The Best Tom Cruise Movies, Ranked

We’re assessing his most iconic performances, from the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies to ‘Eyes Wide Shut.’

When multitude say celebrity are just like us , they ’re definitely not talking about Tom Cruise . A man who ’s pass 40 - plus years ( and counting ) at the cranky - top of the A - inclination , Cruise has endured a lifetime of stratospheric fame . From his early-’80s debut inEndless Love , Taps , andThe Outsiders , he quickly became one of Hollywood ’s most bankable blockbuster stars while detect time to swerve into unhinged weirdo district ( e.g. ,Magnolia ) and chew on meatier role ( for instance ,Born on the Fourth of July ) to prove his behave chop beyond the archetypical action - flick protagonist with a death want . ( Yes , the man flies his own aircraft carriers and leaps off his own cliffs — if there ’s a life - jeopardize stunt , he ’s going to do it his damn ego . ) At the same time , we ’ve also probably seen too much of his life through his many high - profile relationships and dissolution , the infamous couch - jumping , and of coursethe Scientology of it all . But despite everything that makes him an unrelatable monstrosity , at the last of the day he ’s just aguy who wants to get back to the pic . And what good path to get fag into theaters than one more fly ball - by as one of the Navy ’s fine fighter pilot ?

WithTop Gun : rebel — the retentive , long - await continuation to the 1986 authoritative — barrel - rolling into theater May 27 , we ’re looking back at Tom Cruise ’s best carrying into action .

21.Vanilla Sky(2001)

As a mind - stoop puzzle - box mystery , Cameron Crowe’sVanilla Skydoesn’t always get through together . A remake of the 1997 Spanish thrillerOpen Your eye , the movie speeds through a series of twist involving a men ’s magazine print industry playboy ( Cruise ) who buzz off his beautiful look smashed up postdate a series of brush with women dally by Cameron Diaz and Penolpe Cruz . Crowe ’s chatty expressive style , perfected in movies likeJerry MaguireandAlmost Famous , does n’t on the dot lend itself to metaphysical science - fiction . But underneath the occasionally lumbering dreams - within - dreams structure , there ’s a captivating meditation on Crusie ’s own stardom here , an often funny treatise on persona and fame and celebrity . Like many of the best Cruise movies , the filmmaker is order the star ’s charm and dresser under the knife . — Dan Jackson

20.Tropic Thunder(2008)

Listen : If Tom Cruise is gon na cameo in your movie , you ’d well lease him create his own fibre . That ’s exactly what happen whenTropic Thunderinvited him aboard , casting him as " Rick Peck , " Ben Stiller ’s lineament ’s obsessive agent , but Cruise had another melodic theme . He suggested a different type of reference , which became Les Grossman , the screamy , profane studio apartment executive producing the movie - within - a - picture . The role call for that Cruise wear down a fat suit , comically giant simulated script , and a bald hood for the scenes in which he shrieked oath at anyone unfortunate enough to be on a phone call with him , and the issue is perhaps the least like Tom Cruise that Tom Cruise has ever look on blind . The role was conjecture to be hold secret until the motion-picture show open up , but paparazzo photo leaked online ruin that architectural plan . If only they ’d had Marvel Studios ' spoiler lockdown measures right smart back in 2008.—Emma Stefansky

19.War of the Worlds(2005)

frolic a Yankees baseball cap and a leather jacket , Cruise goes into pappa mode for this transfix tale of alien encroachment root on by the H.G. Wells classic . One of the most frightening post-9/11 disaster movies , War of the Worldsfinds directorSteven Spielbergagain putting a busted kinsperson unit in a DoS of great riskiness . From the opening drive away from the invading outer space crafts to the face - off with a paranoid prepper played by Tim Robbins , these are some of the most formidable set - pieces theJurassic Parkfilmmaker has ever staged . What ’s most striking about this special adventure is how often the movie frame up Cruise ’s desperate beginner as simply another typeface in a crowd , a flawed man caught in the tide of history . He ’s not super - spy Ethan Hunt here . There ’s a level of vulnerability that does n’t always sneak into Cruise ’s action piece of work . — DJ

18.The Outsiders(1983)

Cruise would n’t genuinely relegate openhanded untilRisky Businesscame out in the declension of 1983 , but just a few month earlier he co - starred in Francis Ford Coppola ’s adaption of S. E. Hinton’sThe Outsiders(now a middle - school English class classic ) . While his fictional character Steve Randle is a more minor member of the group of vernal " greasers '' who make up the core cast , his poufed hairsbreadth and sprain - up jean singlet — as well as his " what the infernal region " mental attitude — leave the blueprint for the types of characters Cruise would play in his first few years as a megastar . He bounds and whoops his way through his scenes , slump so profoundly into the role of a punchy , estrange teen son that you forget you ’re look on the future superhero mystical agent Ethan Hunt . — ES

17.Interview with the Vampire(1994)

However you feel about this grandiose vampire movie , you ca n’t abnegate that Tom Cruise is having a hell of a time in that crinkly blond wigging and pointy dental implants as Anne Rice ’s one C - of - years - old vampire Lestat de Lioncourt . His is a racy functioning than Brad Pitt ’s Louis de Pointe du Lac , who mopes around as a tormented soul , who pass up to toast human blood , convey to the other side . Cruise acts circles around him , take a blast as the evil , showy Lioncourt through the 100 . — Craig D. Lindsey

16.Rain Man(1988)

Cruise really seemed to want an Oscar in the ' fourscore , star in awards - caliber drama before turning into a full - blown franchise star . Barry Levinson’sRain Manwas one of those dramas , broom the 1989 Academy Awards with four major wins but no nominating address for Cruise . While Dustin Hoffman ’s heedful performance as Raymond , an autistic savant , may be the standout , the buddy route moving picture is carry just as much by Cruise ’s smarmy yet paying attention role as Ray ’s estranged comrade Charlie , who re - enters Raymond ’s life story when he ’s go away with their father ’s estate . As a condescending , desperate wheeler - dealer who comes around to caring for his crony and ultimately pick up Las Vegas schemes are n’t what ’s expert for him , Cruise plays his cards delicately throughout Charlie ’s emotional journey . It may be a controversial film , with its depicting of an able - bodied actor wager a handicapped character , but there ’s certainly an seriousness to Cruise and Hoffman ’s chemistry that makes this a tearjerker to retrieve . — Sadie Bell

15.The Firm(1993)

As thelegal thrillerfades from the big screen , the glossy John Grisham adaptationThe Firmonly looks stranger . How uncanny is Cruise in this movie?He backflips through the street of New Orleans , runs through the halls of his shady employer ’s office , beats up Wilford Brimley with a briefcase , and eventually outmanoeuvre his mentor - turned - nemesis ( Gene Hackman ) . He ’s often sweating and always going for it . Cruise ’s carrying into action as attorney Mitch McDeere might be the skilful example of how his trademark intensity level , a liability in certain motion picture , can raise a projection . In this casing , a well - crafted middlebrow piece of pulp gets the full Cruise treatment , and every other actor , from Garey Busey to Holly Hunter , experience like they are feed off of his vim . Even at 154 minutes , the movie vibrates to its principal ’s off - kilter presence . — disk jockey

14.Top Gun(1986)

Tom Cruise is incredibly indue at play entire dickheads you ca n’t aid but steady down for , and nowhere is he good at this than as vernal Pete " Maverick " Mitchell , a top US Navy aeronaut with a knack for pulling off impossible midair maneuver , who ’s throw into the TOPGUN program to jockey with the best of the best . As Maverick , Cruise is self - assured to a fault , bandy words with his challenger yet fiercely firm to his flying pardner Goose ( Anthony Edwards ) and more than a slight romantically inclined towards the group ’s blistering teacher . Top Gunis a fantastic action movie , intercutting whitened - knuckle squirt aviate scenes between examinations of male bravado , but Cruise is the one who devote it that sparkle of immensity . Him , and the sweaty beach volleyball . — ES

13.Edge of Tomorrow(2014)

Edge of Tomorrow — bizarrelyretitledLive . Die . Repeat.when turn on home medium — hold Groundhog Day a sci - fi whirl . Cruise is William Cage , a US Army public - social occasion officer recruited for a combat mission meant to stave in off menacing aliens that are capable to rewind prison term when killed . Reliving the same solar day over and over is an inspired vanity for Cruise , who fuse Cage ’s frustrations with a humorously relentless decision to stand out . The Doug Liman film , at the metre considered only a modest smasher , leans into Cruise ’s playful side while stay a propulsive action thriller desirable of canonization . — Matthew Jacobs

12.Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol(2011)

After the J.J. Abrams - organize third entry , theMission : Impossibleseries incur a jolt of epinephrine viaIncrediblesfilmmaker Brad Bird , who re - emphasized the teamwork facet of the series while pushing the stunt workplace to Modern levels of live - legal action cartoonery . For all its bloodless - knuckle joint suspense and unbearable tenseness , the most memorable moments ofGhost Protocolare comedic : Cruise failing to make a jump from one part of a skyscraper to another , struggling to get a mask made in time , and hurling a car off a parking structure like it ’s a backfire . Bird and Cruise realise that see the sub screw up is often more exciting than check him deliver the goods . In the curtain raising sequence , Bird stages a prison escape like a melodic number , letting Ethan Hunt collapse skull to the tune of Dean Martin ’s " Ai n’t That a Kick in the Head . " Yes , there ’s still plenty of spy intrigue , including some funny twirl involving Jeremy Renner ’s untested broker , but the pic really works best as a series of step up jape , like aJackassmovie with a more convoluted plot . By the ending , you do n’t know whether to yowl with laughter or sigh with easing . — disc jockey

11.Risky Business(1983)

Risky Business , easily the most stylishly aim teen sexuality drollery ever made , is the movie that made a maven out of Tom Cruise , sliding on hardwood floors in white tube socks , a white release - down shirt , and Ray - Bans while lip - synchronise to Bob Seger . Living in a bougie suburb of Chicago , his nerdy main character Joel Goodsen is all ready to ship off to Princeton come in fall , but when his parents go out of town , Joel gets a taste of the wild life history good manners of Rebecca De Mornay ’s heady sex worker Lana . They have sex on Chicago ’s L train . He drive a Porsche into Lake Michigan . groundless parties get thrown . WatchingRisky Businessnow is like taking a line back to the spare and macho heterosexual teenage ambition of the other ' 80s , and even for all of its dated material , you got ta acknowledge : That untried Tom is charming as hell . — CDL

10.A Few Good Men(1992)

Of course Rob Reiner’sA Few Good Men , found on an Aaron Sorkin script , is well recognize for Jack Nicholson bellowing " you ca n’t deal the truth , " but it ’s Cruise ’s needling that gets him there . Sorkin ’s athletic dialogue is a great match for Cruise , a humanity who is always pushing himself to the brink . As Kaffee , Cruise makes a classic turn as a military personnel who reach a mortal . He ’s first the alien military lawyer who want to make a supplication deal with the two men accused of killing their fellow marine , but when dubiety seeps in , he advance his righteousness . Cruise ’s slipperiness allows him to traverse these mode , and he ’s possibly the only movie ace of his generation who can in truth go up against Jack . — EZ

9.Mission: Impossible – Fallout(2018)

It would be so easy for the modernMission : Impossiblemovies to become stunt display case for Cruise ’s pathological commitment to realness at the expense of a good floor , but , luckily for us and cinema itself , that has n’t pass off yet . The most recent installation in the enfranchisement sets Cruise ’s Ethan Hunt against the Apostles , a spinoff terrorist cabal of those he and his squad fight against in the previous film , who are dead - set on obtaining a clump of plutonium and doing some terrible thing with it . It would be tough for Cruise , reunited with director Christiopher McQuarrie , to topGhost Protocol ’s Burj Khalifa acclivity , butFalloutmakes up for in sheer ridiculous quantity what it lacks in nous - boggle height . The motion-picture show throws Cruise and co - virtuoso Henry Cavill out of an airplane , close on an harebrained dangling helicopter chase scene , and contains one of the best street Salmon Portland Chase ever put to film , with Cruise drive , motorbiking , and , at last , running pell - mell on a breakneck spell of Paris.—ES

8.The Color of Money(1986)

Here ’s the most important matter to remember about Cruise inThe Color of Money : During one of the pic ’s good scenes , he shoots pool as Warren Zevon ’s " Werewolves of London " play on the soundtrack and he wears a shameful T - shirt with his character ’s name " Vince " printed out in white letters . The scene of a vernal shark in his ingredient , dancing and preening for a crowd while performing a difficult strong-arm exploit , remains perhaps the purest distillation of the entire Cruise shtik . Letting the camera gliding around his star , Martin Scorsese films the tantrum in a way of life that lets you buy into the character ’s swagger while still rule him a short ludicrous . That Cruise still negociate to get out - gunned and out - acted by Paul Newman , reprise the role of Fast Eddie from 1961’sThe Hustler , is part of the film ’s appeal . One of the most tantalizing aspects of watchingThe Color of Moneyis think about what it would be like for Cruise to set about to reprize the office in the same manner Newman did . Does he have what it takes ? Or is he going to keep crank outMission : Impossiblemovies until he vanish directly into the Sunday ? — DJ

7.Mission: Impossible(1996)

TheMission : Impossiblefranchise keep reaching new heights as Cruise attempts progressively daring stunts , but Brian De Palma ’s inaugural installing determine the templet . If you guess the archetype is any less electrifying , think again . Ethan Hunt is at his nerviest in his first adventure , wherein his entire IMF team — including the likes of Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez — are dispatched and he ’s framed for the murders and send on the getaway . playact this younger version of a fiber with whom he would age and germinate , Cruise is jitterier and less certain of himself , even as he like an expert executes the now - iconic scenes , like his suspended break - in at Langley . De Palma ’s angular direction lends the proceedings a sense of uneasiness that would precipitate away as these pic became more tumid , but all the set pieces in the world ca n’t beat Cruise uttering , " Kittridge , you ’ve never seen me very upset . " — EZ

6.Minority Report(2002)

The tagline for this movie was " Everybody runs , " but , truly , no one runs like Cruise . Critics have pontificate at length about what makes watch out the thespian in question so uniquely pleasing : the way of life his arms move , the sense of panic pussyfoot into his center , and the compact strong-arm structure of his body . But the effectiveness of a turn over Cruise running sequence really come down to the emotional and psychological stake , which are always rachet up up in this skill - fiction neo - noir based on a Philip K. Dick short chronicle . Cruise plays John Anderton , a pre - crime police detective who finds out the technology he uses to stop execution before they happen just pulled his name . Anderton wants to try out his innocence , which would upend the ethics of the scheme he ’s devoted his living to . In his first projection with Steven Spielberg , Cruise rule the perfect henchman , a film producer equally as obsessed with showmanship , virtuosity , and impulse . — disk jockey

5.Collateral(2004)

Some of the respectable Tom Cruise office recognize that there is something , well , a little bitoffabout this guy wire , an uncontainable energy that verges on dangerous . Michael Mann used this to capital effect inCollateral , casting Cruise as Vincent , a hitman who essentially hijacks Jamie Foxx ’s taxicab equipment driver Max for a Nox . It ’s a sovereign employment of Cruise ’s excitability . Vincent has a mephistophelean appeal that sucks Max in , but he can snap at a moment ’s notice . outfit with silver pilus that contradicts Cruise ’s desire to always come along vernal , the role player is like a coyote prowling around Mann ’s LA , ready to hurtle . — EZ

4.Eyes Wide Shut(1999)

Few can say that they were in the iconic managing director Stanley Kubrick ’s last film , but Tom Cruise can . An actor sleep with for blockbusters , it might not seem like Kubrick’sEyes broad Shut , an titillating psychodrama , would be the best tantrum for Cruise . But mate him with his then - wife Nicole Kidman was a stroke of genius . Playing Dr. Bill Hartford , the photographic film follows his sexual shennanigans during the vacation after finding out his married woman almost had an social function the year before . Cruise swagger around the New York night , clapping his handwriting while he stalks the streets , interacting with prostitutes , looking for clues for that bacchanalia at bars . It ’s a role that seemingly tapped into another side of Cruise — not the heroic fighter pilot , but something a little seedy and greasier . — Kerensa Cadenas

3.Magnolia(1999)

Cruise landedMagnoliaafter callingPaul Thomas Andersonto plume him onBoogie Nightsand inviting the untried theatre director to the circle ofEyes White Shut . The resulting performance , as a self-assertive lothario who gives seminars about score women , feels as coked - up as anyBoogie Nightscharacter , even if we never see Cruise ’s Frank T.J. Mackey snicker short letter . Mackey ’s arrogance is a front , a carrying into action put on by an unsafe grifter who compares himself to Batman and pounds his chest while take to task about " respecting the rooster . " The fact that Cruise didEyes all-encompassing ShutandMagnoliaback - to - back — repressed in one , flagrantly uninhibited in the other — marked a thrilling departure for an worker fix by crowd - pleasing megahit aureole . — MJ

2.Born on the Fourth of July(1989)

Cruise landed his first Best Actor Oscar nod playing Ron Kovic , a tangible - life Vietnam stager who comes back home paralyzed , disillusioned , and learn to let America know that their war vets are n’t being treated well . This film proved that Cruise was n’t an actor who could only do vapid , pretty - boy parts . If you give him good fabric , he could get in bass with the best of them . It was a peril — the bit of Oliver Stone ’s trio of Vietnam War films followingPlatoon , deport on the Fourth of Julywas extremely political and bombastic , a direction Stone would expand more and more in the age to come ( and one Cruise would shy away from untilLions for lamb ) . — CDL

1.Jerry Maguire(1996)

Can Tom Cruise meet an everyman?Jerry Maguireproves the solution is yes … and no . The movie is both Cruise ’s and director Cameron Crowe ’s masterpiece , a portraiture of a man adrift that could only be portrayed by one man . Something just solve about Cruise as a careerist recede it , like Jerry does when he ’s fired from his sports agency and his only friend become orotund football lead Rod Tidwell ( Cuba Gooding Jr. ) and secretary Dorothy Boyd ( Renée Zellweger ) . And yet his despair is inherently relatable , which is where the Cruise magic come in . Though many movies have tried and go wrong to make him a romantic lead , here you understand why he has Dorothy at " hello . " He ’s a serviceman who will do anything for his job , just like Cruise will . — EZ

best tom cruise movies