From his teen idol days in the early ’80s to his status as a marquee-lighting leading man today, Tom Cruise has consistently done it all for decades — he’s completed impossible missions, learned about Wapner time in Rain Man, driven the highway to the danger zone in Top Gun, and done wonders for Bob Seger’s royalty statements in Risky Business, to offer just a few examples. Mr. Cruise is one of the few honest-to-goodness film stars left in the Hollywood firmament, so whether you’re a hardcore fan or just interested in a refresher course on his filmography, we’re here to take a fond look back at a truly impressive career and rank all Tom Cruise movies, starting with the top 10 below. Where will Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One land on the list? Stay tuned.

See the full list on Rotten Tomatoes.

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1. Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Tomatometer score: 97%

 

Critics Consensus: Fast, sleek, and fun, Mission: Impossible - Fallout lives up to the "impossible" part of its name by setting yet another high mark for insane set pieces in a franchise full of them.

 

Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker to prevent a disaster of epic proportions. Arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When the weapons go missing, Ethan and his crew find themselves in a desperate race against time to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg 

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

 

 

 

2. Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Tomatometer score: 96%

 

Critics Consensus: Top Gun: Maverick pulls off a feat even trickier than a 4G inverted dive, delivering a long-belated sequel that surpasses its predecessor in wildly entertaining style.

 

Synposis: 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.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm

Directed By: Joseph Kosinski

 

 

 

 

 

3. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015)

Tomatometer score:  94%

 

Critics Consensus: Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation continues the franchise's thrilling resurgence -- and proves that Tom Cruise remains an action star without equal.

 

Synopsis: With the IMF now disbanded and Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) out in the cold, a new threat -- called the Syndicate -- soon emerges. The Syndicate is a network of highly skilled operatives who are dedicated to establishing a new world order via an escalating series of terrorist attacks. Faced with what may be the most impossible mission yet, Ethan gathers his team and joins forces with Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a disavowed British agent who may or may not be a member of this deadly rogue nation.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson 

Directed By: Christopher McQuarrie

 

 

 

 

4. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Tomatometer score: 93%

 

Critics Consensus: Stylish, fast-paced, and loaded with gripping set pieces, the fourth Mission: Impossible is big-budget popcorn entertainment that really works.

 

Synopsis: Blamed for a terrorist attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the entire IMF agency are disavowed by the U.S. government, while the president initiates the Ghost Protocol. Forced to go "off the grid" -- left without resources or backup -- Hunt must somehow clear the agency's name and prevent another attack. Complicating matters even more, Ethan must undertake the impossible mission with a group of fellow IMF fugitives whose actual motives are suspect.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton 

Directed By: Brad Bird

 

 

 

5. Risky Business (1983)

Tomatometer score: 92%

 

Critics Consensus: Featuring one of Tom Cruise's best early performances, Risky Business is a sharp, funny examination of teen angst that doesn't stop short of exploring dark themes.

 

Synopsis: Ecstatic when his parents leave on vacation for a few days, high school senior Joel Goodsen (Tom Cruise) cuts loose with his best friend Miles. After an attempt at securing the services of a prostitute goes slightly awry, Joel hires gorgeous Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) for a night of delight. Stunned by the amount of Lana's "bill" the next morning, Joel grows frantic after he crashes his father's Porsche. In an effort to raise lots of money fast, a desperate Joel turns the house into a brothel.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Bronson Pinchot, Joe Pantoliano

Directed By: Paul Brickman

 

 

 

 

6. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Tomatometer score: 91%

 

Critics Consensus: Gripping, well-acted, funny, and clever, Edge of Tomorrow offers entertaining proof that Tom Cruise is still more than capable of shouldering the weight of a blockbuster action thriller.

 

Synopsis: When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise), an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission. Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop, in which he relives the same brutal fight -- and his death -- over and over again. However, Cage's fighting skills improve with each encore, bringing him and a comrade (Emily Blunt) ever closer to defeating the aliens.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton

Directed By: Doug Liman

 

 

 

7. Minority Report (2002)

Tomatometer score: 90%

 

Critics Consensus: Thought-provoking and visceral, Steven Spielberg successfully combines high concept ideas and high octane action in this fast and febrile sci-fi thriller.

 

Synopsis: Based on a story by famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, "Minority Report" is an action-detective thriller set in Washington D.C. in 2054, where police utilize a psychic technology to arrest and convict murderers before they commit their crime. Tom Cruise plays the head of this Precrime unit and is himself accused of the future murder of a man he hasn't even met.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

 

 

8. Rain Man (1988)

Tomatometer score: 89%

 

Critics Consensus: This road-trip movie about an autistic savant and his callow brother is far from seamless, but Barry Levinson's direction is impressive, and strong performances from Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman add to its appeal.

 

Synopsis: When car dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has an autistic older brother named Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

 

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen

Directed By: Barry Levinson

 

 

 

9. The Color of Money (1986)

Tomatometer score: 88%

 

Critics Consensus: That it's inferior to the original goes without saying, but Paul Newman and Tom Cruise are a joy to watch, and Martin Scorsese's direction is typically superb.

 

Synopsis: Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson (Paul Newman) decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise) and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.

 

Starring: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

 

 

 

10. Collateral (2004)

Tomatometer rating: 86%

 

Critics Consensus: Driven by director Michael Mann's trademark visuals and a lean, villainous performance from Tom Cruise, Collateral is a stylish and compelling noir thriller.

 

Synopsis: A cab driver realizes his current fare is a hit man that has been having him drive around from mark to mark until the last witness to a crime is dead. When the cabbie finally figures out the truth, he must prevent the assassin from wiping out his last witness without becoming the next in the professional killer's line of casualties.

 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo

Directed By: Michael Mann