Tom Cruise returns to the screen this week with the sequel to his 2012 action thriller Jack Reacher, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The film is helmed by Edward Zwick, who directed Cruise previously in the 2003 period epic The Last Samurai. Tom Cruise, after three decades, is still on of the hottest properties on the planet, and he’s arguably never made a bad movie. Here, we pick three of his best.
We kick things off with probably the most obvious; a film which is 30 years old this year and one of the most quoted action movies of all time, Top Gun. Cruise shot to super-stardom in this 1986 movie about fighter pilots, romance and beach volleyball. Cruise plays the role of Maverick in the film two is picked as one of the best of the best to train at the prestigious Top Gun school for the US Air Force’s top pilots. There he teams with Goose (Anthony Edwards) and falls for one of his teachers, played by Kelly McGillis – all while he makes his way through the programme to become the best of the very best. Directed by the late Tony Scott, Top Gun is still considered to be one of the best action films ever made – so much so that it will get a sequel in 2017 with Tom Cruise returning to one of his most iconic roles.
Next up, a film which bagged Tom Cruise huge praise – the 1980s drama Rain Man. In the film Cruise plays the character of Charlie Babbitt, who after leaning that his father has died, must travel home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and a potential $3 million which is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. With his eye on the money, Charlie breaks Raymond out of the mental hospital and the two embark on a road trip which eventually sees them arrive in Las Vegas. Rather than hitting the fruit machines, and with the film being set in a time many years before the arrival of gambling on the internet, or even online bingo, the two hit the blackjack tables after Charlie sees that Raymond is particularly good with numbers. It looks like with Raymond’s help by counting cards, Charlie could win himself a small fortune. Released in 1988, the film went on to win Oscars for Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role (Dustin Hoffman); Best Director; and Best Original Screenplay.
Last in our pick of the best Tom Cruise films is Jerry Maguire. Tom Cruise was nominated for an Oscar for this comedy-drama from filmmaker Cameron Crowe which revolves around a sports agent who suddenly decides to change his thought process and working operation. He gets fired from the agency where he works so decides to go at it alone by setting up his own company. Taking is assistant Dorothy Boyd (Renee Zellweger) and his one client – Cuba Gooding Jr’s Rod Tidwell with him, Jerry attempts to not only conquer the ruthless world of sports management, but become a better person. Despite being 20 years old this year, Crowe’s film still stands up and is still delighting audiences to this very day.
