From jumping on Oprah’s couch to spouting strange philosophies, Tom Cruise has drawn more than a few detractors over the past few decades. But despite these quirks, there is no denying the impact he has had – and continues to have – on cinema.
Today Tom Cruise turns 53, and M-Net Movies wants to wish him a heartfelt Happy Birthday! To celebrate, we’re taking a look at just why you should love Tom Cruise as much as we do.
1. He does his own stunts
It’s no secret that Cruise does his own stunts. From the Mission: Impossible series to The Last Samurai, that’s all him up there. To make it even more impressive, the stunts he has to perform are no mean feat.
For Mission: Impossible, an aquarium containing sixteen tons of water exploded around him; while the third movie had him crashing into the side of a car. For the fourth instalment, Ghost Protocol, he scaled the exterior of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
2. He’s a great actor
Renowned as an action star, thanks in large part to Mission: Impossible, Cruise has nevertheless impressed in darker and more dramatic roles as well. His turns in P.T. Anderson’s Magnolia and Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July got him Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor, respectively. For playing Dustin Hoffman’s brother in Rain Man, he received plenty of praise; and who can forget him as bloodsucker Lestat in Neil Jordan’s Interview with the Vampire?
3. The ‘80s
Every movie Cruise made in the ‘80s oozes with awesome, by virtue of the fact that it was made in this era. We love the cool, carefree breeziness of movies from this period, and Tom’s work contributed greatly to it with works such as Top Gun, Cocktail, Risky Business, All the Right Moves and Legend.
4. He has a sense of humour
If you’ve watched Austin Powers in Goldmember and Tropic Thunder, then you can’t deny that Cruise can take a joke. In the former, the titular spy has a movie made about his life and tasked to play him is none other than Tom Cruise. In Tropic Thunder, Cruise hid his clean-cut good looks with a fat suit and bald cap to play a fat, balding, hairy-chested and incredibly unpleasant Hollywood executive.
5. The movies he makes
Admittedly he’s made a few duds, but more often than not the movies he makes are interesting, if not entertaining. He’s covered virtually every genre and covered them well. Besides the movies that have cemented his status as an action star he’s dabbled in thrillers (Collateral), drama (A Few Good Men), science fiction (Minority Report, Edge of Tomorrow) and musicals (Rock of Ages), leaving us in no doubt that Tom Cruise knows how to pull all the right moves.