Tom Cruise. He’s been called a madman and a loon. He’s been labeled as the hardest working man in Hollywood, and one of the biggest stars to scream in the last 40 years of cinema. With the release of his newest film, TOP GUN: MAVERICK (read Reel Speak’s review HERE), a film in which he acted, produced, and actually sat in the seat of a jet fighter as it barreled through the skies at insane speeds…he may have proven that all of the above are true. MAVERICK has been a critical and commercial success and in the many discussions of Cruise’s best works. Which leads us to Reel Speak’s Top 10 Best Tom Cruise Movies.
With over 40 film credits since 1981, most of them popular and acclaimed, it is no easy task whittling his filmography down to 10…as nearly every film on his resume is notable and immediately recognizable. He has worked with legendary directors such as Spielberg, Kubrick, Coppola, Stone, and Thomas-Anderson. He has performed his own breathtaking stunts as a secret agent. He’s played a rock star, race car driver, vampire, and a bartender. He hatched a plot to assassinate Hitler, battled samurai and aliens, went up against the Lord of Darkness, and even lampooned his own industry as a studio executive. He’s won three Golden Globes and nominated for an Oscar. The best Tom Cruise films are the ones that people still talk about even after decades have passed, along with critical acclaim, awards respect, and cultural impact.
So let’s take a Cruise…
10. DAYS OF THUNDER (1990)
The late great Tony Scott directed this racing flick which may be one of Cruise’s most well-known films, despite receiving a mixed reception in 1990. Cruise stars as a rookie hotshot NASCAR driver who wins races, makes enemies and lovers, and crashes his brains out. Despite being a tad predictable, the film works thanks to the spectacular racing sequences and the heavyweight cast of Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Michael Rooker, Cary Elwes, John C. Reilly, and the late great Fred Thompson.
9. THE FIRM (1993)
After DAYS OF THUNDER, famed film critic Roger Ebert wrote that Cruise had fallen into a pattern of action films, which made his dramatic turn in this legal thriller one of his early turning points. Cruise plays a young lawyer who finds himself working for the mob, and at great risk finds a legal loophole to get out. Directed by Sydney Pollack, the film was an adaptation of a John Grisham novel and despite not having much action, still ramps up the tension. Cruise was backed by an ensemble cast of Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Hal Halbrook, David Strathairn, Gary Busey, Tobin Bell, Steven Hill, Paul Sorvino, a villainous Wilford Brimley (who was playing against type), Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Holly Hunter…who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance.
8. EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)
Famed director Stanley Kubrick’s final film, which serves as an apt tale of male insecurity. An erotic thriller, Cruise embarks on a dark journey to an underground sex club as a way of getting back at his wife’s thoughts of infidelity, a journey that dives into the innards of sexual relations. Remarkably shot and acted, this was Kubrick’s highest-grossing film and over time has gained more and more respect.
7. RISKY BUSINESS (1983)
For better or for worse, despite Cruise’s mind-boggling stunts which have included hanging off an airplane, the lasting image of him is his character dancing around in his tighty-whiteys lip-syncing to Bob Seger; such is the cultural impact of this teen sex comedy considered to be one of the best films of 1983 and the best of its genre. Although a little incredulous by today’s standards, it is still a blast of one unfortunate event after another.
6. TOP GUN (1986)
Before Tony Scott strapped Cruise into a race car, he sent him into the skies in this fighter-jet action flick which may be Cruise’s most popular film. Cruise plays Maverick, a hot shot Navy fighter pilot going up against his fellow serviceman in a fierce competition for the title of Top Gun…all before going up against Russian MIG’s in battle. It’s a film that captures the best of the 1980’s with its shirtless macho imagery, American bravado, and pop music…with Kenny Loggins’ Highway to the Danger Zone becoming an anthem for speed and Berlin’s Take my Breath Away winning an Oscar. TOP GUN increased the Navy’s recruiting numbers overnight, and with Cruise being a maverick his entire career, is the film that seems to define him in many ways.
5. BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989)
Oliver Stone won an Oscar for Best Director in this biopic of Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist. It was one of Cruise’s first dramatic roles and he changes the world’s perception of him in a powerful performance. The film earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Actor for Cruise.
4. TOP GUN: MAVERICK (2022)
This legacy sequel to TOP GUN may still have that new shine, but for now it certainly deserves a high ranking on this list. Cruise reprises Maverick in this decades-later sequel that sees the character near the end of his career and tasked with training a squadron for an impossible mission. With a full commitment to practical effects, Cruise actually films inside a fighter jet, leading to some of the most stunning aerial scenes and action ever filmed. And despite the breathtaking images, MAVERICK is surprisingly emotional, with the long-awaited reunion between Mav and Iceman (reprised by Val Kilmer), a true tearjerker. A miracle of modern filmmaking.
3. RAIN MAN (1988)
The first and only film to win the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and Best Picture at the Oscars. Cruise plays a selfish wheeler-dealer who suddenly discovers that he has a brother (Dustin Hoffman), who lives with autism. In an emotional journey of brothers, Cruise and Hoffman embark on a cross-country road trip of discovery, with both actors turning in excellent performances.
2. COLLATERAL (2004)
Michael Mann, the master of the crime drama, helms this neo-noir thriller which sees Cruise lose his sexiest-man-alive flowing hair for the salt-and-pepper crewcut of a hitman, who hires a cab driver (Jamie Foxx), to ferry him around L.A. Full of surprises, great performances, and loaded with style, COLLATERAL also boasts a cast before they became household names; Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem, and Jason Statham.
1. A FEW GOOD MEN (1992)
Famed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin adapts his own play for the screen, and Rob Reiner directs this masterclass in military ethics and law. Cruise plays a young Naval lawyer tasked with defending two Marines accused of murder, while dealing with a base commander (Jack Nicholson), who may have taken his ideas of defending a nation too far. A FEW GOOD MEN has become one of those films over time that has become a study in screenwriting and in trial law, with the film often being referenced in TV analysis of court cases. Jack Nicholson turns in a thunderous performance that defined the back-half of his career, and the ensemble cast of Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollack, Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh, J.A. Preston, Noah Wyle, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Christopher Guest gives the proceedings a weight. Cruise himself is excellent, and even though his character isn’t the one that everyone remembers, it’s the film around him that is recalled the most often. And that is a truth that can be handled.
REEL SPEAK'S TOP 10 BEST TOM CRUISE FILMS
- A FEW GOOD MEN
- COLLATERAL
- RAIN MAN
- TOP GUN: MAVERICK
- BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
- TOP GUN
- RISKY BUSINESS
- EYES WIDE SHUT
- THE FIRM
- DAYS OF THUNDER
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