With Mission: Impossible-Fallout at the top of the box office charts and receiving glowing reviews (even with that bizarre punctuation!), a visit to The Late Late Show with James Corden that went viral, and a Top Gun sequel about to start filming, you could safely say that Tom Cruise is having a moment. A moment in a long career full of moments–glancing at a list of his movie roles, it’s absolutely staggering to realize how many iconic parts he’s played and how many huge movies he’s starred in. The couch-jumping and his feud with Matt Lauer may have briefly dented his movie star aura, but his filmography is definitely worth a closer look.
If you’d prefer to read your Cruise instead of watching, try one of these books that were adapted into movies:
- The Jack Reacher series, by Lee Child–so, Cruise’s casting in these movies is not exactly bringing text to life: Reacher is described repeatedly as a 6’5, 250 pound blonde, and Tom Cruise is…none of those things. But the vibe of the two Reacher movies captures the adventure and thrills of the books.
- The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells–the Steven Spielberg adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic is the highest-grossing film of Cruise’s career. If you haven’t read this essential part of the science fiction canon yet, you should.
- The Firm, by John Grisham–an upstart lawyer takes a job that seems too good to be true, and slowly starts to realize how sinister his new law firm is.
- Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice—Rice was infamously appalled by Cruises’s casting as Lestat, in her supernatural epic, but after watching the film, said he was Lestat for her.
- Minority Report, by Philip K. Dick–Philip K. Dick’s short story is a science fiction tale about free will–or the lack thereof. Steven Spielberg adapted it into an absolutely thrilling film.
- The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton–if you haven’t read one of the all-time young adult classics yet, you should. Cruise has a small role in Francis Ford Coppola’s film adaptation as Steve, Sodapop’s best friend.
If you’d like to have a Tom Cruise movie marathon, but don’t know where to start (he has been in a lot of movies), try these five, which are my personal favorites: