The 20 Best Tom Cruise Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes
Tom Cruise, a name synonymous with box-office hits and heart-pounding action, has a filmography that's as diverse as it is extensive.
This curated list of the 20 best Tom Cruise movies, as per the critics and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, is like a highlight reel of his career, showcasing his evolution from a charming young actor to a bona fide Hollywood icon, known for his commitment to nail-biting stunts and complex characters.
1. "Mission: Impossible – Fallout" (2018)
Audience Score: 88%
Role: Ethan Hunt (Character), Producer
Box Office: $220.1M
Ethan Hunt and his IMF team, along with familiar allies, race against time after a mission gone wrong, facing a terrorist group known as the Apostles planning to detonate three plutonium cores, leading to a global catastrophe, with Hunt grappling with personal demons and past decisions impacting the mission.
2. "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" (2023)
Tomatometer: 96%
Audience Score: 94%
Role: Ethan Hunt (Character)
Box Office: $172.0M
With the world at stake, Hunt and his team engage in a dangerous game of espionage and action, racing against time to thwart a catastrophic threat. As usual, there are death-defying stunts, intricate plots, and a blend of suspense and action that defines the Mission: Impossible series.
3. "Top Gun: Maverick" (2022)
Tomatometer: 96%
Audience Score: 99%
Role: Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Character)
Box Office: $718.5M
Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, after more than thirty years of service as a top naval aviator, returns to the Top Gun Naval Fighter Weapons School to train a new generation of pilots for a specialized mission, confronting his past and facing fears, culminating in a dangerous and high-stakes operation.
4. "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" (2015)
Audience Score: 87%
Role: Ethan Hunt (Character)
Ethan Hunt and the IMF team face the Syndicate, a highly skilled international rogue organization committed to destroying the IMF, leading to a globe-trotting race against time, featuring underwater heists, high-speed motorcycle chases, and intricate espionage.
5. "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" (2011)
Audience Score: 76%
Role: Ethan Hunt (Character)
Box Office: $209.4M
Framed for a terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization's name, racing against time to prevent a nuclear war, involving death-defying stunts on the world's tallest building.
6. "Risky Business" (1983)
Audience Score: 73%
Role: Joel Goodsen (Character)
A high school student, Joel Goodson, left alone at home, gets involved with a call girl, Lana, leading to a series of misadventures including turning his parents' house into a brothel, evading a pimp, and dealing with the pressures of getting into Princeton.
7. "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014)
Audience Score: 90%
Role: Major William Cage (Character)
Box Office: $100.2M
Major William Cage, a public relations officer with no combat experience, is thrown into a deadly alien war, finds himself in a time loop, reliving the same brutal combat repeatedly, and teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski to improve his skills and find a way to defeat the aliens.
8. "Minority Report" (2002)
Audience Score: 80%
Role: Chief Paul Anderton (Character)
Box Office: $132.0M
Set in a future where a special police unit can arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, John Anderton, an officer from that unit, is himself accused of a future murder, leading to a quest to prove his innocence and uncover a deep conspiracy.
9. "Rain Man" (1988)
Audience Score: 90%
Role: Charles Sanford 'Charlie' Babbitt (Character)
Box Office: $171.2M
Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country, Charlie learns about Raymond's autism and forms a deep bond, transforming his understanding of family and love.
10. "The Color of Money" (1986)_16013.webp)
Audience Score: 73%
Role: Vincent (Character)
Box Office: $52.3M
Aging pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson mentors a promising young pool player, Vincent, but their conflicting philosophies on winning and losing and Eddie's unresolved issues from his past lead to tensions and a final high-stakes showdown.
11. "Space Station" (2002)
Audience Score: 76%
Role: Narrator
Box Office: $93.4M
A documentary film that offers an inside look at life aboard the International Space Station, showcasing the day-to-day operations and research conducted by astronauts from different countries, providing a unique perspective on space exploration and international collaboration.
12. "Collateral" (2004)
Audience Score: 84%
Role: Vincent (Character)
Box Office: $100.0M
A cab driver, Max, finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer, Vincent, as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles, leading Max to fight for his life and prevent Vincent from killing his last target.
13. "American Made" (2017)
Audience Score: 79%
Role: Barry Seal (Character)
Box Office: $51.3M
Based on the true story of Barry Seal, a commercial pilot who is recruited by the CIA to fly reconnaissance missions over Central America, becoming involved in drug smuggling, eventually working for both the CIA and Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel in the 1980s.
14. "A Few Good Men" (1992)
Audience Score: 89%
Role: Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Character)
Box Office: $141.3M
A military lawyer, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, defends Marines accused of murder, who contend they were acting under orders, leading to a tense courtroom drama and the iconic line, "You can't handle the truth!", revealing the complexity of military honor and duty.
15. "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989)
Audience Score: 76%
Role: Ron Kovic (Character)
Box Office: $68.8M
The biography of Ron Kovic, a Vietnam War veteran paralyzed in the war, who becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for, showcasing the emotional turmoil and transformation of a patriot.
16. "Jerry Maguire" (1996)
Audience Score: 79%
Role: Jerry Maguire (Character)
Box Office: $153.6M
A successful sports agent, Jerry Maguire, has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, deciding to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him, facing challenges in his career and personal life.
17. "The Others" (2001)
Audience Score: 77%
Role: Executive Producer
Box Office: $13.5K
A woman, Grace, lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children, becoming convinced that the home is haunted, leading to a chilling discovery that turns their understanding of reality upside down in a twist ending.
18. "Magnolia" (1999)
Audience Score: 89%
Role: Frank T.J. Mackey (Character)
Box Office: $22.5M
An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley, intertwining multiple storylines that involve a dying father, a young prodigy, a former quiz champion, a lost son, and a police officer in love.
19. "Tropic Thunder" (2008)
Audience Score: 71%
Role: Lee Grossman (Character)
Box Office: $110.4M
A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film, but the director dumps them in the middle of a jungle, leading them to believe they are making a film, unaware that they are actually in the middle of a real conflict.
20. "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999)
Audience Score: 74%
Role: Dr. William Harford (Character)
Box Office: $55.7M
A New York City doctor, embarks on a harrowing, night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery after his wife reveals a painful secret to him, leading him into a surreal underworld of sexual intrigue and danger.