Tom Cruise is back with Digger, a film that has been ridiculously divisive. However, most are in agreement that it’s another excellent Cruise performance, one that could get him an Oscar nomination this year and perhaps give way to his long-overdue win. The same happened when Alejandro G. Iñárritu worked with Leonardo DiCaprio, so it’s not far off.
Some of the marketing for the movie, which purposefully obfuscated some of what the movie is actually about, focused on Cruise being the star of the movie and referred back to his body of work. And while he’s certainly become best known for his unrivaled action work, there’s more to it than that. He has loads of excellent performances. Here are the 10 best.
Note: I haven’t seen The Color of Money, Born on the Fourth of July, The Last Samurai, Legend, and a small handful of others.
The Best Tom Cruise Performances of All Time
10. Tropic Thunder
Comedy is not easy to pull off, but Tom Cruise makes it look absolutely effortless here in Tropic Thunder. It’s a small role that was done partially to help shift the perception of Cruise as an actor. It’s very unlike what he’s done otherwise, and that subversion helps elevate the brief appearance as Les Grossman.
9. Jerry Maguire
Jerry Maguire is a Cruise vehicle. It allows him to do a little bit of everything, and his screen presence has maybe never been better. He is perfectly believable and human in this role, and he delivers some of the most iconic lines in film history.
8. Rain Man
Dustin Hoffman won an Oscar for his work on Rain Man, portraying an autistic person. Modern thinking would suggest that this is a little bit problematic, but it is an undeniably good performance. However, I believe Tom Cruise is the better actor here, putting in an outstanding performance that helps anchor the film back to reality.
7. Collateral
Part of what makes Cruise’s villainous turn in Collateral from Michael Mann so good is that it’s a perfect use of the Cruise persona. He’s a hero, and he wants to save movies. It’s the one truly villainous turn of his career, and it’s outstanding.
6. Top Gun/Top Gun: Maverick
This is a two-part performance, and it’s brilliant on both sides. Tom Cruise’s boyish charm and bravado make Top Gun an undeniable classic. That helped set the foundation for his more mature, reserved performance in Maverick, where the stakes are much higher. The result is one of the best action movies and legacy sequels of all time.
5. Digger
Here’s where Digger slots in. With FULL SPOILERS ahead, this is definitely one of Cruise’s best performances. He switches back and forth between the struggling, conflicted Curtis Markson and the bombastic, brazen Digger Rockwell with ridiculous ease. There is perhaps not another actor on the planet who could’ve pulled this off.
4. A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men exists with me at the center of the Cruise-Aaron Sorkin Venn diagram. He delivers Sorkin’s dialogue excellently, and his youthful ignorance plays so perfectly in the cat-and-mouse with the veteran Jack Nicholson. He holds his own against a titan very early in his career.
3. Edge of Tomorrow
Edge of Tomorrow has everything from Cruise. It’s got sci-fi, which he doesn’t do a ton of, action, comedy, and romance. The movie just doesn’t work at all with a lesser actor at the helm, so thankfully, Cruise helps make one of the best sci-fi movies ever.
2. Magnolia
Many would argue that Cruise should’ve won an Oscar for his work on Magnolia. It’s admittedly outstanding work. It takes a lot to be the best part of a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, especially one that also involves Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore.
1. Mission: Impossible
As great as his dramatic work is, Tom Cruise is obviously born to play this role. Ethan Hunt is the character he has spent the most time with, and it is palpable. While not every outing is top-tier, the breadth of Cruise’s work as Ethan Hunt is just fantastic, and he is one of the defining cinematic characters.
