The best tom cruise movies of all time, ranked

Most movie stars fall off the A-list as they age, and most movie franchises get worse, especially after the sixth sequel. But Tom Cruise’s _Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One_ 

(opening July 12) has the highest Rotten Tomatoes critics score of his career. Not bad for a 61-year-old who already made history — and, as Steven Spielberg told Tom, saved the movie

industry —  in 2022 with _Top Gun: Maverick_. Not every one of his 40-plus movies is worth revisiting (_Rock of Ages_, anyone? _Cocktail_?), but the best of the batch are American classics.

Welcome to Tom Cruise’s top 10 movies of all time, ranked. [embedded content] 10. _A FEW GOOD MEN_ (1992) In one of history’s great acting duels, Cruise, as a callow military defense

attorney trying to save two recruits accused of murder, faces formidable officer Jack Nicholson, who bellows, “You can't handle the truth!” Aaron Sorkin wrote this dazzling courtroom

drama on cocktail napkins at his bartender job, and it made him famous enough to create _The West Wing_ and _The Social Network._ WATCH IT HERE: Prime Video, Apple TV Tom Cruise as Vincent

Lauria in "The Color of Money." Buena Vista/Courtesy Everett Collection 9. _THE COLOR OF MONEY_ (1986) Another duel, between Cruise as a young pool shark and Paul Newman as Fast

Eddie Felson on a comeback. Newman got an Oscar nomination as young Fast Eddie in 1961's must-see _The Hustler_ and won the Oscar for this — partly because of Cruise’s star-power

support. WATCH IT HERE: Prime Video, Apple TV [embedded content] 8. _BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY_ (1989) After six years as a megastar, Cruise got his first Oscar nomination in Oliver Stone’s

adaptation of Ron Kovic’s memoir about the Vietnam War and his campaign against it. Once again, Cruise’s fiery genius helped win an Oscar — this time for director Stone. WATCH IT HERE:

Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play [embedded content] 7. _COLLATERAL_ (2004) In a beautifully moody Michael Mann thriller set in East L.A. after dark, when coyotes and furtive people wander

the streets, Jamie Foxx is a cabdriver who picks up Cruise, the nattiest assassin you ever saw. His fare is hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all he has to do is help kill five trial

witnesses — and survive. WATCH IT HERE: Paramount Movies [embedded content] 6. _MINORITY REPORT_ (2002) In a grown-up role for a forever-young star, Cruise plays a high-tech cop who busts

perps before they commit the crime. When director Steven Spielberg adapted this paranoid futuristic tale by sci-fi master Philip K. Dick (_Blade Runner_),_ _he said, “I’m in my mid-50s — I’m

no longer afraid of the dark.” Cruise doesn’t crack his famous smile, and as a result you take him dead seriously in a dark, smart thriller. WATCH IT HERE: Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube