The only thing we can say about Tom Cruise is that he is the true last movie star alive. The American actor and producer started his film career with a supporting role in the 1981 film Endless Love, but he didn’t get his big break until the 1983 film Risky Business, in which he played the lead role of Joel Goodsen. Since then he has done some of the iconic Hollywood movies ever made and soon he is about to embark on a new mission with the second last film of his biggest franchise ever Mission: Impossible. So, we thought of making a list of the 10 best Tom Cruise that you should watch before Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 comes out.

13. Risky Business (Paramount+ & Pluto TV)

Synopsis: Meet Joel Goodsen, an industrious college-bound seventeen-year-old, a responsible and trustworthy son … Meet Lana, young, hot, exquisite and street-smart. Joel’s (Tom Cruise) two preoccupations in life are: getting into college and having sex–which until now has been just a fantasy. But Joel’s parents are going on vacation and leaving him in charge of the house. Now, what Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) is going to teach Joel about sex and the free enterprise system in this contemporary coming-of-age tale is every parent’s nightmare and a very Risky Business.

12. Eyes Wide Shut (Paramount+)

Synopsis: Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman star as a married couple entangled in an intricate web of jealousy and sexual obsession in Stanley Kubrick’s final cinematic offering. At a Christmas party hosted by wealthy, unconventional Victor Ziegler (Sydney Pollack), provocative advances and innocent flirtations arouse suspicion as high-society physician Dr. William Harford (Cruise) and his sexy wife, Alice (Kidman) watch each other from a distance. Alone later, this seemingly perfect couple confront their intimate sexual fantasies–which don’t include each other. Caught between reality and illusion, jealousy and obsession, William struggles with his inner urges. Will he act on his erotic fantasies or keep them hidden deep inside? Sometimes a man can see more clearly with his Eyes Wide Shut.

11. Magnolia (Rent on Prime Video)

Synopsis: This sprawling character study follows 10 people whose damaged lives intersect–often by sheer coincidence–during a single day in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.​

10. The Last Samurai (Rent on Prime Video)

Synopsis: Tom Cruise stars in this sweeping epic set in Japan during the 1870s as Captain Nathan Algren, a respected American military officer hired by the Emperor of Japan to train the country’s first army in the art of modern warfare. As the Emperor attempts to eradicate the ancient Imperial Samurai warriors in preparation for more Westernized and trade-friendly government policies, Algren finds himself unexpectedly impressed and influenced by his encounters with the Japanese warriors, placing him at the center of a struggle between two eras and two worlds, with only his own sense of honor to guide him as The Last Samurai.

9. American Made (Rent on Prime Video)

Synopsis: Tom Cruise reunites with his Edge of Tomorrow director, Doug Liman, in an international escapade based on the outrageous, true exploits of a hustler and pilot recruited to run one of the biggest covert operations in U.S. history. Based on an incredible true story of the CIA’s biggest secret, American Made will remind you: It’s not a crime if you’re doing it for the good guys…

8. Jerry Maguire (AMC+)

Synopsis: Tom Cruise gives his best performance to date (Neil Rosen, NY-1) as a sports agent who suddenly discovers his scruples and promptly loses his job. But with the help of one loyal colleague and one outrageous client, JERRY MAGUIRE learns that loving well is the best revenge. A sweetheart of a romantic comedy (Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE) co-starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Renee Zellweger, Regina King and Bonnie Hunt.

7. Collateral (Paramount+, YouTube & Pluto TV)

Synopsis: Vincent (Tom Cruise) is a cool, calculating, contract killer at the top of his game. Max (Jamie Foxx) is a hapless cabbie with big dreams and little to show for it. Now, Max has to transport Vincent on his next job – one night, five stops, five hits and a getaway. And after this fateful night, neither man will ever be the same again.

6. Rain Man (Showtime)

Synopsis: When Charlie Babbitt goes home to the Midwest for his estranged father’s funeral, he learns not only that he’s been cut out of his inheritance, but that he has a grown brother…Raymond…who has been sheltered almost all of his life in an East Coast institution for the developmentally disabled. Raymond is an autistic savant…a person who is severely limited in most mental areas but extremely gifted in others. After traveling to the institution, Charlie kidnaps Raymond but then finds that Raymond will only fly Qantas. The two then begin a long cross-country odyssey in their father’s 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible…a trip that will lead them to understanding and love, and for Charlie a kind of redemption.

5. A Few Good Men (AMC+)

Synopsis: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson and Demi Moore star in Rob Reiner’s unanimously acclaimed drama about the dangerous difference between following orders and following one’s conscience. Cruise stars as a brash Navy lawyer who’s teamed with a gung-ho litigator (Moore) in a politically explosive murder case. Charged with defending two Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier, they are confronted with complex issues of loyalty and honor, including its most sacred code and its most formidable warrior (Nicholson). Superbly directed with a trio of powerhouse performances and an outstanding supporting cast including Kevin Pollak, Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon.

4. The Color of Money (Tubi)

Synopsis: Academy Award(R)-winner Paul Newman and Academy Award(R)-nominee Tom Cruise ignite the screen in this powerful drama. Brilliantly directed by Martin Scorsese, Newman re-creates one of his most memorable roles from THE HUSTLER. As Fast Eddie Felson, he still believes that “money won is twice as sweet as money earned.” To prove his point, he forms a profitable yet volatile partnership with Vince (Cruise), a young pool hustler with a sexy, tough-talking girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). But when Vince’s flashy arrogance leads to more than a few lost matches, all bets are off between Eddie and him. THE COLOR OF MONEY will electrify you with its suspenseful story, dazzling cinematography, and dynamic performances.

3. Edge of Tomorrow (Max)

Synopsis: The epic action of Edge of Tomorrow unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously dropped into what amounts to a suicide mission. Killed within minutes, Cage now finds himself inexplicably thrown into a time loop forcing him to live out the same brutal combat over and over, fighting and dying again… and again. But with each battle, Cage becomes able to engage the adversaries with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt). And, as Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated encounter gets them one step closer to defeating the enemy.

2. Mission: Impossible Franchise (Paramount+)

Mission: Impossible (Synopsis): Tom Cruise ignites the screen in this runaway smash hit that “holds you on the edge of your seat before blasting you out of it.” (Howard Rosenberg, Los Angeles Times). Cruise stars as Ethan Hunt, a secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team. Fleeing from government assassins, breaking into the CIA’s most impenetrable vault, clinging to the roof of a speeding bullet train, Hunt races like a burning fuse to stay one step ahead of his pursuers… and draw one step closer to discovering the shocking truth.

1. Top Gun: Maverick (Prime Video, Paramount+ & MGM+)

Synopsis: After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.

The post 13 Best Tom Cruise Movies (Ranked), To Watch Before Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 Comes Out appeared first on Cinemablind.