All 43 Tom Cruise Movies Ranked, From So-So to Phenomenal (Photos)
Tom Cruise has been a consistently bankable and likeable A-lister for over three decades now. That doesn’t happen by accident. “Tom Cruise Movies” are films only possible with Cruise’s level of charisma, energy and youthful enthusiasm, and MOST of Cruise’s movies are “Tom Cruise Movies.” And if anyone can jumpstart “The Mummy” franchise again, it’s Cruise. Here’s every film he’s starred in, ranked.
41. “Cocktail”
Cruise’s Type-A, adrenaline-fueled drive serves him very well in movies where the stakes are high. But “Cocktail” is just “Top Gun” behind a bar. The work-hard play-hard clichés at work here threatened to make Cruise the role model for handsome, affable, lame guys you swipe past on dating apps. Cruise smartly moved on from roles like this.
40. “Endless Love”
Tom Cruise has a tiny part in this Brooke Shields melodrama when he was just a squeaky-voiced teen, his first ever on-screen role. He stumbles off a soccer field, goes shirtless and shares a story with the protagonist about how he almost burned his house down when he was 9. You were probably sold at “goes shirtless.”
39. “Knight and Day”
Wacky, screwball action-comedies almost never work, and in James Mangold’s “Knight and Day,” Cruise and Cameron Diaz weren’t exactly Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in “Charade” either.
38. “Legend”
What’s sillier: Tom Cruise‘s unicorn or his hair? “Legend” was a lavish, fantastical adventure that turned out to be a massive box office misfire from director Ridley Scott and Cruise. But after being unavailable for many years, some have anointed the film cult status as a so-bad-its-good mess.
37. “Rock of Ages”
Cruise doing his best Axl Rose impression as the rock-god Stacee Jaxx is the best part of this cute, harmless stage adaptation.
36. “Austin Powers in Goldmember”
Cruise makes an amusing cameo as Austin Powers in a fake trailer for a movie-within-the-movie called “Austinpussy.” But this opening to the third “Austin Powers” is by far its only highlight.
35. “Far and Away”
Ron Howard directs Cruise and his then-partner Nicole Kidman in this romance between a wealthy landlord’s daughter and a poor Irish street fighter. “Far and Away” wouldn’t be the last time Cruise and Kidman’s on-screen chemistry would be questioned.
34. “Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles”
This was probably the first movie where you’re most aware of Cruise acting. Opposite Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater, this showy, flashy role would’ve been better suited for someone like Johnny Depp. Cruise’s Lestat doesn’t feel as hungry as most Tom Cruise characters. Just thirsty. For blood.
33. “Losin’ It”
Thankfully Cruise graduated from ’80s teen sex-romps like this, but Curtis Hanson’s “Losin’ It” has some charm with Cruise running through Tijuana with a young Jackie Earle Haley, John Stockwell and a housewife played by Shelley Long.
32. “The Outsiders”
Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” wasn’t well reviewed at its time, but it’s a great time capsule of Cruise in a small part of a gang of other teen heart throbs of the day, including Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez.
“All the Right Moves”
In one of his early teen roles that would shape his persona, Cruise contends with a football coach played by Craig T. Nelson in a classic, clichéd, but well meaning sports movie.
“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back”
The sequel to “Jack Reacher” was a mediocre, step back for Cruise in what could’ve been the start to another promising franchise.
“Vanilla Sky”
“Vanilla Sky” contains a risky, very underrated Cruise role. Cruise goes from playing the cocky, unstoppable Cruise archetype to a deformed, defeated man trying to figure out what matters. Cameron Crowe’s remake of a Spanish-language film shifts genres stunningly, and it’s proved a polarizing movie in both Cruise and Crowe’s catalog.
“Taps”
In just his second on-screen role, Cruise plays an unhinged military cadet who goes to extreme lengths to protect their academy when it’s threatened by encroaching condo developers. He almost steals the show from George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton and a young Sean Penn.
“Lions for Lambs”
Robert Redford aimed for intellectual pedigree with his political drama starring Cruise and Meryl Streep, but it mostly high-minded, overly-polished lecturing.
“Valkyrie”
Cruise plays a German officer who conspired to assassinate Hitler and assume power. We all know how that went. Thankfully, Cruise doesn’t belabor a phony German accent, but Bryan Singer’s drama is mostly historical set dressing.
“Days of Thunder”
It’s “Top Gun” on wheels, with Tony Scott reuniting with Cruise as an up-and-coming racecar driver and pairing him for the first time with Nicole Kidman, as well as Robert Duvall. But by this point Cruise had already played the young hot shot far too many times.
“Mission: Impossible II”
By far the weakest in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise, John Woo’s hyper-stylized sequel has Cruise free-hand scaling a massive, remote cliff, only to put on a pair of sunglasses and watch them explode. The “Mission: Impossible” movies didn’t exactly get less silly, but they didn’t feel like ’90s remnants any longer.
“Mission: Impossible III”
J.J. Abrams was brought in to reboot the “M:I” franchise, so to speak, and he brought his signature lens flares, humor and gritty realism to the property. The film’s high point isn’t Cruise, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the villain.
“The Last Samurai”
John Oliver has made “The Last Samurai” infamous as a prime example of Hollywood’s Asian whitewashing. But it’s a solid samurai epic with Cruise fighting out of his element, playing an American Civil War official overseas as a dynasty comes to an end.
“The Firm”
Tom Cruise + John Grisham + Gene Hackman + Sydney Pollack? “The Firm” should’ve been a slam dunk, but it’s not even Cruise’s best courtroom drama.
“Oblivion”
Joseph Kosinski’s “Oblivion” is visually stunning and finds Cruise tidying up Earth after the battle for humanity has ended and the planet has been evacuated. The sci-fi premise has promise but loses steam as some of the Morgan Freeman-delivered twists and parables start to come out.
“The Mummy”
From TheWrap’s review: “It’s the same loud, excessive strain of blockbuster that’s cursing multiplexes, barely qualifying as horror, adventure, fantasy, thriller, or even Tom Cruise vehicle.”
“Jack Reacher”
Lee Child described Jack Reacher in his book as being 6 foot 5 inches tall, up to 250 pounds and having a 50-inch chest. That ain’t Tom Cruise. But Christopher McQuarrie extracts from Cruise a more grizzled, angry action hero that did Reacher justice anyway. Plus, having Werner Herzog as your movie’s villain doesn’t hurt either.
“American Made”
“American Made” is almost like a spiritual sequel to “Top Gun.” Tom Cruise behind the wheel of a plane, flashing the same smirk he did over 30 years ago, makes for another invigorating popcorn movie that never stops moving. But where that film was unabashedly jingoistic, Doug Liman’s film is a more cynical satire of the War on Drugs and the Reagan-era.
“The Color of Money”
This was the movie that won Paul Newman his Oscar, a swan-song sequel to “The Hustler” by Martin Scorsese in which Cruise may as well be type-cast as the new arrogant pool shark. But Cruise delivers that infectious, cocky glint in his eye as he whips his cue around, knocking ‘em dead to the tune of “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon.
“Rain Man”
“Rain Man” may actually be one of the more overrated Best Picture winners. Barry Levinson’s film is just a road trip movie with a showy Dustin Hoffman performance at its center. And yet Cruise reveals an untapped tender side as he grows to care for his brother Raymond.
“War of the Worlds”
Critics were torn as to whether Cruise made a convincing father figure in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the famous H.G. Wells story, but it’s that human element that elevated this already tense sci-fi thriller.
“Mission: Impossible”
The original “Mission: Impossible” benefits from Brian De Palma’s homages to Hitchcock and other spy, genre films, the loopy twists and turns of its screenplay and its laughably great gadgets that explode fish tanks or transform people’s faces. But it’s rightfully famous for Cruise’s balletic, expertly executed heist as he dangles from the ceiling and tries not to break a sweat.
“Tropic Thunder”
Cruise is hilariously unrecognizable beneath a balding wig, caked on makeup and some added pounds as Les Grossman, a raging, foul-mouthed studio exec. His fuming anger and profanity in this cameo makes him a pimple ready to burst, and his best dialogue isn’t even fit to print.
“Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”
Five movies in to the franchise, and Christopher McQuarrie‘s film was the first that suggested a future for this franchise beyond Cruise, taking the best elements of each subsequent “M:I” film and making them gel. It culminates in a slick assassination attempt inside an opera and a standout new foil for Cruise in Rebecca Ferguson.
“Collateral”
Cruise never gets to play the bad guy, but he’s excellent at it. Michael Mann transformed Cruise into a mysterious silver fox and silent killer, toying with his hostage Jamie Foxx’s mind and morality until the two form an unexpected bond.
“Top Gun”
30 years later and we still feel the need for speed. There’s still no better popcorn movie that flaunts ’80s nostalgia, jingoistic Americana and hyper masculinity than “Top Gun.” Those qualities have polarized it among critics in 2017, but there are still carnal pleasures to be had in its gloriously homoerotic volleyball scene.
“Risky Business”
When Tom Cruise slid across that wood floor in his underwear and a white dress shirt to the opening riff of “Old Time Rock and Roll,” that was it; a star was born. The movie as a whole channels everything that made Cruise a rising teen heartthrob, his hot shot attitude, his smirking charm, and yet subverts and challenges what made all those other teen films simply affable and conventional.
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
Brad Bird brought some of the cartoonish charm from Pixar over to the fourth “M:I” film, but he also staged one of the best action set pieces of this century. Yes, that really was Cruise dangling off the side of the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, and it paid off.
“Edge of Tomorrow” (a.k.a. “Live. Die. Repeat.”)
“Edge of Tomorrow” is the kind of action movie that reminds you why Cruise is so reliable in his heroic roles. Cruise plays a captain in this sci-fi who sells a war to the public, but is privately a coward. When he’s killed in battle and brought back to life in an endless vicious cycle played for pathos and some laughs, he regains that composure. Emily Blunt gives a fantastic, hard-edged performance as well.
“A Few Good Men”
Cruise displays youthful goodness, decency and spirit in the face of a juggernaut like Jack Nicholson. “A Few Good Men” is a tautly written legal thriller by Rob Reiner and from a script by Aaron Sorkin. It’s exactly the sort of rousing emotion Hollywood needs to tap into again to find another hit drama for adults.
“Eyes Wide Shut”
All anyone wanted to talk about with Stanley Kubrick’s final film was the chemistry between Cruise and his wife Nicole Kidman, or the lack thereof. But that icy demeanor in what presents itself as an erotic romance amplified the surreal mystery of the film and made Cruise vulnerable and human.
“Jerry Maguire”
The quintessential rom-com; “Jerry Maguire” is timeless yet also perfectly ’90s. Cameron Crowe’s endlessly quotable screenplay wouldn’t be quite the same without Cruise’s comic timing as he bellows “Show Me the Money” and lampoons his own hot-shot persona.
“Born on the Fourth of July”
“Born on the Fourth of July” is Cruise’s first great performance, good enough that it netted him an Oscar nod. As a crippled war vet in Oliver Stone’s Vietnam drama, Cruise turns from a starry-eyed, clean-cut soldier to a vocal, harried Vietnam protestor. It’s a rebuke to the patriotism flaunted in Cruise’s own “Top Gun” and is one of Stone’s best films.
“Minority Report”
Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi has aged beautifully, in part because Silicon Valley has borrowed all their ideas from it. Cruise looks so cool manipulating video in the Pre-Cog crime lab, he practically invented touch screens. Spielberg bakes so much fun and invigorating, futuristic chase sequences into a screenplay that contemplates big questions of fate and free will.
“Magnolia”
Not only is this Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum-opus, an epic, surreal character drama of love, family and the meaning of life, it’s Cruise at his most unhinged and commanding. He plays a vile, lascivious men’s right advocate named Frank T.J. Mackey, boasting a mantra to “respect the cock.” Cruise made it possible to dislike, even loathe one of his characters, and yet he’s never been more charismatic.
