EDITED BY alexis wilson
While referring to someone as a “movie star” might feel passé in this day and age, it’s clear no one has embraced the title more than Tom Cruise.
“America's favorite star is still on smiling Cruise control, but now he finesses it into a dance. He seduces — then steps back; he turns on the charm — then lets it slide into pools of doubt.”
—Owen Gleiberman
ew grade: A-
“At this point in his career, he's not really playing characters so much as variations on a theme — the theme being, perhaps, The Last Movie Star. And in the air up there, he stands alone."
—Leah Greenblatt
ew grade: B+
"Tom Cruise is a baaaad man. At least he plays one in Michael Mann's new movie. Grizzled and scarred, Cruise is a contract killer on the hunt in L.A.”
—EW Staff
ew grade: B+
“No one is going to confuse The Firm with art, but its high cholesterol virtues a story that keeps you guessing, a dozen meaty character turns are enough to send you home sated.”
—Owen Gleiberman
ew grade: B
"With Cruise front and center, Mission: Impossible comes close to being a de facto James Bond thriller, yet without the romance of Bond.”
—Owen Gleiberman
ew grade: B
“And in the middle, standing straight as a Top Gun ace, is Tom Cruise, that quintessentially self-constructed American movie star, speaking in quintessential American tones.”
—Lisa Schwarzbaum
ew grade: B
“[Cruise’s] very competence in this role comes off as an admirable stretch, but he hasn't endowed Lestat with the dark fillips of perversity that might have made the character memorable."
—Owen Gleiberman
ew grade: C-