By: Tianhao Chen

Another one of Tom Cruise’s movies, “Top Gun: Maverick,” became a hit 35 years after the release of the first film of the franchise. As America’s biggest movie star, what exactly was key to Cruise’s success in the movie industry?

Tom Cruise began his career in the 1980s and 90s, where he acted with a modest charm and portrayed characters relatable to the American public. Later on, he would perform more sophisticated performances with help from auteurs such as Stanley Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson.

In the 21st century, he shifted his focus from romance and drama genres to primarily action-adventure movies. His acting in blockbuster movies features a combination of charisma and athleticism whilst keeping his elegance and subtlety from earlier in his career.

Some elements from the past 10 years that have contributed to his success were his dedication, ambition, and quality control for all his movies, something rarely found in modern blockbuster movies. Every movie he was in he treated with the utmost of importance.

Cruise prefers to keep everything realistic, from minimizing effects generated by a computer, to making himself and co-stars go through training to prepare for stunts. Cruise got credit for the success of the “Mission: Impossible” series due to his willingness to climb buildings, hold his breath for extended periods of time, or jump out of an airplane.

His dedication was not only in his acting. He also dedicated himself to preserving the traditional movie experiences, as he refused to make movies for companies such as Netflix, saying, “I make movies for the big screen.” For cinema enthusiasts, they were grateful for his efforts.

With the current system of intellectual property, we would often go watch movies to see ‘Thor’ and ‘Iron Man,’ not the actors. With Cruise, it’s quite the opposite – we watched Tom Cruise movies to see Tom Cruise, not the characters in the movie.

Outside of movies, Tom Cruise was very secretive. He doesn’t reveal any details of his private life, and when he tries to act like a normal person, it usually turned into a very awkward interaction. When ‘Moviebill’ magazine asked Cruise about his moviegoing experiences, he said, “I love movies.”

Nonetheless, his dedication to acting was what helped propel him to where he is today as he continues to give us the experience of traditional cinema.

Link to Article:https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/04/movies/tom-cruise-top-gun-maverick.html