R.I.P. Val Kilmer

Mr. Blue Sky said
Cruise is an excellent actor.. nay, he WAS an excellent actor .. the problem with Cruise is that for the last 20 or 25 years, he’s basically made nothing but action films where he is a glorified stuntman, with few exceptions.. but if anyone takes even one minute to scratch under the surface of the 80s and 90s flicks where Cruise was perceived to only play the “cocky young guy”- you would see that his performances were often quite subtle and nuanced, as in Rain Man where he goes from acting like a literal spoiled child , to being a caring, loving older brother to the autistic Raymond, in a little over two hours…. Or in Jerry Maguire, where he goes from being on top of the world, to hitting bottom and having to claw his way back up… we need more of that Cruise, and less of the hanging off the Burj Tower, moterocycle jumping over the whatever Cruise .

And also, yes Born on the Fourth, while a flawed movie- is his best performance .

IMO, Taps was Cruise's best performance.

Outside of that and Born on the 4th of July, he mostly just seems to be playing Tom Cruise as . . . Ethan Hunt, Pete Mitchell, Cole Trickle, Jerry McGuire, Cage, etc. He's in some really fun movies like Edge of Tomorrow, and the MI stuff but not really a great actor IMO because it seems that the vast majority of the roles he plays are made to fit his personality instead of him adjusting his personality to fit the role. That was even true in his early stuff like Risky Business, All the Right Moves, etc. He doesn't become the characters he plays, the characters become him.