thunder

20. Far and Away (1992)

It was a toss-up between this and Vanilla Sky for the 20th spot, and Far and Away just nudged it because it is – admittedly not intentionally – hilarious, while the latter is a mega downer. No movie accent will ever give me as much joy as Cruise’s Irish accent.

19. War of the Worlds (2005)

Not a disaster, but nowhere near as good as a Spielberg-Cruise adaptation of HG Wells’ tale should have been. Cruise, deep into his publicly eccentric years, plays a divorced dad just trying to do right by his kids while fighting alien invaders, but comes across more alien than the invaders.

18. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

This film was supposed to be exciting because we kinda, sorta, maybe got to see Cruise and his then wife, Nicole Kidman, have sex, but a major flaw in that sales pitch is no one wanted to. Including, it turned out, them. Their marriage fell apart soon after the making of this film and some of us are still unconvinced it was worth the marriage.

17. Days of Thunder (1990)

It’s Top Gun – in a car. And nowhere near as good. This film is best known as the one in which Cruise and Kidman met. But it should be celebrated for giving Cruise’s character the name of Cole Trickle. For not laughing hysterically every time they say his name, everyone in this film deserves an Oscar.

16. All the Right Moves (1983)

No one watches this movie now. But they should. Babyfaced and clearly vertically challenged, Cruise plays the most unlikely American football player ever committed to film, but even in the early days of his career, his charisma was undeniable. Unexpectedly gritty and with lovely support from Craig T Nelson.

15. The Firm (1993)

Gosh, who should we get to play the young lawyer, full of morals and ambition, who suddenly finds himself in a bad world filled with bad men? John Grisham may not have written the part with Cruise in mind, but whichever Thetan Cruise worships made him for thismovie.

14. Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Eat me, haterz: people who criticise this film have no sense of fun. Cruise is enjoyably weird as Lestat de Lioncourt, the ultimate vampire. The real problem with this movie is Brad Pitt, who takes it all way too seriously. Cruise understands this is not a drama – it’s a camp delight.

13. Cocktail (1988)

Frankly, if you don’t enjoy the sight of Cruise slinging rum cocktails on a beach to a Beach Boys soundtrack, then please march yourself to a doctor immediately because you have lost your soul.

12. The Colour of Money (1986)

Grizzled Paul Newman, rehashing his role from The Hustler, hands the matinee idol baton here to a young and twinkly-eyed Cruise. It is hard not to die a little inside when you look at Cruise’s pretty face and think of the weird life choices he would go on to make; a babe heading off into the dark woods.

11. Tropic Thunder (2008)

A bit of a cheat this, yes, as Cruise is barely in the movie. But, his performance as the deranged studio executive Les Grossman was so good it saved his career after all the sofa jumping and Scientology bullshittery. Some of us have never really recovered from the sight of a bald Cruise grooving to Flo Rida.

10. Collateral (2004)

Probably not a movie that Cruise kicks back and watches in his spare time, given that his ex-wife, Katie Holmes, is now dating his co-star, Jamie Foxx. Still, that shouldn’t distract the rest of us from enjoying Cruise playing memorably against type as a killer and Foxx as the cabby he hires for the evening. It does distract a little, mind.

9. Rain Man (1988)

Hear me out: Cruise should have got the Oscar for this instead of Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman’s performance is all tricks and tics, but Cruise, as the obnoxious jerk who learns he has a brother, is subtle and true. Setting the pattern for his career, Cruise was underrated because he made it look effortless.

8. Minority Report (2002)

Cruise and Spielberg should, by rights, be as natural a combination as bread and butter, and yet Minority Report is the only truly satisfying movie they have made together.

7. The Outsiders (1983)

Playing a working-class teenager in Oklahoma alongside then fellow near-unknowns Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane and Matt Dillon (someone give that casting director a medal), Cruise his a small but pleasing role in this, the most beautiful of all 80s teen movies.

6. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Cameron Crowe wrote this role of the beaten-down sports agent for the other Tom – Hanks – and the movie probably would have made more sense with him: Cruise is just too good-looking to be a credible underdog. But, he seizes the part with irresistible intensity, making even the naffest of Crowe’s lines sound heartfelt.

5. Mission: Impossible (1996)

The film that, for better or worse, confirmed Cruise as the action star of his generation, and while that means he has churned out a lot of action landfill for the past decade, the original Mission: Impossible , directed by Brian De Palma, is a stone-cold classic. Somewhere, in all of our hearts, Cruise will be forever suspended on that zip wire.

4. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

It is Cruise’s misfortune that his one real shot at an Oscar – before the Scientology weirdness ruled him out for ever – coincided with the year of Daniel Day-Lewis’s unbeatable performance in My Left Foot. His performance as a Vietnam vet is the definitive retort to any fool who insists he is a movie star, not an actor.

3. A Few Good Men (1992)

Pure cinematic pleasure. Cruise is known as a screen-chewer, but it is too rarely acknowledged how good he is at playing second fiddle to a true ham: Hoffman in Rain Man and Jack Nicholson here. “I want the truth!” is Cruise at his Cruisiest, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.

2. Magnolia (1999)

One of three performances for which Cruise should have won an Oscar. Heretofore seen as almost asexual, Cruise is astonishing as TJ Mackie, the men’s rights activist guru with the catchphrase “Respect the cock!” No one could have imagined him in this role before. It’s now impossible to imagine anyone else playing it.

1. Top Gun (1986)

Risky Business made Cruise famous, but it’s a terrible movie. Top Gun, on the other hand, made him a legend, and it remains one of the greatest movies of all time. Cruise, playing “a flyboy”, took to the film’s endearingly overt homoeroticism like a natural. The volleyball scene put a generation through puberty.

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Ranking The Top 26 Best Tom Cruise Films Ever Made

Posted: April 24, 2024 | Last updated: April 24, 2024

26. Far & Away (1992)

25. Oblivion (2013)

24. Days of Thunder (1990)

23. Born on the 4th of July (1989)

22. Interview With a Vampire (1994)

21. Mission: Impossible III (2006)

20. Vanilla Sky (2001)

19. The Last Samurai (2003)

18. Rain Man (1988)

17. Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation (2015)

16. War of the Worlds (2005)

15. Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol (2011)

14. Risky Business (1983)

13. The Firm (1993)

12. The Color of Money (1986)

11. Mission: Impossible -- Fallout

10. Collateral (2004)

9. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

8. A Few Good Men (1992)

7. Minority Report (2002)

6. Top Gun (1986)

5. Jerry Maguire (1996)

4. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

3. Magnolia (1999)

2. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

1. Mission: Impossible (1996)

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A Definitive Ranking of Every Tom Cruise Movie

Yes, even ‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’

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The critics have spoken: The Mummy , Tom Cruise’s reboot of the 1999 Brendan Fraser bonanza, is not a very good movie. Some are going further, and suggesting that The Mummy is one of the worst movies — if not the very worst movie — Cruise has ever released. But is it? And if there’s a worst Tom Cruise movie, then there’s a best Tom Cruise movie, too. Which one is that? These are Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked.

These are the Tom Cruise train wrecks — the movies that are remarkably terrible, usually because they’re based on something else that’s dumb and bad.

40. ‘ Rock of Ages’

Tom Cruise in a movie about ’80s-era rock ’n’ roll? And it’s based on a Broadway play with an extremely rote premise? And Tom Cruise looks like this?

Who says no? Everyone. Everyone says no.

39. ‘ Lions for Lambs’

Here’s something odd: Tom Cruise — our most unknowable movie star; a canny, calculating executive; a man with an interesting personal life — is really bad at playing a politician in this Iraq War fable. (Also: "Iraq War fable.")

38. ‘ The Mummy’

The reboot of Brendan Fraser’s 1999 campy classic and the beginning of the Dark Universe [ rolls eyes so hard ] starts off well enough — Sofia Boutella makes a good mummy, Tom is doing his signature jerk-with-a-heart routine — but everything falls apart very quickly, much like the wraps and bandages on Boutella’s Sexy Mummy every time she sucks the life out of a British security guard. I blame Jekyll and Hyde.

37. ‘ Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’

Let’s just say no one watched the first Jack Reacher and said, "Man, they should make another one of those, only worse." Beyond the time he punches a dude through a car window , everything here is disappointing: a Halloween parade that came a year after Bond did a Day of the Dead parade in Spectre , an unnecessary "whose kid is this?" plot, and rough chemistry between Cruise and Cobie Smulders.

36. ‘ Mission: Impossible II’

One of the nuttiest action movies ever made, and not really in a good way. If the doves fluttering above Ethan Hunt as he does a roundhouse kick or the absurd plot about a disease called Chimera don’t make you jump ship, the onslaught of unmasking scenes will.

35. ‘ Knight and Day’

Cruise’s collaboration with Cameron Diaz airs approximately 13 times a week on cable channels. That’s about the nicest thing to say about it. Cruise’s character is named Roy Miller, which is … a totally fine name. Quick satellite ranking: Which Cruise character has the best name?

These are the movies that reached too far, misunderstood the gifts they had, or never got enough support.

34. ‘ Cocktail’

Both these things are true: Cocktail is a classic ’80s film; it is also a movie that treats becoming a bartender like it’s the same thing as training to be the Dalai Lama.

33. ‘ Endless Love’

"Eight years old, and I was into arson!" Tom Cruise’s first appearance on the big screen was brief but fun, and suffers only because it comes in a schlocky ’80s romance.

32. ‘ Losin’ It’

This movie is about Tom Cruise (and his friends) trying to lose his (and their) virginity.

31. ‘ Far and Away’

The pieces are all here — Cruise, Nicole Kidman, director Ron Howard, composer John Williams — but Cruise struggles as a late-19th-century Irish immigrant: He has a rough go of it with the accent, and looks frankly bizarre in period costume.

30. ‘ The Last Samurai’

A borderline offensive white-savior movie that still made nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. The Last Samurai with any other actor possibly bombs; with Cruise, the movie almost quadrupled its budget and brought in four Academy Award nominations.

29. ‘ Valkyrie’

Somehow makes "Tom Cruise killing Hitler" boring.

28. ‘ Oblivion’

This is a pretty film — director Joseph Kosinski crafts a beautifully desolate future, and Melissa Leo gives a stirringly odd performance as a planet-killing artificial intelligence. But Cruise is mostly on his own here, hamstrung by a couple of obvious twists and a wasted post-apocalyptic performance from Morgan Freeman.

27. ‘ Vanilla Sky’

This Cameron Crowe film is a bit of a mess and probably uses one too many Sigur Ros songs. But it does have its moments — like the truly bizarre "Good Vibrations" climax when the plot’s endgame reveals itself — and Cruise’s chemistry with Penélope Cruz is off the charts. Speaking of Vanilla Sky , let’s do another satellite ranking …

These are the Tom Cruise movies that are resolutely average. Each has some sharp moments, but they’re nothing special.

26. ‘ Legend’

Let’s put it this way: after Legend , Cruise never made another fantasy film.

25. ‘ Days of Thunder’

Notable for being the first of three Cruise–Nicole Kidman features (four if you count marriage, and five if you count divorce), and for implying that Tom Cruise has ever been to a NASCAR race.

24. ‘ Taps’

Like A Few Good Men , but with teens and without Nicholson.

23. ‘ Jack Reacher’

A solid, fun action movie with a character Stunt Cruise was born to play. It also has the honorable distinction of featuring Tom Cruise’s best menstruation joke:

And now, a break to talk about Tom Cruise running:

These are the Tom Cruise movies that are fun as hell. You will probably watch the whole thing if a rerun is airing on TNT.

22. ‘ All the Right Moves’

Sports Tom Cruise! All the Right Moves is like a better Varsity Blues , and Cruise shines playing off of Craig T. Nelson and Lea Thompson. Bonus points because protagonist Stefan Djordjevic is a safety — you don’t see many football movies about guys on the defensive side of the ball, let alone guys in the secondary.

21. ‘ Tropic Thunder’

Post Oprah-couch-jumping and the terrible Lions for Lambs , Cruise was losing his juice in 2007. He got some of it back by outshining Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. as Les Grossman, an overweight, extremely foul-mouthed movie exec who danced to Ludacris’s "Get Back."

20. ‘ Interview With the Vampire’

Cruise and Brad Pitt play vampires. It’s a weird look , and Weird Cruise is generally good Cruise. Interview ranks here for the ponytail and accent alone.

19. ‘ Rain Man’

Rain Man is a classic two-hander, with virtuosic performances on both sides: Cruise excels as a rich dick, and Dustin Hoffman’s Academy Award–winning performance is legendary and legendarily parodied. This might rank higher, if not for the premise having curdled into something slightly uncomfortable.

18. ‘ War of the Worlds’

Peak Blockbuster Cruise: This should have been a boring remake of a radio play, and yet it’s transfixing. Mostly because of how Cruise throws a baseball:

17. ‘ Mission: Impossible–Rogue Nation’

16. ‘ mission: impossible–ghost protocol’, 15. ‘ mission: impossible iii’.

These three are fun popcorn jams; they also mark Cruise’s move from "actor" to "Stuntman of Note." While Mission: Impossible II failed because it tried to turn Cruise’s Ethan Hunt into a character with recognizably human traits, these three films succeed because they recognize that Cruise’s greatest gift in his later years is his willingness to hang off the side of a plane, or climb the Burj Khalifa, or hold his breath for half an hour.

Excellent Cruise, slightly less excellent movie — or: slightly less-than-excellent Cruise, excellent movie. Still: really, really good stuff.

14. ‘ Minority Report’

This Spielberg-Cruise collaboration is one of the weirdest-looking films in Cruise’s career: harshly lit, bleached out, futuristic as hell. It’s a spectacle, and Cruise’s John Anderton sprints through it all.

13. ‘ Born on the Fourth of July’

Cruise and Oliver Stone take on the story of Ron Kovic, a Vietnam War vet whose post-war experience led him to fight for better veteran care. This one’s centered on a firing-on-all-cylinders Cruise performance. (Notable: Cruise lost out on the Oscar only because Daniel Day-Lewis won it for My Left Foot , which is like making it to the Olympics as a sprinter and then finding out Usain Bolt is running, too.)

12. ‘ The Outsiders’

Talk about pedigree. Director Francis Ford Coppola lined up the entire future of Hollywood for The Outsiders : Cruise stars alongside Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, and Ralph Macchio as some mean ’60s teens. It’s a notably dark teen movie, and also created the Brat Pack. Points all around.

11. ‘ The Firm’

A+ legal thriller, and not just because it’s a plot point on Season 2 of Billions .

10. ‘ Eyes Wide Shut’

A singular look into the psychology of marriage, this is an essential film in Cruise/Kidman canon and in Stanley Kubrick’s canon. Plus Tom Cruise angrily walking around the West Village in leather gloves for hours would be its own compelling feature film.

9. ‘ Edge of Tomorrow’

A crucial text, because this movie is about what it takes to become Tom Cruise. Cruise plays Bill Cage, a smug Army PR guy tossed onto the front lines of a sure-to-be-lost war against aliens. Cage quickly learns that every time he dies, he Groundhog Day s back to the moment he woke up that day. With lots of training from Emily Blunt, and by carefully piecing together the strategic script required to defeat the aliens, Cage becomes essentially the greatest action star of all time — which is to say, Tom Cruise.

8. ‘ Collateral’

One of Cruise’s best performances, as a deliciously unhinged hitman who takes an L.A. cab driver (Jamie Foxx) hostage for a night. The entire movie is great — essential Michael Mann — as is everyone in it, but a graying Cruise carries the film.

Extremely Good

We made it. This is Peak Cruise.

7. ‘ Risky Business’

An unassailable classic that launched Cruise into superstardom. Let’s just watch the below clip and agree on that.

6. ‘ Top Gun’

Highway to the Danger Zone ! In retrospect, it’s odd that a movie about fighter pilots isn’t also a war movie — this is basically a college film, which is the key to its success. Cruise is a hot dog, there’s lots of oiled-up volleyball, everyone gets perfect call signs. And Maverick can sing :

5. ‘ The Color of Money’

Scorsese. Newman. Cruise. Paul Newman won an Oscar for this sort-of-sequel to The Hustler , but the 1986 film marked the arrival of an actor who could share a screen with the legend. Acting excellence is not about excellent acting .

4. ‘ Jerry Maguire’

Peak rom-com Cruise, if only because there isn’t very much Rom-com Cruise to choose from. Which is a shame: it’s really a tour de force performance. The "Show me the money" scene; the "Who’s coming with me?" scene; the scene where Jerry shows up at Dorothy’s (Renee Zellweger) house blackout drunk. Cruise is even able to sell all of Jerry Maguire ’s super-saccharine lines. People tell their significant others "You complete me" today because Jerry Maguire told Dorothy Boyd that.

3. ‘ Mission: Impossible’

This marks the birth of Franchise Cruise™. It’s easy to forget that Mission: Impossible was a campy TV series, but Cruise and Brian De Palma turned it into a nervy, stylish spy thriller that made Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond look like a cartoon character. And it introduced one totally indelible movie image, too:

2. ‘ Magnolia’

In an already great movie, Cruise is incredible as a pickup artist/motivational speaker who reconnects with his dying father. There’s so much range in his performance, vacillating from frenetic and hypermasculine to completely fragile. Watching Magnolia now will make you want to grab Tom Cruise by the face, shake him violently, and beg him to stop hanging off of airplanes.

1. ‘ A Few Good Men’

In A Few Good Men , you get everything that makes Tom Cruise great: Lawyer Cruise, Sports Cruise, Drunk Cruise, Uniform Cruise — it’s all here. Plus, this is the hottest Tom Cruise ever was, and that’s an important, undeniable fact.

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All 44 Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked

Today, Tom Cruise is synonymous with gravity-defying stunts that adorn the biggest set pieces in the Mission: Impossible movies, wherein his passionate love for doing his own stuntwork has cemented his reputation as a larger-than-life movie star. Few actors possess the magnetism that Tom Cruise exudes, whether on set or on the big screen, in which he dazzles with his 1000-megawatt smile and carefully-crafted, wild intensity. However, Cruise is not just a decorated action star who merely entertains in the form of thrills — he shines best in complex dramas that demand characters to descend into the depths of what truly defines them. Be it a dollar bill brandishing Bill Harford or a chaotically tenacious Jerry Maguire, Cruise knows how to navigate nuanced character vignettes and imbue any film he’s in with a telltale intensity that cannot be replicated.

Having worked on 40+ films, alongside some episodes in television and documentaries, Tom Cruise has emerged as a bonafide — dare I say — icon in the past couple of years. Keeping this in mind, ranking every film he’s been in can be a tricky endeavor: after all, art is violently subjective and cannot truly be ranked to discern its innate value. Before we proceed, I would like to clarify the following: this ranking will be a combination of the quality of a film and the quality of Cruise’s performance in it, with a heavy emphasis on the latter. So, if you don’t see a, say, Top Gun: Maverick at numero uno, please don’t come rushing with your pitchforks!

Finally, this is as much a ranking as an appreciation for Tom Cruise’s staggering range and intensity as an actor, so please feel free to have a good time while you’re at it. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.

44. Endless Love (1981)

Tom Cruise’s debut performance as Billy in Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love is too blink-and-you-miss-it for it to warrant a substantial place in his filmography. Although Cruise’s character partially impacts the central romance between Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt with a tale of unintentional arson, there’s not enough to go on here. Moreover, Endless Love can be categorized as an adaptation that does not understand its source material or the turgid, obsessive love affair that lies at the heart of the story.

43. The Mummy (2017)

Remember the Dark Universe? Neither do I. As a part of a terribly under-planned and misguided attempt to create a cinematic universe with classic Universal monsters, The Mummy was the first and final nail in the coffin for this ambitious franchise. Helmed by Alex Kurtzman, the film had several writers on board, along with David Koepp and Christopher McQuarrie. However, the end result was a bafflingly lackluster script led by a character whose blandness overrides his consistently unbearable smugness.

Tom Cruise’s usual charm, which generally oscillates between endearing and effectively cocky throughout his filmography, comes off as obnoxious in The Mummy, mostly due to how it is handled. Apart from being a failed Tom Cruise vehicle, The Mummy thoroughly lacks originality to the point that it comes off as a sad pastiche of the classics it desperately tries to imitate.

42. Cocktail (1988)

Here, Tom Cruise plays yet another cocky flirt, this time a bartender named Brian Flanagan. Cocktail is the quintessential hollow ‘80s movie , with its glamour and appeal resting heavily on Cruise’s good looks. Well, the story in itself revolves around Brian’s ability to seduce women (whilst bartending, for the most part) until he decides to romance Elisabeth Shue’s Jordan. Unfortunately, Cocktail fails to imbibe any of the standard thrills that are cognizant of good romantic dramas, as the script lacks the depth to keep the audience invested or hooked. However, if you are ever in the mood to watch an unbearably suave Cruise flaring at a bar while the rest of the plot (plot? what plot?) gradually fades into the periphery, Cocktail is the perfect Tom Cruise film for this sole purpose.

41. Losin’ It (1983)

A sex comedy about adolescents trying their damnest to get laid, Losin’ It follows a young Tom Cruise on a road trip to Tijuana with his gang, who, wait for it, want to get some. Although there is nothing inherently bad about Curtis Hanson’s film, it unfurls as a run-of-the-mill genre offering rife with coming-of-age tropes and semi-hilarious shenanigans that end in some sort of pseudo-profound life lesson. Worth skipping entirely unless you’re a Cruise completionist.

40. Lions for Lambs (2007)

A war drama helmed by Robert Redford with a talent-packed cast including Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Redford himself sounds like the perfect Oscar bait. However, Redford’s Lions for Lambs was far from what everyone envisioned the film to be. Instead, it turned out to be a preachy, hollow morality drama with long-winded monologues that seemed like pedantic lectures. A film about America’s war on terror, Lions for Lambs executes its subject material in a rather pompous manner, robbing the film of the nuance and substance it should have essentially embodied. Although Tom Cruise is fine as Senator Jasper Irving, his performance fails to eclipse the dull execution of what could have been an especially riveting narrative about the futility of war.

39. Rock of Ages (2012)

Broadway musicals can be electrifying, and when appropriately adapted to the big screen, the results can be brilliant (a recent example being Steven Spielberg’s abundantly layered West Side Story). Adam Shankman’s Rock of Ages, based on Chris D’Arienzo’s jukebox Broadway musical of the same name, is almost too eccentric(ally bad) for its own good, crumbling into a brand of silliness I personally cannot get behind. Having said that, Tom Cruise is the only redeeming aspect of Shankman’s lifeless adaptation, who imbues metal rocker Stacee Jaxx with a bonkers, chameleon-like quality, managing to keep the movie afloat during the direst of times. If you can get past some of the intense croonings, that is.

38. Far and Away (1992)

In Far and Away, Tom Cruise and his then-wife Nicole Kidman play Irish immigrants coming to the US hoping to partake in the elusive American Dream. This premise can quickly become hackneyed if not treated with some modicum of ingenuity. And it does. In a case of pure miscasting, both Cruise and Kidman fail to reinvigorate this American epic with any sort of weight, despite their best efforts. Although visually stunning, Far and Away is the kind of film that suffers from shallowness that it seems to be unaware of, devoid of any meaningful stakes that can hurtle this drama towards a reasonable conclusion. Cruise’s Irish accent is…interesting, to put it mildly, which does not help the film’s case in any shape or form.

37. Taps (1981)

To be fair, Taps is a relatively good military drama, with a string of convincing performances backing it, especially by Timothy Hutton, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for the same. As we’re ranking films as per the quality of Tom Cruise’s performances, Taps ranks lower due to the limited screen time the actor has to work with here. Playing Cadet Captain David Shawn, Cruise plays a character who takes his responsibilities a tad too seriously, banking on the age-old notions of honor, which are often associated with a certain brand of masculinity and heroics. Despite the film’s self-endorsed seriousness, Taps, with or without Cruise, is a little lackluster on the stakes front and is pretty forgettable as a whole.

36. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Banality is the name of the game in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, the sequel to the moderately enjoyable 2012 film, which still possesses numerous merits worth consideration. Tom Cruise reprises the franchise’s titular role, which often smacked as odd to me since Lee Child’s hulking protagonist is a far cry from Cruise’s rendition of the officer-turned-vigilante. However, the core issue with Edward Zwick’s sequel is not Cruise but a meandering, heavily by-the-numbers plot that seeps out any semblance of joy one can expect to derive from a standard action thriller.

The film’s reported budget of $96 million feels thoroughly unearned, as it is barely reflected in the shoddily-executed final product. Although Cruise is markedly different from the character’s novel counterpart, he brings a haunting intensity to the role that would have definitely fared better with a stronger, more cohesive script.

35. All The Right Moves (1983)

An early Tom Cruise entry, All The Right Moves, is pretty nondescript in terms of its filmmaking merits but emerges as pivotal in cementing Cruise’s credibility as a leading man. This Michael Chapman sports drama revolves around a Pennsylvania high-school footballer who is at loggerheads with his coach, desperate to escape his humble roots and make it big in the world of professional sports.

In terms of storyline, All The Right Moves is pretty middling, mimicking dozens of Hollywood entries that feature a gifted high schooler with ambitious aspirations persevering against all odds. However, Cruise manages to keep the storyline grounded, hence elevating an otherwise trite coming-of-age drama into a refreshingly honest character study worth checking out

34. Legend (1985)

Fresh off the success of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott ventured into the epic dark fantasy realm with Legend, which can only be described as a neverending fever dream. Now, don’t get me wrong: I think Legend is pure camp fun, and my love for the film knows no bounds. Be it a heavily costumed Tim Curry, who plays a 10-foot Lord of Darkness with menacing bravado, or an electrifying Mia Sara, whose Black Swan-like transformation may or may not have been my bisexual awakening, Legend is deliriously bonkers in the best of ways.

However, the film’s weakest link is Tom Cruise’s everyman-turned-hero Jack, who fights the devil with the power of light while donning armor made with a thousand shiny bottle caps. Cruise’s performance is not nearly as campy as the film demands. Hence, he painfully sticks out, like a being never truly belonging in the trippy wonderland it seems to inhabit.

33. Days of Thunder (1990)

A lot of hopes and dreams were pinned on Days of Thunder right around the time of its release, as it was the second collaboration between Tom Cruise and Tony Scott after the iconic Top Gun. Although it failed to meet these extremely high expectations, Days of Thunder whirls its way to the finish line in a way typical of a NASCAR flick: there are uber-fast cars, cocky drivers, and love interests cheering these hot-shot men on.

This is also the film in which Cruise met Kidman, who plays the love interest to his Cole Trickle. The film in itself? Underwhelming and pretty formulaic when it comes to its derivative plotting. Cruise, however, brings his telltale dynamism to the role, offering a glimpse of the wild intensity that would define some of his career’s best roles. Think of it as a mellowed Fast & Furious for Cruise lovers, and hey, that’s not a terrible bargain.

32. Knight and Day (2010)

James Mangold takes quintessential action-hero tropes and turns them on its head in Knight and Day, which is as fun and hilarious as it gets. Tom Cruise’s secret agent is on the run from the CIA (because, of course, he is) and needs to team up with June Havens (an extremely charming Cameron Diaz). The Diaz-Cruise duo works exceptionally well, both in serious dramas and comedic routines. The latter was proven true in Knight and Day, which remains rewatchable despite being predictable to some point. While Cruise’s Roy Miller/Matthew Knight follows the same mold as a dozen characters he plays in a bunch of action films, Knight and Day rank higher sheerly due to its purely enjoyable hijinks, which follow neither logic nor plausibility. Which is fine; let’s live a little.

31. Mission: Impossible II (2001)

After the genre-defying Mission: Impossible by Brian De Palma, which cemented Tom Cruise as the indomitable Ethan Hunt, John Woo’s Mission: Impossible II fell flat. Although not a terrible film by traditional genre standards, the sequel, unfortunately, does not inch any closer to the measured brilliance of the first MI film by investing in a borderline-nonsensical plot that does not do justice to the franchise’s core. However, the inherent shortcomings of this film are neither Woo’s nor Cruise’s fault, who undoubtedly bring their individual brands of commitment to this particular installment.

Due to the ridiculous nature of the script, Hunt emerges more as a bland villain than a morally complex anti-hero, although the subsequent films steadily paint him as the undisputed hero of the franchise, despite his moral complexities. The film also lacks the standard Woo-esque action flair. In fact, one is better off watching The Killer or Face/Off to genuinely appreciate what John Woo is really capable of.

30. Jack Reacher (2012)

No, please don’t yell at me for ranking Jack Reacher higher than MI 2 — let me explain. While Tom Cruise’s best efforts are adversely impacted by Mission: Impossible II’s headache-inducing script and characterization, Jack Reacher allows the action star to shine while adding an ounce of thrill to its titular character. This first installment is better received than its sequel because it understands what kind of film it is and works overtime to deliver the freshest thrills possible within that limited ambit.

Christopher McQuarrie employs Cruise’s natural charisma in favor of the storyline while weaving in an interesting antagonist in the form of a feral Werner Herzog . Also, I find Cruise’s brooding, cold-blooded persona an interesting turn among the long list of suave good guys he has played, especially within the framework of an action thriller that is meant to be a fun ride.

29. Valkyrie (2008)

Before I delve into how Valkyrie fares as a political drama , I want to focus exclusively on Tom Cruise’s performance as Wehrmacht Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, one of the foremost members of the failed plot to assassinate Hitler. Cruise’s casting was the subject of controversy, as he was deemed too American for the role (compounded with the fact that none of the Nazi officers sported an accent throughout the film).

Despite these odds, Cruise churns out a reasonably good performance within the limitations of a plot that favors glitz and glamor over complex characterization. However, Cruise is not a standout here, as the rest of the cast belts out equally convincing performances. Meanwhile, the film fails to soar above the fringes of well-made mediocrity. Although Valkyrie is not laughably bad, it is not exceptionally good either, especially if you re-contextualize it through the German lens, given that the film fails the test of historical accuracy on many fronts.

28. Oblivion (2013)

Oh, I know: most lists would bill Oblivion way, way lower, as it is generally perceived as one of Tom Cruise’s inferior entries in the sci-fi genre. However, as an Oblivion apologist, I believe the film boasts something essentially significant: its plot stands out as wholly original despite suffering from some pacing and narrative issues.

Cruise is the heart of Oblivion — he sells the chaotic reveal halfway through the film, which seems to take clear inspiration from Solaris (the Andrei Tarkovsky original, not the American remake). Cruise perfectly plays a fractured character who is meant to be a ghost of his core self, chasing objectives until the mirage dissipates. Joseph Kosinski, who is a master at capturing aesthetic beauty, gift wraps Oblivion as a beautifully bleak dystopian experience that is worth experiencing at least once.

27. The Last Samurai (2003)

Edward Zwick’s epic period drama, The Last Samurai, positions Tom Cruise as an American captain who crosses paths with samurai warriors in the Meiji Restoration period in 19th century Japan. Right off the bat, I applaud the film’s stunning action sequences, which still hold up due to their fluidity and seamlessness, like poetry in motion. In terms of how Cruise fares in this drama, he brings equal amounts of badassery and heart to his conflicted character and adds an edge to the intelligently-penned plot with great conviction.

However, my issue with The Last Samurai lies in the inherent treatment of its subject matter: the white savior trope defines copious chunks of the third act. Moreover, the film falls prey to an idealized, sanitized portrayal of the ways of the Samurai. Although a marked improvement from the problematic Americanized retellings of Japan’s complex socio-cultural landscape, The Last Samurai is still an extremely flawed epic that props up embellished versions of actual historical figures—still a great watch.

26. Vanilla Sky (2001)

Yet another potentially controversial ranking, most ranking lists delegate Vanilla Sky to the fag end of best Tom Cruise films. However, for me, the film fulfills the dual role of evoking a deeply surreal tale and allowing Cruise the space to showcase his terrific range, and it emerges as one of the cornerstones in Cruise’s career. Now, Vanilla Sky pales miserably compared to its Spanish-language original, Abre los Ojos. But it still remains an ambitious adaptation that dares to tackle deep existential themes (while lacking the depth to grasp its implications fully).

Even though Cruise portrays what one can essentially describe as a self-centered prick, he still manages to evoke some amount of sympathy, even for such a morally-degraded character. Overall, the film functions best within the domain of dream logic, where the conscious and the subconscious meet to expose our deepest desires, which are often inherently cruel and unimaginably selfish.

25. Tropic Thunder (2008)

Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder has too many gems to boast of, being a film that still remains darkly comedic and hilarious in the best of ways. However, one of the standouts among the film’s many, many highlights (Jack Black experiencing drug withdrawal in a wildly unhinged manner takes the cake for me) is Tom Cruise’s small but defining role as sleazeball businessman Less Grossman. Cruise’s maniacal monologue where he “negotiates” with the kidnappers and screams, “I’m talking scorched earth, motherfucker!” as a dumbstruck Matthew McConaughey gawks at him is enough to qualify it as a memorable Cruise performance. And oh, Cruise also busts out some sick moves as Grossman toward the end of the film, which perfectly caps off this delightfully bonkers cameo role.

24. American Made (2017)

This Doug Liman joint melds heart-thumping action with a devil-may-care protagonist embodied by Tom Cruise effortlessly while being inspired by the life of TWA pilot Barry Seal, who flew a mission for the CIA. This is an admittedly winning combination, as American Made is an extremely enjoyable and breezy watch, with Cruise using his cult of personality in the film’s favor with no holds barred. This is the kind of Cruise performance that revels in the actor’s strengths: a script that demands stuntwork (that he would happily oblige to do), a character that creates space for exhibiting boisterous charm, and a decently good screenplay that ties everything together. Although American Made is too glib to be taken seriously, the film delivers exactly what it means to and works in sync with everything that defines Cruise’s wheelhouse.

23. The Outsiders (1983)

Francis Ford Coppola’s coming-of-age gem, The Outsiders, is an eccentric yet effective adaptation of the source material, with a host of young talent grounding the film. Tom Cruise is one among the many names, alongside Matt Dillon , Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez. What’s interesting about Cruise’s performance in The Outsiders is that it is a peek inside the Hollywood star’s strengths before he adopted a more suave, polished, leading-man persona.

Here, Cruise’s Steve Randle is an awkward adolescent who plays a marginally smaller role in the plot than the rest of the cast but still manages to intrigue. There’s a naturalistic and rough-around-the-edges aura to Cruise’s rendition of the character, which is never seen again once the actor officially enters the territory of a confident, charming leading man. Moreover, The Outsiders is a pretty solid film that tackles teenage trauma with great nuance, championing an authenticity often missing in mainstream genre entries.

22. Mission: Impossible III (2006)

What’s not to love about Mission: Impossible III? J.J. Abrams took the reins of a franchise that had previously faltered with one underwhelming installment and reinvigorated it by highlighting the brimming potential of a saga about a tenacious IMF officer. The stakes in MI3 seem higher than ever, with the odds abundantly stacked against Tom Cruise’s Hunt — especially when he’s up against the deadly Owen David, played to perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman .

While the Rabbit’s Foot functioned more as a McGuffin to drive the plot forward, MI3 expertly weaves bombastic action with heartfelt stakes by introducing Julia (Michele Monaghan) into the mix. Needless to say, Cruise elevates Hunt by investing a special brand of guarded vulnerability in him, which undoubtedly pays off in future installments.

21. The Firm (1993)

Yes, I know, this is an adaptation of a John Grisham thriller in the ‘90s and films with similar plots and mysterious shenanigans were a dime a dozen at that point in time. However, The Firm set a precedent for such adaptations and proved that a great legal thriller is a careful combination of star power, evenly-paced thrills, and hard-edged cynicism.

Here, Tom Cruise plays Mitch McDeere, a Harvard-educated tax lawyer with brimming ambition, who gets accepted into a legal firm under conditions that seem too good to be true. And they are, as Mitch finds himself at the heart of a web of lies and deception, trapped against his will in the corrupt ecosystem with no way out. Cruise exhibits incredible range in this wonderfully-eventful drama, going from a promising, wide-eyed lawyer to a man desperate not to lose everything he holds dear. Also, I have got to especially mention Gene Hackman here, as his presence creates intriguing, dangerous friction in the scenes shared by Mitch and Hackman’s mentor character.

20. War of the Worlds (2005)

Alien invasion plots are a Steven Spielberg specialty, and his War of the Worlds, a gripping adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic, is frankly phenomenal. Here, Tom Cruise does not play a decorated hero but an everyman forced to step up to the mantle — specifically, a sort-of deadbeat, emotionally vacant father whose kids cannot stand the sight of him. This is fresh territory for Cruise, who manages to add something viscerally relatable to his character’s plight, who does not seem to know how to bridge the gap between him and his children amid an alien invasion.

Spielberg’s commentary about the futility of war and the perseverance of the human spirit in the form of close-knit families elevates this post-apocalyptic thriller, which manages to intrigue with its frenetic action and emotional depth. Cruise is the glue in War of the Worlds, making disparate elements work rather effortlessly while embodying a deeply flawed character with great skill. I also have a deep love for the scene in which he furiously makes peanut butter sandwiches for his miffed kids (it is both sad and hilarious).

Related Content: 10 Best Films By Steven Spielberg

19. interview with the vampire (1994).

Anne Rice aficionados who’ve read The Vampire Chronicles will immediately understand the importance of Interview with the Vampire, which raises vital questions about creation, consumption, humanity, and lack thereof. Not a traditional vampire tale, Interview situates a newly-bitten Louis with the cruel, unapologetically hedonistic Lestat de Lioncourt, who assumes various roles for our protagonist, including maker, nemesis, and lover.

While the Hollywood adaptation completely neutered the homoerotic underpinnings between Lestat and Louis, one would be a fool to deny the brand of passionate, frenzied sexuality that Tom Cruise brings as the pompous, effortlessly stylish Lestat. A brat through and through, Cruise’s Lestat eggs on, coaxes, and torments Louis throughout while celebrating the cruelties inherent in being a creature of the night without abandon. Shame is an alien emotion to Lestat, and Cruise perfectly embodies this by treating Louis’ empathy with dripping disdain. While Interview with the Vampire is not the best Rice adaptation (the AMC series is clearly superior in every way), Cruise is pivotal to bringing the novel’s morbidly dreary world to life.

18. Top Gun (1986)

The reasons Top Gun landed here on my list can be attributed to many factors. First off, the film, despite boasting groundbreaking aerial sequences that still hold up after all these years, is not devoid of faults. Only stimulating in parts and cheesy as hell, Top Gun is one of those films that enjoy the benefit of nostalgia, which does not necessarily void out the film’s many strengths. Top Gun definitely acted as a launchpad for Tom Cruise’s journey into superstardom, positioning him in the shoes of a highly cocky yet endearing Maverick, who undergoes great personal loss and has to tackle overwhelming guilt in the end.

There’s a ribbon of sexualized masculinity that runs throughout the film, but refreshingly, it never descends into misogyny or toxicity of any kind. The way Top Gun props up male friendships is frankly beautiful, a case in point being the glorious volleyball sequence that still manages to make us feel giddy.

17. The Color of Money (1986)

Martin Scorsese’s sports drama , The Color of Money, is clearly Paul Newman’s film, but part of the film’s charm is undoubtedly contributed by Tom Cruise, who belts out a major supportive performance. Playing protégé to pool player Fast Eddie, Cruise, once again, uses his cocky boyish charm to add an easygoing quality to the narrative, which makes for a really enjoyable performance.

Moreover, Scorsese’s masterful direction allows the huge ensemble cast to feel meaningfully fleshed out, where the central trio stands out distinctively amidst a host of colorful characters. This entry is so high up on my list because Cruise, who was still cementing his talent at the time, convincingly managed to hold his own opposite the likes of Newman and John Turturro , especially with Newman eventually winning an Oscar for his performance in the film. Also, The Color of Money is a certified banger, so there we go.

16. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Ghost Protocol is a pure, adrenaline spectacle, both from an action and narrative standpoint. Everything is tuned up to a 100 as Hunt and his crew take on increasingly dangerous missions that are, heh, impossible. The fact that Tom Cruise scaled the Burj Khalifa to deliver one of the most electrifying setpieces in the franchise is a reason alone for Ghost Protocol to deserve all the love. Still, the film also props an extremely good Jeremy Renner among the chaos.

The literal definition of deliciously good popcorn entertainment, Ghost Protocol is fun, chaotic, technically impressive, and features some choice emotionally-resonant moments. My only (minor) gripe with the film is the unspeakably embarrassing Anil Kapoor cameo, which literally adds nothing to the plot and could’ve been handled better. But I digress: Cruise brings renewed energy to Hunt, who gradually morphs into a legend who cannot be bested, no matter the odds.

15. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Ethan Hunt is a man haunted by his past, an amalgamation of everything he’s lost so far, coupled with the rising anxiety of what he might lose next. Dead Reckoning heightens these personal stakes for Cruise’s Hunt like never before, imbuing him with the same vulnerability that he wore on his sleeve in De Palma’s Mission: Impossible. Sure, he’s still willing to jump off unbelievable heights and put his life on the line for the sake of his missions, but here, Hunt’s dilemma is more pronounced, as he faces real, irrevocable loss after the death of someone close to him.

Prior to this, Hunt has faced off against innumerable enemies, ranging from complex antagonists eager to blow up the world to those plotting within the firm to smoke him out as a potential mole. Dead Reckoning takes an eerie, timely approach to its big bad by positioning an A.I. keen on world domination — dubbed The Entity, which employs human agents to ensure that Hunt is stopped before it’s too late.

While the film ends on a cliffhanger, paving the way for Part Two, there’s plenty to love here. Cruise embraces the lighter aspects of his personality while also brandishing his fierce, protective side—the latter manifesting in tense alleyway scuffles and desperate grappling on the top of a moving train. Dead Reckoning raises the stakes for Cruise as an action star like every succeeding M: I installment. It also allows him to imbue Hunt with a culmination of regrets that only fuel his need to be the one to save the world.

14. Minority Report (2002)

I love Philip K. Dick, and I love Spielberg’s Minority Report, which encapsulates the high-concept sci-fi action aura of Dick’s novel. Here Tom Cruise’s Jon Anderton has the ability of precognition — a staple trope in Dick’s works — which posits an interesting conundrum between free will and determinism, along with the dire cost of prescience. However, in my book, Cruise’s performance, while skillful, does not necessarily make the movie what it is, as the plot works due to a combination of factors, including incredible secondary performances.

Even though Cruise is the leading man burdened with the gift of prophecy and the fates of many depend on him, it is the dual performances of Samantha Morton and Colin Farrell that shine through, adding a biting edge to an already competent storyline. While Cruise does what he does best (he also runs, which is aces), the film’s many strengths far outnumber his contributions, which explains my reasoning for not ranking it in the top ten.

13. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015)

Christopher McQuarrie simply serves in this Mission: Impossible installment, which contains all the telltale ingredients that make every MI entry a blast. Unbelievably fun, Rogue Nation knows which aspects of the franchise work best and employs fresh thrills alongside time-tested hits that have elevated Ethan Hunt into the once-reluctant (now willing) hero he is. The mystery elements of the plot are extremely tense and genuinely thrilling. At the same time, the presence of Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa (who is now a staple) breathes new life into the secondary dynamics of the film.

Although Rogue Nation isn’t wholly original, it simply doesn’t matter: Tom Cruise deepens Hunt’s character by introducing complex, contrarian impulses, and these aspects emerge best when he’s interacting with Ilsa, who is, frankly, a stunning addition to the gang. I mean, you folks remember the opera sequence, right? There’s something endlessly cool about Hunt being one-upped by a competent, mysterious agent, who goes on to forge an emotional bond with him as time passes. Formulaic, but done with skill, so it works!

12. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

While Edge of Tomorrow seems like a typical action thoroughfare, it is truly a remarkable film that establishes conventions only to violently — and effectively — subvert them. Tom Cruise’s hero status in the film is not a given as it is thoroughly earned: he needs to work his ass off and die (countless times) to escape a Groundhog Day-esque scenario and potentially save the world. The one calling the shots, however, is Emily Blunt’s Rita Vrataski, the Angel of Verdun, who pays Cruise’s baffled, utterly confused character no heed for a good chunk of the first half.

In a classic inversion of expectations, Cruise’s William Cage needs guidance and saving throughout. On the other hand, Vrataski deals with all threats in a measured, no-nonsense manner that is absolutely refreshing to watch. Moreover, the Cruise-Blunt combination works beautifully, creating space for humor, pathos, and general badassery in the best of ways.

11. Mission: Impossible (1996)

Brain de Palma laid out the blueprint for the Mission: Impossible franchise with his noir-addled, dramatic-as-heck first entry, which is a perfect film in many respects. The film positions a young Ethan Hunt, who’s wholly dependent on his team until a mission in Prague goes horribly wrong and forces him to go rogue. This is history in the making, as de Palma lays the foundation for the over-the-top set-pieces that will define the franchise, key examples being the CIA infiltration scene and the entire train sequence towards the end.

The reason why I’ve ranked this entry so high up is that the film simply would not work without Tom Cruise, who adds so many subtle layers to his hounded, jilted, corned IMF rogue character that it is thrilling to watch him grow as the franchise blooms. Even the penultimate twist is pure de Palma brilliance, executed in a smart, practical, and haunting way. The action, although not as polished as the big-budget blockbusters to follow, is extremely ambitious and pulled off with great panache. After all, we wouldn’t be here eagerly expecting Dead Reckoning without this film, so I’m simply paying the respect that is due.

10. Risky Business (1983)

Risky Business is celebrated for a good reason, as this acclaimed sex comedy ticks all the right genre boxes and features the Tom Cruise performance that put him on the mainstream radar. Here, Cruise turns on his charms to the max in a stylish satire that explores teen angst and the arbitrariness of morality, eliciting genuine laughs along the way. However, the film is not without glaring faults. It is extremely dated (and problematic!) in its treatment of trans women and sex workers, which obviously urges us to direct appropriate criticism toward these aspects.

The reason why Risky Business makes it to the top ten is Cruise and Cruise alone, who plays an entrepreneur-turned-pimp to perfection. A significant factor is an iconic scene in which Joel slides across the floor, miming Bob Seger’s rendition of Old Time Rock and Roll, wearing a pink shirt and white briefs. This is an image of a true movie star in the making, harkening to the beginning of great things to come.

Also Read: 10 Great Dark Comedies from the 20th Century

09. rain man (1988).

Barry Levinson’s Rain Man situates Tom Cruise as the brash, self-centered Charlie, who learns about the existence of his brother Raymond ( Dustin Hoffman ), an autistic savant. Although Levinson’s script is decently good and is executed without major blemishes, what makes Rain Man seminal is its central performances, where both Hoffman and Cruise give it their all to bring the story to life.

As we’re honed in on Cruise here, I must say he plays Charlie rather beautifully, portraying the depths of a man who does not quite understand emotional vulnerability as he drowns under mountains of resentment. While Hoffman consistently evokes strong emotions with his rendition of Raymond, Cruise emerges as the unexpected X factor in the film, injecting the premise with a realistic sense of shallow, cruel desperation that adds significantly to his character.

08. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

In terms of the culmination of the best traits in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Fallout is sheer perfection. The swag in Fallout is wild, as the amount and dynamism of the set pieces eclipse all expectations, even after being appropriately met in Rogue Nation. Tom Cruise proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is the definitive Ethan Hunt, and transferring the mantle to anyone else would be an absurd, rather foolish decision. Somehow, Cruise manages to make Hunt more iconic than previously imaginable while helming a story with plentiful thrills and mindblowing.

A special ode to Henry Cavill for reloading his muscles in the bathroom fight sequence and adding thrilling stakes to the story as a morally complex anti-hero that I would love to see a return to the franchise (I know, I know, but one can hope?) Moreover, Fallout is a consistent adrenaline high with almost no dull moments — it is a blockbuster through and through, crafted with love and dedication, with an evergreen Cruise at the beating heart of it all. I’ve run out of praises, but you get the gist.

07. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Before you unsheathe your pitchforks again, let me paint you a picture. The prospect of working with Stanley Kubrick is a double-edged sword — on the one hand, there’s the genius artistic vision. Still, on the other, there’s the callous cruelty he exhibits on-set that pushes the strongest actors over the edge. While Kubrick’s heinous treatment of Shelley Duval on the set of The Shining is fairly common knowledge, folks often overlook his treatment of Tom Cruise and Kidman while filming Eyes Wide Shut, which still remains an electrifying, captivating entry in the auteur’s oeuvre. The man exerted such intense pressure on Cruise that the megastar developed ulcers due to the harrowing stress, which is evident in the portrayal of Bill Harford.

Eyes Wide Shut is Cruise pushed to the edge of sanity, where he brings a visceral sense of insecurity and paranoia to the role in an intriguing character study. Personally, I adore Eyes Wide Shut and will defend it to death. While you might disagree with this sentiment, it’s evident that the film dangerously capitalizes on Cruise’s sound capabilities as a serious actor.

Related List: All Stanley Kubrick Movies Ranked From Great to Greatest

06. top gun: maverick (2021).

I watched Top Gun: Maverick in theaters with my father, who is completely removed from the realm of mainstream Hollywood cinema. While he was heavily impressed by the sequel’s astounding aerial action sequences, he made it a point to repeatedly praise Tom Cruise’s screen presence and the absolute command he holds over every scene. This perfectly encapsulates the core reason why Top Gun: Maverick swept the box office the way it did: the film builds meaningfully upon the Top Gun nostalgia while fleshing out an emotionally high-stakes, action-heavy tale with Maverick at the center.

Joseph Kosinski innately understands the mechanics of a Tom Cruise vehicle that works in favor of an almost-flawless film and weaves it into a story about camaraderie and letting go of the past. Yet another stylishly sexy beach sequence acts as the icing on the cake, which works well because the fresh characters are all genuinely likable and integral to Maverick’s journey. Also, Cruise’s comeback as Maverick is remarkably nuanced, as he can imbue the character with emotional depths that are otherwise missing in the original. Simply lovely, with no notes.

05. Collateral (2004)

Tom Cruise as a hardened killer, a full-blown villain, is a deliciously rare sight, and Collateral offers this rare glimpse into the actor’s capabilities to turn completely rogue. Everything about this Michael Mann extravaganza is chef’s kiss: it is an L.A. noir about a can driver ( Jamie Foxx , who’s also brilliant) who Cruise’s dangerously unhinged Vincent corners, and forced to cooperate till the end of the night in increasingly unnerving ways.

Every supporting performance adds a kernel of authentic thrill to Mann’s expertly-crafted piece, but it is Foxx and Cruise who engage in a mad dance to keep audiences hooked. I have a particular affinity for the nightclub scene in Collateral, where Cruise, who is coolly confident up to this point, starts wreaking havoc by pushing patrons while Ready Steady Go! blares in the background. The way Cruise moves in this sequence is raw, animalistic, and dangerous, exposing the true extent of his villainy and the innate danger Foxx’s character is in. Collateral is no Heat, but it is up there in the ranks of tense, gripping noir-thrillers with stellar performances to ground them.

04. A Few Good Men (1992)

Jack Nicholson is a force of nature in every film he’s in, tempering his intensity according to the nature of the plot, with great success. To be able to hold one’s own opposite such a dynamic actor is no small feat, and Tom Cruise manages to do just that in A Few Good Men. Rob Reiner’s film might be a tad overdramatic in the way it handles its subject matter. Still, the drama unfolds in the most effective ways, bookended by impetuous performances that leave no space for dull moments in an old-fashioned courtroom drama.

The oft-quoted courtroom faceoff between Cruise and Nicholson’s characters is theatricality at its best, with two-star powers with different sets of strengths meeting together to deliver an unforgettable scene. The “You can’t handle the truth!” monologue is still endlessly quotable. Cruise’s performance extends beyond this little snippet, as he embodies Daniel Kaffee with just the right amount of righteous snark and idealistic indignation. Truly great stuff.

Related Read: Virtues of Moral Duty and Battlefield Heroics in War Movies

03. jerry maguire (1996).

“Show me the moneeeeeyyyyy!!!!” I’m sorry, I had to. In hindsight, it feels like Cameron Crowe tailor-made Jerry Maguire solely for Tom Cruise, as the actor was meant to embody the towering narcissism of slick sports agent Jerry Maguire. He used to be handed things on a platter based on his success and charisma alone, Jerry is hilariously at his wit’s end when on the verge of losing everything and starting his own agency. Although some aspects of the film have not aged well, Jerry Maguire still manages to entertain, especially with the help of Renée Zellweger’s breakout character, who adds tempered emotionality to the scenes that require it the most.

Jerry is undoubtedly one of Cruise’s best roles, as it allowed the actor to portray great emotional range while being insufferably slick, all the while managing to remain lovable. Beyond performances, the film paints a reasonably accurate picture of the behind-the-scenes corporate shenanigans that can make or break careers in an instant and the shallowness inherent within such cultures. Jerry straddles both sides of the road and emerges as someone deeply capable of genuine compassion — and that is all that matters.

02. Magnolia (1999)

Magnolia is a full-blown experience courtesy of Paul Thomas Anderson , who weaves a frenetic string of ambitious brushstrokes over the span of 188 minutes. As densely intricate as interconnected stories go, Magnolia is a masterpiece in storytelling helmed by various performances that verge on the operatic. Tom Cruise plays pickup artist Frank T.J. Mackey, whose introductory speech immediately puts the actor’s acting chops on display to tremendous effect. Mackey sells vile, misogynistic ideas to his male followers to rile them up and rally them in his favor while conning them to buy into the idea of his ridiculous sex seminars.

The way Cruise conveys this larger-than-life televangelist personality is astounding, offering layered insight into the fragility of male egos when failed by the same patriarchal structures they try so desperately to uphold. When perceived as a composite whole, Magnolia is brilliant and convoluted, and Cruise still stands out in some capacity when measured against the slew of remarkable performances that pepper the film.

Related List: All Paul Thomas Anderson Movies Ranked

01. born on the fourth of july (1989).

Although not a blockbuster or a widely-loved entry by any means, Born on the Fourth of July is Tom Cruise at the pinnacle of his abilities, without question. Cruise’s lead performance as Ron Kovic is downright unforgettable in this Oliver Stone biographical drama, which expertly balances political commentary with a story that brims with heart. In many cases, such biographical Hollywood entries seem to be made with awards season in mind. However, Born on the Fourth of July tackles its serious subject matter with the genuine need to etch a thought-provoking story about an anti-war activist who strays away from idealistic ruminations to being vitriolically furious about the inhumanity of war.

War is never a glorious affair — there is no glory in the basest, most destructive urge of human nature, and Stone conveys this in gut-wrenching ways. The reason I chose this film to cap off this list is because of how unconventional this role this when it comes to Cruise’s usual strengths — and how unbelievably brilliant he is in playing such an unflinching, fiery character with roots in real life. Cruise as Kovic perfectly captures the breadth of emotionality the actor can convey and the raw passion that guides every step of the way.

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Tom Cruise's Top 25 Movies...

Ranked in order of best Cruise movie, not necessarily best Cruise performance (which is why Tropic Thunder and The Outsiders are rated highly despite Cruise not being the star). And, yes, I'm not a big Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men and Top Gun fan, though they have their moments. I have seen every Tom Cruise movie that has received 38,000 votes or more on IMDB as of this writing. I would highly recommend any movie in the Top 15, and heck, the others aren't bad either! (Wow...400,000+ views...very cool!)

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
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• Release Year

1. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

R | 159 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Tom Cruise , Nicole Kidman , Todd Field , Sydney Pollack

Votes: 375,217 | Gross: $55.69M

The final masterpiece from the master Stanley Kubrick.

2. Magnolia (1999)

R | 188 min | Drama

An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jason Robards , Julianne Moore , Philip Seymour Hoffman

Votes: 328,560 | Gross: $22.46M

One of my personal favorite movies. Cruise's performance is top-notch.

3. Minority Report (2002)

PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery

John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise , Colin Farrell , Samantha Morton , Max von Sydow

Votes: 584,483 | Gross: $132.07M

Roger Ebert said it best: "Minority Report reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place."

4. The Color of Money (1986)

R | 119 min | Drama, Sport

Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Paul Newman , Tom Cruise , Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , Helen Shaver

Votes: 93,285 | Gross: $52.29M

Ah, the 80's. Great role for Cruise, great movie.

5. War of the Worlds (2005)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise , Dakota Fanning , Tim Robbins , Miranda Otto

Votes: 475,348 | Gross: $234.28M

You wouldn't think so because it's a remake, but this movie is very re-watchable.

6. Tropic Thunder (2008)

R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, War

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller , Jack Black , Robert Downey Jr. , Jeff Kahn

Votes: 448,186 | Gross: $110.52M

If Cruise had a bit more screen time and a starring role, this would be even a couple spots higher. Great, hilarious role for Cruise!

7. The Firm (1993)

R | 154 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A young lawyer joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.

Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jeanne Tripplehorn , Gene Hackman , Hal Holbrook

Votes: 147,735 | Gross: $158.35M

Cruise makes a lot of very good - but not especially great - movies. The Firm is the best of that group.

8. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Emily Blunt , Bill Paxton , Brendan Gleeson

Votes: 737,135 | Gross: $100.21M

The ending drags down Edge of Tomorrow a bit. The first 2/3 was fantastic though.

9. Mission: Impossible (1996)

PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jon Voight , Emmanuelle Béart , Henry Czerny

Votes: 470,394 | Gross: $180.98M

The first in the series is always the best.

10. Valkyrie (2008)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller

A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bill Nighy , Carice van Houten , Kenneth Branagh

Votes: 259,310 | Gross: $83.08M

Valkyrie is, oddly enough, very re-watchable. One wouldn't think a non-battlefield WWII movie would be this exciting. Well-crafted film.

11. Top Gun (1986)

PG | 109 min | Action, Drama

As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise , Tim Robbins , Kelly McGillis , Val Kilmer

Votes: 502,775 | Gross: $179.80M

Most people would have this ranked higher I'm sure...Some people might even have it at #1. Never been an absolute favorite of mine but it's still a solid watch.

12. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War

The biography of Ron Kovic . Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bryan Larkin , Raymond J. Barry , Caroline Kava

Votes: 115,987 | Gross: $70.00M

Probably Cruise's best performance. Due to its serious nature throughout, I have a hard time re-watching this movie and re-watch-ability is very important to me. The movies above this one are more fun to watch in my humble opinion.

13. Rain Man (1988)

R | 133 min | Drama

After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman , Tom Cruise , Valeria Golino , Gerald R. Molen

Votes: 546,727 | Gross: $178.80M

Same as Born on the Fourth of July...one of Tom's best roles but not something you're going to continually grab off your Blu-Ray shelf.

14. Vanilla Sky (2001)

R | 136 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise , Penélope Cruz , Cameron Diaz , Kurt Russell

Votes: 285,747 | Gross: $100.61M

I don't agree with this Family Guy scene, but it sure is funny!... Lois Griffin: Hey, you know what might be fun? How about we just order room service and watch a couple of bad movies? Brian Griffin: Yeah, that does sound like fun. I'll go rent Vanilla Sky. Lois Griffin: I said a bad movie, not an abortion.

15. The Last Samurai (2003)

R | 154 min | Action, Drama

Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise , Ken Watanabe , Billy Connolly , William Atherton

Votes: 471,227 | Gross: $111.11M

Great movie but it is truly hard to imagine Cruise as the "The Last Samurai". He played the role very well and its a great movie, just kind of unbelievable.

16. Cocktail (1988)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A talented New York City bartender takes a job at a bar in Jamaica and falls in love.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bryan Brown , Elisabeth Shue , Lisa Banes

Votes: 91,889 | Gross: $78.22M

I like what Brian Griffin had to say about it:... "Actually not a bad film. As classically structured cinema, Cocktail was one of the best films of its era." Haaa!

17. Days of Thunder (1990)

PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Drama, Sport

A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise , Nicole Kidman , Robert Duvall , Randy Quaid

Votes: 96,430 | Gross: $82.67M

18. The Outsiders (1983)

PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama

In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell , Matt Dillon , Ralph Macchio , Patrick Swayze

Votes: 97,569 | Gross: $25.60M

I would rank this movie 8-12 spots higher but Cruise is not in it very much.

19. Jerry Maguire (1996)

R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise , Cuba Gooding Jr. , Renée Zellweger , Kelly Preston

Votes: 287,090 | Gross: $153.95M

Along with the movie below (A Few Good Men), I find Jerry Maguire to be a bit overrated. Its probably just not my cup of tea. Kind of plays like an overly dramatic romantic comedy. But I have it ranked this high because, well, this is a Tom Cruise best-movie-list after all.

20. A Few Good Men (1992)

R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller

Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jack Nicholson , Demi Moore , Kevin Bacon

Votes: 287,417 | Gross: $141.34M

Most people I talk to love this movie. I don't really understand that line of thinking. This has to be one of the most over-acted movies of all-time. If you like your drama like a soap opera hopped up on mountain dew, this is your movie!

21. Risky Business (1983)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A Chicago teenager is looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.

Director: Paul Brickman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Rebecca De Mornay , Joe Pantoliano , Richard Masur

Votes: 99,872 | Gross: $63.50M

22. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Drama

After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator, but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.

Director: Joseph Kosinski | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jennifer Connelly , Miles Teller , Val Kilmer

Votes: 697,327 | Gross: $718.73M

You probably liked it more than I! :)

23. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.

Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt , Tom Cruise , Antonio Banderas , Kirsten Dunst

Votes: 347,574 | Gross: $105.26M

This movie begins to get better each time you watch it, then after a while, somehow it gets worse each time you watch it!

24. Collateral (2004)

R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.

Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jamie Foxx , Jada Pinkett Smith , Mark Ruffalo

Votes: 433,221 | Gross: $101.01M

25. Oblivion (I) (2013)

PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

A veteran assigned to extract Earth's remaining resources begins to question what he knows about his mission and himself.

Director: Joseph Kosinski | Stars: Tom Cruise , Morgan Freeman , Andrea Riseborough , Olga Kurylenko

Votes: 553,265 | Gross: $89.02M

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The Best Tom Cruise Movies Ranked: Where to Stream the Actor's 30 Greatest Films

Ghezal Amiri

Official JustWatch writer

Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood’s most successful actors, known for his daredevil commitment to performing his own stunts in some of the top action movies of all time. He has worked continuously in films since the early 80s, earning his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role in Risky Business . If you want to stream the best Tom Cruise movies online, you can check out this complete streaming guide.

Tom Cruise's best movies: From Top Gun to Mission Impossible

Cruise’s most iconic role is arguably Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in Top Gun , which was the highest grossing film of 1986 and took Cruise's fame to new heights. The movie was followed up with a sequel, Top Gun: Maverick,  nearly forty years later – which became Tom Cruise's highest grossing film with $1.4 billion at the box office.

Aside from his role as Maverick, Tom Cruise also stars as Ethan Hunt in the Mission: Impossible series. The first film,  Mission: Impossible , premiered in 1996 and the franchise is still ongoing with the Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One. Released in 2023, the movie was the first part of a two-act finale which will come to an end with Mission Impossible 8 .

Tom Cruise may be world-famous for his action movie franchises, but he also has plenty of dramatic roles in his filmography – having worked with directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson and Cameron Crowe. He is a four time Academy Award nominee, twice for Best Actor in Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire ; once for Best Supporting Actor in Magnolia ; and once for Best Picture for Top Gun: Maverick . He also has an Honorary Palme d’Or, the highest honor at Cannes Film Festival, and was awarded three Golden Globe Awards which he later returned to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in May 2021 due to their lack of diversity and various other controversies.

Where can I watch Tom Cruise's best movies online?

You can use JustWatch's streaming guide to find out where all of Tom Cruise's best movies are available in the United States. From his iconic franchises like Top Gun and Mission Impossible to his performances in dramas like Jerry Maguire, you'll find all the streaming details below.

For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot.

Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire used to be a typical sports agent: willing to do just about anything he could to get the biggest possible contracts for his clients, plus a nice commission for himself. Then, one day, he suddenly has second thoughts about what he's really doing. When he voices these doubts, he ends up losing his job and all of his clients, save Rod Tidwell, an egomaniacal football player.

An epic mosaic of many interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

A Few Good Men

When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.

Top Gun: Maverick

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to fulfill his original briefing, the CIA begin to question his loyalty and his motives. The IMF team find themselves in a race against time, hunted by assassins while trying to prevent a global catastrophe.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet—eradicating 'The Syndicate', an International and highly-skilled rogue organization committed to destroying the IMF.

Born on the Fourth of July

Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, Ron Kovic becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.

Risky Business

Meet Joel Goodson, an industrious, college-bound 17-year-old and a responsible, trustworthy son. However, when his parents go away and leave him home alone in the wealthy Chicago suburbs with the Porsche at his disposal he quickly decides he has been good for too long and it is time to enjoy himself. After an unfortunate incident with the Porsche Joel must raise some cash, in a risky way.

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

The Last Samurai

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt to stop him ends in an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF to be implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to disavow them. No longer being aided by the government, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks around the globe, although they might still be too late to stop a disaster.

Jack Reacher

One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interrogation yields one written note: 'Get Jack Reacher!'. Reacher, an enigmatic ex-Army investigator, believes the authorities have the right man but agrees to help the sniper's defense attorney. However, the more Reacher delves into the case, the less clear-cut it appears. So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.

Mission: Impossible

When Ethan Hunt, the leader of a crack espionage team whose perilous operation has gone awry with no explanation, discovers that a mole has penetrated the CIA, he's surprised to learn that he's the No. 1 suspect. To clear his name, Hunt now must ferret out the real double agent and, in the process, even the score.

Minority Report

John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Jack Reacher returns to the headquarters of his old unit, only to find out he's now accused of a 16-year-old homicide.

The Color of Money

Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.

Mission: Impossible III

Retired from active duty, and training recruits for the Impossible Mission Force, agent Ethan Hunt faces the toughest foe of his career: Owen Davian, an international broker of arms and information, who is as cunning as he is ruthless. Davian emerges to threaten Hunt and all that he holds dear -- including the woman Hunt loves.

Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.

War of the Worlds

An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.

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Cannes classics to screen tsui hark’s ‘shanghai blues’ restoration, breaking news.

‘Top Gun 3’ In The Works At Paramount Following Tom Cruise Warner Bros Pact

By Anthony D'Alessandro

Anthony D'Alessandro

Editorial Director/Box Office Editor

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Even though Tom Cruise inked a non-exclusive pact at Warner Bros earlier this week, it looks like he’ll continue to be busy with Paramount for some time. Reports tonight are that Top Gun 3 is in development at Paramount with Top Gun:Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger currently writing a draft.

The word is that the project would reunite Cruise with Maverick ‘s Miles Teller and Glen Powell as well as producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Joe Kosinski, will reportedly either direct or produce.

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Puck had the news about Top Gun 3 tonight, and they’re speculating that it could be the 3x Oscar nominee’s potential next project after Mission: Impossible 8 . Even without Top Gun 3 , it will be a challenge for Cruise to get anything off the ground at Warners for a couple of years.

Top Gun: Maverick is the highest grossing movie of Cruise’s career at $1.49 billion. It won one Oscar last year for Best Sound and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.

What’s really glaring in tonight’s news is that Ellison’s Skydance, which is circling to scoop up National Amusements in an all-cash bid, was a producer on Top Gun: Maverick. Deadline first told you that Ellison and Red Bird Capital were kicking the tires on National Amusements. The Shari Redstone-led exhibitor controls nearly 80% of Paramount shares and is the gatekeeper for any M&A deal. One of the backers of the current bid by Skydance is Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison per a  WSJ  report. Ellison co-financed Top Gun: Maverick at 25% and shared in an overall net profit for the sequel of $391M.

Deadline reached out to Paramount for comment.

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Netflix top 10 movies — here’s the 3 worth watching right now

We've found the must-watch movies on Netflix so you don't have to

• Best of Netflix top 10
• Full Netflix top 10

If you're on the hunt for what to watch this weekend, Netflix's top 10 list of most-watched movies is as good a place to start as any, highlighting all the flicks that are generating the most interest with subscribers of one of the best streaming services .

But just because a movie lands a spot in the Netflix top 10 doesn't guarantee it'll be a hit. Over the years, we’ve seen plenty of low-quality films find their way into the ranking. That's why we’re picking out the top three movies most worth your time. 

These picks are based on the Netflix most-watched list as of noon ET on Sunday, April 28. Below you’ll find one of the best romcoms in years, a twisting true crime documentary, and an award-winning tennis drama that landed Will Smith his first Oscar. 

So without further ado, these are the three movies in the Netflix top 10 you need to watch right now. 

Best movies in the Netflix top 10

'anyone but you' (2023).

Romcom fans won't want to miss "Anyone But You," the No.1 hit on Netflix led by Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. Sparks fly when law student Bea (Sweeney) and finance bro Ben (Powell) meet each other in a coffee shop, but instead of a happily ever after, their picture-perfect first date quickly turns sour. 

However, fate brings them together again months later when they realize they're both attending the same wedding, as Bea's sister is marrying one of Ben's friends. In an effort to make the trip as smooth as possible, the two decide to fake a relationship to keep arguments to a minimum and their loved ones' big day drama-free. The last thing they expected was to catch genuine feelings for each other, though, leading to unexpected twists and turns.

It's all loosely based on Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and anchored by some solid performances from the dual leads. Once the credits roll, be sure to check out our round-up of the five best movies to watch after "Anyone But You." 

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Watch now on  Netflix

'What Jennifer Did' (2024)

Over the past few years, Netflix has built a name for itself as the home of compelling true crime documentaries, and “What Jennifer Did” is the streamer’s latest offering that is practically guaranteed to haunt you long after the credits roll. 

Directed by filmmaker Jenny Popplewell, known for her work on "American Murder: The Family Next Door," this chilling documentary dives into the dark depths of human nature, revealing how appearances can be profoundly deceiving. It follows Jennifer Pan, a young woman who endured a horrific ordeal when intruders invaded her home, tied her up, and shot her mom and dad. 

After experiencing such terror, the local community rallied around Jennifer as the authorities looked for any clue that would help identify the culprits. But as new evidence comes to light, it becomes evident that Jennifer had a far more complex role in the events of that tragic night than she first claimed, leaving audiences reeling from the shocking revelations.

Watch now on Netflix

'King Richard' (2021)

The movie that won Will Smith his Oscar — although let’s not talk about his actions on that particular night — “King Richard” is arguably more of a performance than a satisfying movie as a whole, but what a performance from the veteran actor. Smith embodies the role of Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis greats Serena and Venus, with unwavering commitment. 

While “King Richard” follows the familiar beats of a standard sports biopic, it offers some compelling insights into the man who shaped his daughters' extraordinary careers. However, while Richard may have been a coach capable of molding his daughters into international sporting superstars, he was also a very flawed individual, and the movie isn’t afraid to explore the darker side of the larger-than-life character. 

Though "King Richard" may not break new ground in the sports biopic genre, Smith's towering portrayal elevates it to a worthwhile viewing experience, and it’s worth watching through to its satisfying conclusion. 

Netflix top 10 movies right now

• "Anyone But You" (2023)
• "Smurfs: The Lost Village" (2017)
• "Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver" (2024)
• "King Richard" (2021)
• "Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut" (2024)
• "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (2023)
• "Rust Creek" (2018)
• "Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp" (2024)
• "What Jennifer Did" (2024)
• "Anna" (2019)

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Alyse Stanley is a news editor at Tom’s Guide overseeing weekend coverage and writing about the latest in tech, gaming and entertainment. Prior to joining Tom’s Guide, Alyse worked as an editor for the Washington Post’s sunsetted video game section, Launcher. She previously led Gizmodo’s weekend news desk, where she covered breaking tech news — everything from the latest spec rumors and gadget launches to social media policy and cybersecurity threats.  She has also written game reviews and features as a freelance reporter for outlets like Polygon, Unwinnable, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. She’s a big fan of horror movies, cartoons, and miniature painting.

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In January, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy jetted to London to connect with the new crown jewel of the studio, Tom Cruise . The three met to identify a film that would kick off their nonexclusive “strategic partnership.” Sources say a raft of possibilities were discussed, including an “Edge of Tomorrow” follow-up and Quentin Tarantino ’s “The Movie Critic,” which currently isn’t set up with a distributor and has Warner Bros., like every major studio, salivating.

Popular on Variety

“The strategy at Warner Bros. right now and the reason they made some of these big star deals is they’re basically playing with other people’s money,” says one insider. “They’re shopping for Quentin or Cruise with the notion they can use it as a shiny object that is going to be additive when Zaslav sells the company.”

That time may be approaching. In April, Warner Bros. Discovery can entertain offers to buy, sell or merge with a studio like NBCUniversal, as many on the lot believe will happen. That’s when the two-year lock-up period expires as part of the 2022 deal that united WarnerMedia and Discovery. All of the recent moves, from a first-look pact with Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap to the quest to land Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” follow-up are akin to painting a house before it hits the market.

And this is one splashy renovation. The budget for Todd Phillips’ musical “Joker” sequel — one of De Luca and Abdy’s first green lights — has ballooned to about $200 million, a significant bump from the $60 million cost of the first film. Sources say Joaquin Phoenix is getting $20 million to reprise his role as the clown prince of crime, while Lady Gaga is taking home about $12 million to play Harley Quinn. “Joker” took in more than $1 billion, but musicals are tricky. Case in point: Warners lost $40 million on last year’s “The Color Purple,” according to sources. Though that one can be blamed on the previous regime.

Some argue that spending big is essential when releasing movies in theaters.

“There’s only so much top talent in Hollywood, and it’s very competitive and stretched thin because a lot of talent have deals in streaming,” says Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “If theatrical is going to work, you need the A-lister like Tom and Leo, and Warner Bros. is spending what they need to spend to keep this talent.”

But executives across town believe Warners’ math sometimes doesn’t add up, with the studio decried as fiscally irresponsible. The Anderson film, for instance, was greenlit with a $115 million budget, according to sources. Underscoring the gamble, none of the director’s movies has crossed $80 million at the box office. His latest, 2021’s “Licorice Pizza,” made $33 million worldwide. Even with Cruise’s star power, “Magnolia” only mustered $48.5 million. (It was De Luca, then a New Line exec, who convinced Cruise to play “Magnolia’s” misogynistic self-help guru.) The pair are said to be less pumped about another auteur’s latest: Bong Joon Ho ’s “Mickey 17.” In January, Warner Bros. pulled the $150 million Robert Pattinson sci-fi starrer from its schedule and then moved it to 2025. A Warner rep insists: “There is, of course, enthusiasm for it.”

As merger mania draws near, De Luca and Abdy seem unwilling to push back on talent asks. But apparently they did just that during the Coogler-Jordan negotiations. The director and star wanted 25% of first-dollar gross to split and two guaranteed theatrical release slots for future films. Both deal points were nixed.

Despite the pressure to acquiesce to demands from top talent, De Luca and Abdy can still say no.

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