Tom Cruise: Talented "The Last Samurai" and "Minority Report" Star Discussed

Tom Cruise has played everything from an officer, pilot, agent, killer, lawyer, and even a vampire. His roles are as diverse as they come, but Cruise has yet to achieve the award notoriety that has been found by actors like Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks. Along with Ford and Hanks, Cruise is one of the more popular and wealthy actors in Hollywood. He is controversial because of his involvement in scientology, but his film roles are something to be admired. This article will be a summation on his major film roles, and what he brings to each character.

The list of roles is to great to be noted in short, but, as noted, Tom Cruise seems to be able to tackle any role that he gets. He can be the tragic hero, the money making protagonist, or just a man trying to solve a mystery. A recent role showed the tragic hero: In "The Last Samurai" Cruise played an alcoholic soldier given an assignment to train an army for the Japanese emperor. Cruise seemed to take on the role with a vigor that parallels his other film roles. In "Jerry Maguire" Cruise played an agent who was fired from his job and was fighting to stay afloat. In "Minority Report" Cruise developed an addicted officer trying to survive in a future world. In the "Mission Impossible" films he plays a coy protagonist on the edge of the spy world.

Of all the roles Cruise has taken on it would be hard to single out any one as his best. He seems able to play both the bad guy and the good guy, but the loner protagonist with a dark past appears to be what he's best at. It can be seen in "The Last Samurai" and "Minority Report." Cruise brings his dynamic acting to each character. And often he is trying to right a wrong. In the "War of the Worlds" Cruise plays a down-and-out father trying to save his family as the world around him is being destroyed. In "The Firm" and "A Few Good Men" Cruise is trying to find justice.

It would be hard to choose the best film Tom Cruise has been in. He does not shy away from action films, as can be seen in "Minority Report" and "War of the Worlds," but neither does he avoid the tragic protagonist seen in "The Last Samurai" and even "Born on the Fourth of July." Instead of choosing which roles to praise the most perhaps respecting the body of work is more important.

Tom Cruise may not be the most talented actor in Hollywood, and is often controversial because of his religious beliefs, but he has acted in some of the better film roles in the past twenty years. This is proved by his successes in blockbuster film roles. His name should be mentioned along with Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks in terms of drawing people to the theaters. His major film roles show a talent that should be recognized because of what he brings to each character.