Is there life after blockbuster action cinema for Tom Cruise?
At an age-defying 62 years old, Tom Cruise delivers us his latest action opus with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. It brings to a potential close an eight-film franchise largely built on the stunt du jour that the inimitable Cruise conjures up to perform. Be it hanging off planes, underwater skits, larking about on the world’s tallest building or whatever, Cruise’s dedication to the craft cannot be underestimated. Nor can the sincerity and natural magnetism he brings to a role like Ethan Hunt, which, with no sleight, is never going to win him an Oscar.
Nor is playing Maverick in the Top Gun franchise, which is building toward a third film, that may just happen in the near future. That very first Mission way back when, with Cruise leaping out of a window with a surge of water behind him, as well as his showstopping wire descent, was what really changed the world’s view on Cruise. Sure, by that point, he was very much the handsome leading man, but aside from the odd dalliance in fighter jets or racing cars, he wasn’t really associated with action movies.
His career seemed to then arc a different direction from what was expected, in part propelled by box office successes in films like Minority Report and War of the Worlds. You want high concept, big budget spectacle? You probably wanted Tom Cruise, or maybe Will Smith. Then Marvel came and took over, but Cruise, with the odd controversy and couch jump, kept on coming with more Missions and bigger, crazier stunts. So much so that after his public image and popularity crashed shortly before M:I 3, it felt like one of the last movie stars was going to find himself blackballed in Hollywood. One way to get yourself cancelled more than even controversy is pretty simple: a string of failures. Step forward, films like Valkyrie.
Cruise is nothing if not resilient. The third mission was something of a far-from-convincing tourniquet, but it was Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol which changed everything. The franchise went from being a mere blockbuster to top of the tree tentpole material. Since then, every Blockbuster season in which Ethan Hunt does something death-defying, it’s one of (at least) the top 5 most anticipated blockbusters of the year.
If it felt like Cruise was becoming reliant on Hunt, the unexpectedly mega success of Top Gun: Maverick proved he still had pulling power away from those McGuffin-chasing missions. His penchant for being physically involved and making as much of the action on screen as practical as possible also helped to make Maverick feel incredibly fresh, simply by being incredibly old school. You might argue that Maverick, in fact, dunks on any of Hunt’s adventures with consummate ease, although Fallout remains the peak of Hunt’s Missions and stands toe to toe with Maverick’s last outing.
So we’re now at possibly the final outing for Hunt. Reviews have been solid, albeit the weakest since JJ Abrams helmed the third. Overlong, indulgent and messy are some bywords of the consensus, whether people dug it or not. Now, of course, the stunts and spectacle still deliver for most audiences, but the underwhelming performance of Dead Reckoning also puts a lot of onus on The Final Reckoning to succeed.
For one, we’re still in a state of flux regarding the power of the big screen and its general pull on audiences these days. Then there’s Tom Cruise’s box office pedigree. Did he top out with Maverick? The fact is, the previous Mission had the distinct disadvantage of coming out a week before Barbenheimer, a pop culture phenomenon that was completely unexpected. It still has a knock-on on, though, and time and perpetual delays to the entire final chapter (if you count both Reckonings as one) as a whole haven’t helped.
Going forward, Cruise has gestating plans to go into space in a film with Doug Liman, tackle action again in a non-franchise reteam with Christopher McQuarrie (director of the final four Missions) and that prospective new aerial assault as Maverick in Top Gun 3. His emphasis is still firmly in blockbuster entertainment and delivering a bona fide, seat-clenching, popcorn munching big screen experience, but long-time fans of Cruise also feel there’s a part of his repertoire that’s been missing for some time… Cruise the character actor.
Cruise had a varied and interesting early career, jumping from big-budget projects to more contained character pieces. He has also worked with incredible auteurs like Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Reiner and Paul Thomas Anderson. He’s a three time Oscar nominated actor and although he might well still be the last great movie star, Cruise has previously shown an innate gift to transform and inhabit roles deeply, whether it was Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July or even Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder (another role which did wonders for his popularity resurgence).
There will come a time when even the mighty Tom Cruise will have done one stunt too many. When those long take high-speed sprints just don’t have the same majesty. Action stars looking great for their age and still doing the business all have that moment where suddenly time catches up. It could be injuries, a culmination of things or just a descent where that downhill trajectory accelerates. Sly Stallone was running about like a lunatic in The Expendables, brawling with wrestlers and almost paralysed himself with a neck injury, and he hasn’t been the same since, as far as his action stuff.
Like Stallone, Cruise does have a distinct advantage when it comes to shifting things up and pushing his dramatic chops. He’s a great actor on his day. He’s always been able to make his action characters engaging, but Ethan Hunt isn’t complex like Frank Mackay or Ron Kovic. When he’s leapt from his last plane, or leapt from his last skyscraper, maybe it’ll be time for Cruise to really push himself as an actor again. A time to step out of his dramatic comfort zone and hand the reins to a director who will inspire him to recapture those hidden depths we’ve seen before (but not seen in a while).
Do you think Tom Cruise will hang up his action man boots soon? Will he become a dramatic actor again? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
