Tom Cruise made his film debut in the Brooke Shields vehicle Endless Love (1981). His breakthrough role was in the coming-of-age comedy Risky Business (1983), which garnered Cruise his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In 1986, Cruise played a Naval Aviator in the Tony Scott-directed action drama Top Gun (the highest-grossing film that year). More than 20 years after the original, Cruise climbed back into the cockpit to revive Maverick for a sequel to his 1986 hit Top Gun: Maverick (2022).
Take a look at every Tom Cruise movie performance, ranked by critics from worst to best!
Cocktail. (1988)
Tomatometer: 7% – Metascore: 12
Starring: Tom Cruise, Elisabeth Shue, Bryan Brown, Lisa Banes, Kelly Lynch
Directed By: Roger Donaldson
The Mummy (2017)
Tomatometer: 16% – Metascore: 34
Starring: Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson
Directed By: Alex Kurtzman
Losin’ It (1982)
Tomatometer: 18% – Metascore: 51
Starring: Tom Cruise, Shelley Long, John Stockwell, Rick Rossovich, Jackie Earle Haley
Directed By: Curtis Hanson
The Eye (2008)
Tomatometer: 22% – Metascore: 36
Starring: Jessica Alba, Parker Posey, Alessandro Nivola, Tamlyn Tomita, Fernanda Romero
Directed By: David Moreau, Xavier Palud
Endless Love (1981)
Tomatometer: 26% – Metascore: 30
Starring: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray, Richard Kiley
Directed By: Franco Zeffirelli
Lions for Lambs (2007)
Tomatometer: 27% – Metascore: 47
Starring: Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Derek Luke, Michael Peña
Directed By: Robert Redford
Elizabethtown (2005)
Tomatometer: 28% – Metascore: 45
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Biel, Alec Baldwin
Directed By: Cameron Crowe
Ask the Dust (2006)
Tomatometer: 35% – Metascore: 58
Starring: Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Donald Sutherland, Eileen Atkins, Idina Menzel
Directed By: Robert Towne
Days of Thunder (1990)
Tomatometer: 38% – Metascore: 60
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes
Directed By: Tony Scott
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
Tomatometer: 38% – Metascore: 47
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Aldis Hodge, Sue-Lynn Ansari
Directed By: Edward Zwick
Legend (1985)
Tomatometer: 40% – Metascore: 30
Starring: Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice Playten
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Vanilla Sky (2001)
Tomatometer: 42% – Metascore: 45
Starring: Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Kurt Russell, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee
Directed By: Cameron Crowe
Rock of Ages (2012)
Tomatometer: 43% – Metascore: 47
Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin
Directed By: Adam Shankman
Far and Away (1992)
Tomatometer: 50% – Metascore: 49
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson, Robert Prosky, Barbara Babcock
Directed By: Ron Howard
Knight and Day (2010)
Tomatometer: 52% – Metascore: 46
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Jordi Mollà
Directed By: James Mangold
Oblivion (2013)
Tomatometer: 53% – Metascore: 54
Starring: Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Directed By: Joseph Kosinski
Top Gun (1986)
Tomatometer: 55% – Metascore: 50
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Tom Skerritt, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer
Directed By: Tony Scott
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Tomatometer: 57% – Metascore: 59
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandiwe Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson
Directed By: John Woo
Valkyrie (2008)
Tomatometer: 62% – Metascore: 56
Starring: Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Terence Stamp
Directed By: Bryan Singer
All the Right Moves (1983)
Tomatometer: 63% – Metascore: 62
Starring: Tom Cruise, Craig T. Nelson, Lea Thompson, Charles Cioffi, Sandy Faison
Directed By: Michael Chapman
Jack Reacher (2012)
Tomatometer: 63% – Metascore: 50
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, Werner Herzog
Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie
Interview With the Vampire (1994)
Tomatometer: 64% – Metascore: 59
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Robert Duvall, Werner Herzog
Directed By: Neil Jordan
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Tomatometer: 66% – Metascore: 59
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emmanuelle Béart, Jon Voight, Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave
Directed By: Brian De Palma
The Last Samurai (2003)
Tomatometer: 66% – Metascore: 55
Starring: Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Timothy Spall
Directed By: Edward Zwick
Taps (1981)
Tomatometer: 68% – Metascore: 49
Starring: George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Ronny Cox, Tom Cruise
Directed By: Harold Becker
The Outsiders (1983)
Tomatometer: 68% – Metascore: 45
Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe
Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola
Mission: Impossible III (2006)
Tomatometer: 71% – Metascore: 66
Starring: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Tomatometer: 75% – Metascore: 68
Starring: Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack, Marie Richardson, Leelee Sobieski
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
The Firm (1993)
Tomatometer: 75% – Metascore: 58
Starring: Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holly Hunter, Ed Harris, David Strathairn
Directed By: Sydney Pollack
War of the Worlds (2005)
Tomatometer: 75% – Metascore: 73
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Without Limits (1998)
Tomatometer: 79% – Metascore: 71
Starring: Billy Crudup, Donald Sutherland, Monica Potter, Jeremy Sisto, Matthew Lillard
Directed By: Robert Towne
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Tomatometer: 82% – Metascore: 71
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Tom Cruise
Directed By: Ben Stiller
A Few Good Men (1992)
Tomatometer: 83% – Metascore: 62
Starring: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Pollak, Wolfgang Bodison
Directed By: Rob Reiner
Magnolia (1999)
Tomatometer: 83% – Metascore: 77
Starring: Tom Cruise, John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, William H. Macy, Jeremy Blackman
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Narc (2002)
Tomatometer: 83% – Metascore: 70
Starring: Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, Busta Rhymes, Chi McBride, Dan Leis
Directed By: Joe Carnahan
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Tomatometer: 84% – Metascore: 77
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston, Jerry O’Connell
Directed By: Cameron Crowe
The Others (2001)
Tomatometer: 84% – Metascore: 74
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Alakina Mann, James Bentley
Directed By: Alejandro Amenábar
American Made (2017)
Tomatometer: 85% – Metascore: 65
Starring: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Jayma Mays, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons
Directed By: Doug Liman
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Tomatometer: 86% – Metascore: 75
Starring: Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava, Kyra Sedgwick
Directed By: Oliver Stone
Collateral (2004)
Tomatometer: 86% – Metascore: 71
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg
Directed By: Michael Mann
Space Station (2004)
Tomatometer: 87% – Metascore: 69
Starring: Tom Cruise
Directed By: Toni Myers
Rain Man (1988)
Tomatometer: 89% – Metascore: 65
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Bonnie Hunt, Gerald R. Molen
Directed By: Barry Levinson
The Color of Money (1986)
Tomatometer: 89% – Metascore: 77
Starring: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, John Turturro, Helen Shaver
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Minority Report (2002)
Tomatometer: 90% – Metascore: 80
Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow, Tim Blake Nelson
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Tomatometer: 91% – Metascore: 71
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Brendan Gleeson
Directed By: Doug Liman
Risky Business (1983)
Tomatometer: 92% – Metascore: 75
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur, Bronson Pinchot
Directed By: Paul Brickman
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
Tomatometer: 93% – Metascore: 73
Starring: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Michael Nyqvist
Directed By: Brad Bird
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)
Tomatometer: 94% – Metascore: 75
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Sean Harris
Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Tomatometer: 97% – Metascore: 86
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames
Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Tomatometer: 97% – Metascore: 79
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell
Directed By: Joseph Kosinski
