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The More Tom Cruise Runs, The Better His Movies Are: We Did the Math

We dove deep into the tomatometer (and box office) data and discovered that tom cruise films with more running tend to earn more accolades..

TAGGED AS: Action , blockbusters , movies , Summer

Tom Cruise has sprinted a little over 29,961 feet on screen throughout his 37 years in the movies, and with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One currently in theaters, the numbers on his cinematic pedometer have gone up. His tendency to run — a lot ­— in his 44 films has become a thing of legend; online, you’ll find 19-minute video supercuts of his sprints and style breakdowns that note his stellar form: eyes forward, elbows sharp, feet a blur. But does all that running make for better movies? That’s what we’ve investigated here, comparing the amount of running Tom does in movies to the amount of money Tom’s movies make and the amount of Freshness they score on the Tomatometer.

The methodology was simple, if time-consuming. We counted every instance of Cruise’s running on screen, in seconds, and then calculated the distances run by assuming he is clocking a six-minute mile (14.6 feet per second). The result is a list of estimated distances for each film that we believe is the most solid you’ll find in the online canon of Tom Cruise Running Materials. We then split his movies into four different distance categories, ranging from Zero Feet all the way to 1,000-Plus Feet, to spot the trends.

The biggest trend? Movies featuring Cruise running more than 1,000 feet have a higher Tomatometer average (a huge 76%) than the movies in which he runs less than that, or not at all — and the same movies make more money at the box office, with an average inflated international gross of $472 million. We also found that the age-defying star has been increasing his movie running as he gets older: he covered almost the same amount of ground in 2006’s Mission: Impossible III (3,212 feet) as he did in the entirety of the 1980s (12 movies, 3,299 feet run), and five of his top 10 running films were released after 2010 – the year he turned 48.

You can find Cruise’s 10 biggest movies, according to how many feet he ran in them, at the bottom of this piece, but for now let’s dig into the data, one sweaty category at a time.

[Updated 7/20/2023]

When Tom Doesn’t Run At All (0 feet)

• International Box Office Average: $113 million
• Tomatometer Average: 59.2%

Magnolia (1999) | Lions for Lambs (2007) | Tropic Thunder (2008) | Valkyrie (2008) |  Rock of Ages (2012)

When Tom stands still (or just dances and/or paces across a stage), he can give very good supporting performances: think Tropic Thunder and Magnolia . He doesn’t cover much ground in these movies, but he does run away with off-brand appearances as chauvinistic alpha-males who built empires by essentially becoming evil versions of Tom Cruise. Ever wondered if Maverick could deliver expletive-filled monologues or dance convincingly to a Ludacris song? Look no further than these two tragically sprint-free R-rated treasures.

It’s no surprise that this category has the lowest box-office numbers — zero running suggests little action, the lifeblood of most box office-destroying blockbusters. Also, there is a high-risk, high-reward element for Cruise when he messes with his onscreen persona and plays against his action archetype. The rewards are Oscar and Golden Globe noms, but the risks are smaller financial returns — Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie  (in which he resists the urge to run, even as bombs go off) were Cruise’s lowest domestic grossers of the 2000s.

When Tom Takes a Short Sprint (1-500 feet)

• International Box Office Average: $164 million
• Tomatometer Average: 61.4%

Endless Love (1981) | Taps (1981) | Losin’ It (1983) | The Outsiders (1983) | Risky Business (1983) | Legend (1985) | Top Gun (1986) | The Color on Money (1986) | Rain Man (1988) | Cocktail (1988) | Days of Thunder (1990) | A Few Good Men (1992) | Far and Away (1992) | Interview With the Vampire (1994) | Jerry Maguire (1996) | Eyes Wide Shut (1999) | The Last Samurai (2003) |   Jack Reacher (2012) | American Made (2017)

Almost half of the 44 Cruise movies we analyzed fall into this category of “Some Running, But Not a Ton,” and it’s worth nothing that 80% of these movies were released in the 1980s and 1990s. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s that Cruise really hit his stride, not coincidentally at around the time the Mission: Impossible  series kicked off. Pre-1996, it was mostly light jogging and moments of panicked sprinting in movies like Endless Love (43 feet) and Losin’ It (102 feet) . Nobody panic-sprints like Running Tom Cruise.

It was in 1996 that we got one of our most iconic non–action movie Tom Cruise Running scenes, as he dashes through the empty airport in Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire . Most sport agents you probably know — because you know so many, right? — would huff and puff during a late-night airport dash like that, but Jerry looks effortless as he strides like a gazelle through the terminal. Tom, you had us at ready, set, hello.

This set of films cumulatively has the lowest Tomatometer average, showing that while we like Tom Cruise running, it cannot be a jaunt. The critics demand commitment.

When Tom Goes Middle-Distance (501-1,000 feet)

• Inflated International Box Office Average: $413 million
• Tomatometer Average: 66.7%

All the Right Moves (1983) | Born on the Fourth of July (1989) | Mission: Impossible (1996) | Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) | Vanilla Sky (2001) | Collateral (2004) | Knight and Day (2010) | Oblivion (2013) |  Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Another great moment of 1996 Tom Cruise Running came with the franchise-spawning smash Mission: Impossible. The Brian De Palma-helmed thriller really set the pace for Cruise’s days of thunderous running. Remember the moment when Ethan Hunt uses explosive gum to blow a hole in a restaurant fish tank to escape his would-be captors — on foot ? We do, along with every other one of the 730 feet he ran in the film.

Five years later, another important milestone in Cruise’s running career came with Vanilla Sky. The film marked his second collaboration with Cameron Crowe, and they celebrated their sophomore adventure with a longer and more complicated bit of running than we’d seen in their first effort: the Vanilla Sky production team shut down Times Square to create an eerily empty track meet for Cruise (the movie features a total of 832 feet of running). The film wasn’t as financially successful as Jerry Maguire (it made $203.3 million internationally), but we almost have to give Crowe bonus points for realizing the potential of giving Running Tom Cruise longer, bouncier locks.

Overall, a few bombs – Knight and Day , Oblivion – drive down this category’s Tomatometer, which includes some of Cruise’s most iconic, and acclaimed performances ( M:I , All the Right Moves , Collateral ).

When Tom Goes Full Tom (1,001-plus feet)

• International Box Office Average: $472 million
• Tomatometer Average: 76%

The Firm (1993) | Minority Report (2002) | War of the Worlds (2005) | Mission: Impossible III (2006) | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) | Edge of Tomorrow (2014) | Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) | Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) | The Mummy (2017) | Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) | Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023)

The older Tom gets, the farther he runs, and the better his movies seem to be. Nine of the 10 movies in this longest-distance grouping were released after 2002, and six of them were released after 2010 ( The Firm  is the only pre-2002 outlier). It was 2002’s Steven Spielberg-directed Minority Report that ushered in the 1,000-plus feet era (1,562 feet run), and trainer/director Spielberg upped the punishing routine in the 2005 blockbuster War of the Worlds (1,752 feet). Watching Cruise evade aliens while thousands of slower non-Tom Cruises were turned into dust was impressive, but not surprising: Cruise’s indefatigable onscreen cardio had built up over five decades, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

After War of the Worlds, Cruise reached a personal best in Mission: Impossible 3, which saw him running 3,212 feet, most of which were covered in some insane displays of athleticism (and Herculean camera work) through Shanghai. His movies since — like Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2,628 feet), Edge of Tomorrow (1,022 feet), and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (1,518 feet) — have crossed the 1,000-foot mark, but they haven’t managed the wild lengths of his 2000s movies. Only Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol could match those films’ step counts and box office success with 3,000-plus feet of running and a $695 million international gross.

The biggest snags in the More Running = Better Movies formula are Jack Reacher: Never Look Back and The Mummy. Both films featured abundant running (1,051 feet and 1,022 feet respectively), but both had unspectacular box office returns ($159 million and $410 million internationally) and critical receptions (Tomatometer scores of 38% and 15%).

In other words, more running = more money and more Freshness, but only most of the time.

Top Tom Cruise Movies (According to his pedometer)

• Mission: Impossible III  – 3,212 feet
• Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol –  3,066 feet
• Mission: Impossible – Fallout   – 2,628 feet
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One   – 2,131 feet
• War of the Worlds –  1,752 feet
• Minority Report –  1,562 feet
• Mission Impossible –   Rogue Nation – 1,518 feet
• The Firm –  1,241 feet
• Edge of Tomorrow –  1,065 feet
• Jack Reacher:   Never Go Back –  1,051 feet

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One is currently in theaters.

On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.

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A Definitive Ranking Of Tom Cruise’s Running In Every Film In Which He Runs

Tom Cruise stars in Edge of Tomorrow opening… uh… tomorrow, and if he’s proved one thing throughout his career as an action star, it’s that he’s really good at running. In fact, when Cruise updated his Twitter bio recently, he changed it to read “Actor. Producer. Running in movies since 1981.” Showing a shocking level of self-awareness for a Scientologist, frankly.

In honor of Tom Cruise’s new movie, and his refreshing act of self-discovery, we’ve decided to rank all of his movies in which he runs (19 of them, in all), in order of the best depictions of Tom Cruise’s running. Running is what we pay to see in a Tom Cruise film. Though, as you’ll see, not all runs are created equal.

1. Collateral

I don’t know if it’s the suit, Cruise’s angular grey flat top, or the fact that it’s probably his best acting performance, but for me, Collateral has always been the gold standard of Tom Cruise running performances. He spends half this movie running, looking like a scary grey-haired robot the whole time. The fact that he’s always gritting his teeth and holding a pistol while he does it add to the degree of difficulty. You want to run fast, you gotta have a relaxed jaw, ask any sprinter. But Tom Cruise knows the rules so well that he can break them.

2. The Firm

Okay, I can’t deny it: I clearly have a special affinity for running a suit. Cruise’s running in The Firm doesn’t have the same maniacal charm as it does in Collateral , but you can tell he’s putting everything into it. A lot of actors they just jog when asked to run on camera, but Cruise legs it out like a champ. He looks like he’s going to pull a hammy. Anyway, I appreciate that his floppy hair bounces along with him in The Firm , and the fact that he’s running in suspenders. Let’s see you try that, Usain Bolt. In suspenders, in an overcoat, with a briefcase – if you like Tom Cruise running, The Firm really has everything.

3. Vanilla Sky

Probably my second or third favorite Tom Cruise movie overall, but in terms of running, it may not have the pure speed of The Firm or Collateral, but that shot of his hair swept back and his runs through Manhattan looking horrified is one of the all time iconic shots of Tom Cruise running.

4. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Tom Cruise runs a lot in Ghost Protocol, but rarely at full speed. Nonetheless, what it lacks in quality, it makes up for in quantity (he runs a LOT) and variety (he runs down a building, across a building through a prison, while dressed as a Russian officer, in a suit, and up and down countless stairs and escalators). If you can’t decide which type of Tom Cruise running you like best, this one offers a nice cross section.

5. Mission Impossible

Tom Cruise runs full speed, in a tux! Still, I could’ve done with more close ups. Tom Cruise running isn’t quite the same when you can’t see his pained facial expression. Come on, De Palma! Show the instrument!

6. Mission Impossible II

Tom Cruise had the perfect hair for running in this, and even did a run-to-commando roll AND a run-to flying drop kick, which get bonus points. But John Woo’s slow-motion really took away from Cruise’s pure speed.

7. The Last Samurai

Tom Cruise barely runs in this, so you might wonder why it’s ranked so highly. It’s because there’s one scene where he runs, teeth gritted in true Tom Cruise-running style, while holding a samurai sword in each hand. Mama mia, that’s some good running!

8. Knight and Day

There’s a lot of good Tom Cruise running in this, but it can be hard to enjoy on account of all of Cameron Diaz’s manic yammering. Show some respect, lady, Tom Cruise is running.

9. Minority Report

All things considered, I think Minority Report is my favorite Tom Cruise movie, and probably my favorite Steven Spielberg movie. But in terms of running, Cruise only really gets up to full speed a couple times, and he’s always tripping or getting hit with stuff. Credit to his acting ability, because we all know the man is sure-footed like a mountain goat in real life, but still disappointing. It’s like watching a Ferrari drive through stop-and-go traffic.

10. Oblivion

Tom Cruise does a lot of running in this, but rarely at full speed. I blame the varied terrain. I hate to say it, but as good as Tom Cruise is at running, he’s a power runner. It’s not about finesse. Tom Cruise is the Roger Clemens of movie running, and Oblivion tries to turn him into Greg Maddux.

11. Mission Impossible III

Another film in which Tom Cruise does a lot of running, but rarely gets up to full speed. It’s really disappointing. I mean talk about blue balls.

12. Born On The Fourth Of July

They had to show a lot of running in this movie, just to contrast it with the later parts of the film where Tom Cruise’s legs don’t work (spoiler alert). Tom Cruise not being able to run?! What a nightmare!

13. Jerry Maguire

Tough movie to rank here. While it epitomized the guy-running-through-the-airport as rom-com denouement, Cruise barely got up to full speed.

14. Days of Thunder

Not necessarily notable for how much running there was (not much), but there is one incredible scene of Cruise racing Robert Duval that ends in an 80s sitcom-style freeze frame. Amazing.

15. Far and Away

Not a great exhibition of Tom Cruise’s running acumen, all things considered, but he did prove that he could run while wearing a silly costume and yelling in an accent. That’s range!

16. War of the Worlds

The problem with Tom Cruise’s running in War of the Worlds sort of reflects the problems of the movie as a whole. His character never quite knew where the threat was coming from, so his running was tentative, and he never really ran far enough to build up a good head of steam. We don’t pay to see Tom Cruise run around in circles like he’s trying to hail a cab, we want to see those little legs really start chuggin.

17. Cocktail

Tom Cruise jogs a lot in Cocktail, but I’m not sure you could even classify any of it as “running.” It was early in his career, before directors really understood how to properly utilize his skills.

18. Rain Man

Tom Cruise barely runs in Rain Man . If only he’d been cast in Running Man .

19. Jack Reacher

There’s barely enough running in Jack Reacher to even warrant a mention, but he was running from Werner Herzog, which is pretty cool.

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The 10-minute supercut of Tom Cruise running in Mission: Impossible movies is joy

Nearly 30 years of gunning it, all in one video

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Share All sharing options for: The 10-minute supercut of Tom Cruise running in Mission: Impossible movies is joy

Since the original Mission: Impossible hit theaters 27 years ago, Tom Cruise and a rotating squad of directors have continually redefined what the spy thriller saga is all about. Brian de Palma kicked things off in 1996 with a high-tension conspiracy throwback, then John Woo swung the franchise into slow-motion frenzy four years later. A decade later, Cruise found himself dangling off the Burj Khalifa — and he was prepared to one-up himself with each subsequent sequel. Going into Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 , the star made very clear that his penchant for death-defying practical stunts was not slowing down. Later this month, he’ll be motorcycling off a cliffside for our enjoyment.

But if you look back at the Mission: Impossible films, there’s a clear connection between them, a commonality that gives each movie core: running like all hell.

Ethan Hunt’s personal mythology has become more knotted over the years, and the things that go boom have gone boomier thanks to 30 years of advances in moviemaking technology, but the real thing Cruise brings to every picture is his two high-speed feet. The man loves to run — and run and run and run. Then he takes a break. Then he keeps running! Fans of the series have picked up on the actor’s devout belief in racing to a MacGuffin finish line on camera. Eating is to Brad Pitt as sprinting like there’s no tomorrow is to Tom Cruise. At this point, Cruise knows his reputation; his Instagram biography reads “Actor. Producer. Running in movies since 1981.”

The running in Mission: Impossible movies can go overlooked when squeezed under the tentpole sequences of each movie, but they are there, and when watched in succession in this mesmerizing supercut stitched together by Paramount Pictures’ crack team of archivists/editors, it becomes evident why the franchise has... legs. (Ahem.) No director shoots Tom Cruise running in exactly the same way, and the contextual circumstances of why Ethan Hunt has to run in a given moment demand a certain amount of nuance from a performer who is also going harder than any of us ever have at the gym. Set to the tune of Lalo Schifrin’s original M:I theme, the edit, debuting here on Polygon, is bliss for fans of this stuff.

See Tom Cruise run. Run, Tom. Run. Run run run!

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 hits theaters on July 12.

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Every Tom Cruise Running Scene, Mapped

Released on 03/20/2019

Well, you could always start running.

[upbeat electronic music]

[upbeat jazz music]

[sirens blaring]

[exhilarating music]

[electronic chime]

[somber music]

[upbeat tempo]

[soldier yelling]

[upbeat music]

[computer chimes]

[crowd cheering]

[football players cheering]

[Stephen] No!

Nickerson, you are not God!

[slow music]

[energetic music]

[building crashing]

[screaming]

[tires squealing]

[dramatic music]

[shouting and screams]

[dramatic chime]

[mumbling over radio]

Bollocks! [screaming]

[glass shattering]

Stay down, stay down!

Get down, get down!

[suspenseful music]

[Woman] Oh my god!

[exploding bang]

[electronic chiming]

Come on, Joel!

You gotta take advantage of this!

They come right to your house!

Countess Angelique seeks young submissive with large ankles!

Joel, how can you miss it?

[intense music]

[techno music]

May I see your pass, please?

Don't say anything, don't say anything,

don't tell me you anymore!

[upbeat piano music]

No talk about racing.

Come on, come on.

All right, no talk about racing.

Come on, Buck.

Race your ass.

[intense rock music]

They made us.

Restaurant.

[Hostess] Hello.

[suspenseful techno music]

[all yelling]

[rock music]

You stupid freak!

Hey you, hey dip shit, move it!

You ain't gonna move, I'll move ya.

You're gonna get

run over out here. Whoa, whoa, hey!

Move it, move it!

Hey, hey, no it's all right,

it's all right, it's all right sir,

I'm sorry.

Raymond, come on.

[rain lashing]

[gentle tempo]

[intense tempo]

[Announcer] He's not getting up.

And boy, look at the faces of these Cardinal fans.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

[electrical chime]

[alarm ringing]

Ray, Ray, Ray,

Ray, Ray, Ray!

[horn blaring]

Don't!

Sally, where's Julia?

Where's Julia?

I think she left.

[siren blaring]

Get Winston!

Inside, inside!

She was drinking champagne in the sun.

[exploding]

My sister and it was just [mumbles], you know?

He stole them from me!

Joseph, that dead man, he stole my spoons!

They're taking everything!

Who's this man, the ward boss?

[Boy] Let's have another boxin' match then.

We need another challenger.

This man has not been defeated tonight.

Will anyone box him?

Yah! [bang]

No, no, no!

Suspenseful music)

Open the door when I tell you!

[Mission Impossible theme music]

Luther, stay with her!

She's gone, I lost her.

[screeching]

You can't go in there!

I am terribly sorry.

[guns firing]

[dramatic tempo]

47. I don't see it!

[Robotic Voiceover] Enter your code.

Retinal scan required.

[opera music]

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

[bell chime]

I'm going in.

I'll be out in five minutes.

[Man On Phone] What the hell are you doing in Shanghai?

I'll tall ya when I see ya.

[Man on Phone] You need to go North

and there's a bridge.

Go three quarters of a mile along the river.

It's okay, it's okay!

[gun firing]

[engine revving]

[screaming in agony]

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The More Tom Cruise Runs, The Better His Movies Do, According To Science

Did you know that if Tom Cruise stops running, he dies? Well not exactly, but if he runs less, his movies do worse at the box office. Really. It's science.

A study from the folks at Rotten Tomatoes have figured out that the amount that Cruise runs in his movies correlate with how good the movies are — and how well they do at the box office.

It began as an internet meme pointing out, Tom Cruise sure does run in movies a lot , doesn't he? But then the actor went on to put it in his Twitter bio ("running in movies since 1981," it proclaims) and videos compiling all of the scenes of Tom Cruise running hit the web.

Now, following the release of Cruise's latest and most running-est movie yet,  Mission Impossible: Fallout , Rotten Tomatoes has released a totally legitimate study proving that the more Cruise runs, the better his movies do. And by their painstaking methodology, you'd have to believe it was true.

In the report, which you can find here , Rotten Tomatoes compiled "every instance of Cruise's running on screen, in seconds, and then calculated the distances ran by assuming he is clocking a six-minute mile (14.6 feet per second)." And what did they find? Well, movies featuring Cruise running more than 1,000 feet tended to have a higher Tomatometer average (71%) than the movies in which he runs less than that. And these statistics translate to box office revenue too — on average, these same movies had an average inflated international gross of $538 million.

This is compared to movies in which he doesn't run at all (which only consist of the four films  Magnolia, Lions for Lambs, Tropic Thunder , and  Valkyrie)  at an average of 63.5%, movies in which he runs 1 to 500 feet at 61.05%, and movies in which he runs 501 and 1,000 feet, which average out to 61.625%.

Hilariously, the 56-year-old star seems to be running more the older he gets — though  Fallout hasn't yet been factored into these results. Here are the 10 movies in which Cruise runs the most, according to Rotten Tomatoes:

• "Mission: Impossible III" — 3,212 feet
• "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" — 3,066 feet
• "War of the Worlds" — 1,752 feet
• "Minority Report" — 1,562 feet
• "The Firm" — 1,241 feet
• "Edge of Tomorrow" — 1,065 feet
• "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" — 1,051 feet
• "The Mummy" — 1,022 feet
• "Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation" — 1,007 feet
• "Vanilla Sky" — 832 feet

While there are a few outliers, this study seems to be pretty on the nose about what the audiences want: to see Tom Cruise run. His top three grossing movies with the most running and box office success include Mission: Impossible III (3,212 feet, $134 million), Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (3,066 feet, $209 million) and War of the Worlds (1,752 feet, $234 million).

Now, without further ado, let's re-watch Tom Cruise run in all his movies.

Every Tom Cruise Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best

He's more than a guy who looks good in Ray-Bans and runs a lot.

A movie so bad, it was the first and last entry in Universal’s planned monster movie cinematic universe.

Rock of Ages

Amazon Hulu

In this extremely unfortunate musical about ‘80s hair metal, Tom Cruise plays a karaoke version of a rock and roll god named Stacee Jaxx.

Amazon Tubi

Released the same year as Risky Business , Tom Cruise plays the hunk in this high school sex comedy that time forgot. Get it? They’re "losin’ it"—as in their virginity.

Endless Love

Amazon HBO Max

In his first on-screen appearance, Tom Cruise is some random shirtless kid in Daisy Dukes bragging about being a pyromaniac.

Lions for Lambs

Amazon iTunes

Nearly a decade before Trump coined the term “Fake News,” Tom Cruise plays a morally corrupt senator making a presidential bid by planting a story through a journalist played by Meryl Streep. In the end, this pretentious and convoluted plot says very little about its moving parts.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Though the tagline warns to never go back, Cruise unfortunately did go back to play the titular Jack Reacher, in a sequel that plays out like dumb, less tech-savvy Mission: Impossible.

YouTube iTunes

Tom Cruise and Mia Sara try to protect the last of the unicorns from Tim Curry, who is some sort of awesome devil muppet. It’s also the only straight-up fantasy movie Cruise has ever done—and it’s pretty obvious why.

Far and Away

Seven years before they co-starred in Eyes Wide Shut (and two years after their wedding), Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman played star-crossed lovers and Irish immigrants trying to make it in America.

In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, Cruise is a drone repairman who’s also into American sports. When he finds a group of survivors (led by Morgan Freeman), he begins to question the nature of his entire reality. As always, Cruise holds down what is otherwise a pretty clunky plot.

YouTube Pluto TV

Tom Cruise plays a German officer with an American accent who leads a group of German soldiers with British accents in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler during WWII. It’s based on an actual military plot that could have entered some intriguing territory, had it not settled for being average historical escapism.

Knight and Day

In this action comedy, Cruise is once again a secret agent who accidentally ropes Cameron Diaz into an international conspiracy. For all his macho spy stuff, Cruise proves in Knight and Day that he can take this hero stuff lightly too.

Mission: Impossible II

Paramount+ Netflix

The worst of Cruise’s six Mission: Impossible movies, this one sees Ethan Hunt trying to stop a deadly weaponized virus that’s going to be released by terrorists. Unfortunately, director John Woo’s style didn’t quite fit with the international espionage of this franchise.

Jack Reacher

In his first of two movies playing the titular former military police-officer-turned-vigilante-drifter, Cruise’s character tries to stop a military sniper on a killing spree. Of course, Cruise also did all his own driving stunts.

The Outsiders

Coming down from the golden phase of his career, Francis Ford Coppola assembled an incredible upcoming cast for The Outsiders that included Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, and Diane Lane.

In his second-ever onscreen role, Cruise plays David Shawn, one of the military cadets who attempt to protect their academy from being torn down for local condo developers. Pretty low stakes as far as military dramas go.

War of the Worlds

In this Steven Spielberg re-imagining of the H.G. Wells novel, Cruise plays a father attempting to keep his children safe throughout an alien invasion. Though it has all the highlights of a Spielbergian sci-fi, it wasn’t quite enough to cause riots like Orson Welles’s infamous radio broadcast.

The Last Samurai

Amazon Netflix

A white savior complex brings down what is otherwise a well-acted period period piece about an American Civil War veteran sent to train a 19th century Japanese army.

Mission: Impossible III

Before he was put in charge of both Star Wars and Star Trek , J.J. Abrams’s big Hollywood blockbuster movie directorial debut was at the helm of Mission: Impossible III , which saw a retired Ethan Hunt brought back in the game to stop an excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Vanilla Sky

Cruise stars in this philosophical thriller as a man haunted by the specter of a former flame after becoming disfigured in a car crash. (Fun fact: Penelope Cruz plays the same character in this remake of her Spanish film, Abre los Ojos .)

Days of Thunder

NASCAR moved into the mainstream thanks to this movie in which Cruise plays a promising driver hoping to making it in the big leagues.

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Watch Tom Cruise Run Through All Seven ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movies in New Video

It’s the fastest way to travel if you're a movie star.

Moviegoers are just a week away from the latest Mission: Impossible film, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One . The epic action adventure continues the crazy story of Ethan Hunt played by Tom Cruise . There have been so many iconic action set pieces over the years that have blown audiences away. However, one of the simplest things Cruise has down throughout this ambitious franchise is arguably the most enjoyable to watch. That would be seeing the world’s biggest movie star run. He’s sprinted his way through all six films and, to mark Dead Reckoning Part One ’s explosive release, Paramount has released a hilariously lengthy compilation of every time Cruise has run on his deadly missions.

The ten-minute video covers all six previously released films . This obviously includes the original Mission: Impossible , M: I 2 , M: I 3 , Ghost Protocol , Rogue Nation , and Fallout . While it’s become a meme to point out how many times Ethan Hunt has gone rogue and been forced to literally run , Cruise honestly has one of the best running forms in all of Hollywood. If you have a track background, it’s hard not to admire the actor's commitment to his craft. Again Ethan has been on the run so many times that it’s funny to think how the famous spy would fare at the Olympics or the local IMF track meet. He would at least get a gold medal for effort. Especially since running through injuries, like the one Cruise sustained on Fallout , hasn’t been an issue. Don’t challenge this man to race because you’ll regret it as he’s running laps around you.

What’s Dead Reckoning About?

Dead Reckoning Part One will see Ethan Hunt and his Impossible Mission Force (IMF) team on the chase for a dangerous bioweapon that could threaten humanity’s very existence. However, this isn’t any old race as ghosts from Ethan’s past come back to haunt him. This puts the lives of his self-made family at risk, which has his loyal team questioning his intentions on the mission itself. The choices Ethan makes in Dead Reckoning could have some costly consequences and shakes up the franchise forever if he’s not too careful. Along with a more weighty story, the new film is upping the insane stunts which include Cruise driving a motorcycle off a cliff and a sequence that made the actor take up one of the most dangerous sports in the world, Speedflying . Of course; there will also be lots of running.

RELATED: July's Most Anticipated New Movie Releases, From ‘Barbie’ to ‘Oppenheimer’

When Does Dead Reckoning Release?

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One sprints into theaters on July 12, 2023, before the second part lands on June 28, 2024. Until then, you view Mission: Impossible ’s running compilation down below,

Culture | Film

Breaking down how much Tom Cruise runs in every Mission Impossible film

Anyone who has seen any of the Mission Impossible film franchise knows that Ethan Hunt’s unofficial superpower is to sprint full out until way past the breaking point of many a mortal.

It will be no spoiler to say that Tom Cruise ’s character will again be pounding pavements in the seventh instalment of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , which is released later this month.

To tease the release, film distributors Paramount have released a montage of every scene where Cruise is seen running across the series. And it adds up to almost ten exhausting minutes. It’s enough to make you feel severely out of shape and marvel at the condition of the actor, who celebrated his 61st birthday on Monday.

Dead Reckoning is in cinemas on July 14 and will also see Hayley Atwell and Rebecca Ferguson trying to keep up while series regulars Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are also back to reprise their roles.

Here is how the films compare purely on the amount of time Crusie is seen running. If you want the opinion-based ranking of the merits of each film, see our review here .

Mission Impossible (1996)

Compared with what was to follow, Cruise…errr… hit the ground running with 30 seconds, total, sprinting action. He is seen escaping a tidal wave coming through a restaurant and an enemy above rooftops.

Mission Impossible 2 (2000)

Cruise does not appear out of shape in John Woo’s follow-up but he only gets 24 seconds of running time - and most of it is in slow motion. If you think the filming effect looks dated, it is nothing compared to the long leather jacket and wrap-around sunglasses that Ethan Hunt dons.

Mission Impossible III (2005)

Maybe to make up for the lack of sprinting, under director JJ Abrams, Cruise really hits his running stride here. The clips from this film alone take up three minutes of the compilation’s 9-minute 54 running time, and includes the climactic sprint through Shanghai.

The website Balanced Runner is complimentary of Cruise’s technique here. A 2021 article writes: “The one Tom Cruise running form analysis I could find basically argues that he’s a great runner because he: holds his core so still, keeps his arms tucked in, hands slicing the air instead of flailing, and maintains a high cadence.

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“About the high cadence, there can be no doubt. His turnover is blistering, and that more than anything else is what makes any other actor running in the same frame with him look at least a little bit out of shape.”

The article adds: “Cruise is not just a runner, he’s a skilled all-around athlete who does most of his own movie stunts.”

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

The longest ‘run time’ of the lot, at 3 minutes 14.

The fourth film begins with Cruise running through a prison and then the Kremlin. Maybe fans enjoyed the running of the third film because it comes in huge doses here - with Ethan Hunt running to escape mine explosions and a sandstorm. He even runs down a building.

Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

Just 50 seconds of pure sprinting action here, but Cruise does go for the jugular on attempting his most daring stunt of clinging onto a plane while it takes off. It makes up for it!

Cruise has become known for a dedicated fitness regime that has helped him stay in better shape than people much younger. “Cruise doesn’t just have the body of a man half his age – he moves like one,” Men’s Health wrote in 2021.

He is said to use three days per week for cardio and three for weights but also mixing in other activities here and there.

Anne Elliott, a sports scientist at Middlesex University, said “Regularly switching up cardio and strength work with something like fencing or climbing – like Cruise – maintains flexibility and balance: the first two things that give your age away.”

Mission Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Ethan Hunt’s most recent mission contains his best running scene - I say in my biased opinion as it contains a full-on sprint along London’s South Bank, with the Tate Modern and Millenium Bridge in the backdrop.

Cruise also jumps to skydive out of a plane and leaps from building to building in London towards the climax. In all, he is running here for a respectable 53 seconds.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

The final minute of the video is clips from the new film, although it is hard to know if this is the extent of his running in Dead Reckoning.

What we do know is that Cruise sprints through a cathedral, a library and leaps from a train that is disappearing over the edge of a cliff.

Things That Happen In Every Tom Cruise Movie

Tom Cruise has graced the big screen for decades, dating all the way back to the early 1980s when he first struck gold with the hit comedies "Risky Business" and "All the Right Moves." Following that early success, his career ascended like a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet blasting into the sky at Mach 10 thanks to smash hits such as "Top Gun," "The Color of Money," "Cocktail," "Rain Man," "A Few Good Men," "The Firm," "Jerry Maguire," "Minority Report," and the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. He's worked with some of our finest directors — including Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson (among many others) — and enjoyed extraordinary financial success . Worldwide, the actor's vast catalog of films has amassed a stunning $11.6 billion , making Cruise one of the biggest Hollywood icons of all time.

After so many motion pictures, it's inevitable that audiences would notice certain characteristics that pop up in each of the actor's films. Ever the showman, Cruise has a tendency to cater to his rabid fan base, which is probably why he eschewed weightier fair like "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Magnolia" in favor of popcorn-driven spectacle like "War of the Worlds" and "Top Gun: Maverick" later in his career.

At any rate, no matter the genre, Tom  always  seems to give fans what they want, which makes it easier for us to hammer out a list of things — in no particular order — that tend to happen in every one of his movies. Read on to discover what you can expect to find in a Tom Cruise movie.

Right out of the gate, we have to talk about Tom's tendency to run, because this particular trademark has reached levels of absurdity at this point. Dating all the way back to 1981's "TAPS," Tom has found a way to show off his incredible knack for sprinting in all but a handful of films. "The Firm" saw him outrunning good ole Wilford Brimley, "Far and Away" used the device as a means to flash forward into the future, and even Cameron Crowe figured out a way to slip a sequence of Tom's running technique into the tail end of the 1996 romantic comedy/drama "Jerry Maguire." 

Those were mere warmups. Nowadays, when Tom runs — he  runs.  One need only pop in any of the "Mission: Impossible" features to catch a glimpse of his fancy footwork. In fact, J.J. Abrams devotes nearly an entire minute of the climax of "Mission: Impossible 3" to Tom literally sprinting through Xitang, China in pursuit of the film's key villain. The latest trailer for " Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One " teases viewers with a brief shot of the man, the myth, the legend running through a mysterious locale immediately following his name credit. 

So, yeah, at this point, it seems Tom is in on the — ahem –  long-running joke .

Tom performs a cool stunt

Tom's wild stunts weren't always a staple in his films. There are no death-defying leaps off of high rises in "Rain Man" or vertigo-inducing jet battles in "Eyes Wide Shut," but the actor still managed to show off his need for adrenaline-fueled antics early in his career. Case in point: In "The Outsiders," Tom's character does a backflip for no apparent reason after running out of a house with his mates. According to actor Rob Lowe in an interview with Entertainment Tonight , director Francis Ford Coppola asked the cast to learn how to do a backflip and Tom was the only one capable of pulling off the difficult feat. 

To our astonishment, the actor also insisted on driving a real NASCAR racecar in "Days of Thunder" (via ESPN ), and according to a profile in Rolling Stone , rode the fastest horse on set during the climactic land race scene in "Far and Away." It's small potatoes compared to the stunts he achieves in "The Mummy" and the "Mission: Impossible" and "Jack Reacher" franchises, but worth noting.  

So, why does he do it? During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show , Tom admitted it all comes down to the storytelling: "I feel that [when acting] you're bringing everything, you know, physically and emotionally, to a character in a story," he told Graham Norton. "I've trained for 30 years doing [stunts] and it allows us to put cameras in places where you are normally not able to."

Tom rides a motorcycle

Not only is Tom Cruise a thrill junkie, but he also loves himself a slick motorcycle — a fact made abundantly clear when the actor memorably rode his Kawasaki GPZ900R along an airport runway in 1986's "Top Gun." Over 35 years later, Tom once again hopped aboard a Kawasaki — the Ninja H2 to be exact a.k.a. the fastest motorcycle in the world — for the enormously successful sequel "Top Gun: Maverick." In the interim, Tom has thrilled audiences with his astonishing motorcycle skills in John Woo's "Mission: Impossible II" (in which he rode a Triumph Speed Triple), Joseph Kosinski's "Oblivion" (featuring a modified Honda CRF450X), and "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" (where he cruised around on a BMW R nineT).

Tom's love for motorcycles extends off-screen as well. Apparently, after wrapping a project, the actor will take home or purchase the motorcycle used in the film and add it to his vast collection, which is detailed by Hot Cars . According to  Motorious , Tom has in his possession the BMW S1000 RR used in "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," the Triumph Thruxton used in "Edge of Tomorrow," and yes, even that Kawasaki from "Top Gun" (among others). If that weren't enough, he occasionally purchases the latest popular model just for kicks, such as when he dropped $103,000 for a Vyrus 987 C3 4V that he then showed off at his 51st birthday party. Clearly, the man's need for speed is more than just a Hollywood myth. 

Tom goes solo

While many of Tom's movies feature the box office star working alongside a group of notable co-stars, there always seems to be a moment where his character must cut the rip cord and go solo to save the day. We see this often in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise in which Tom's IMF Agent Ethan Hunt leaves his teammates in the dust to go one-on-one with the film's principal bad guy, but this trait also extends to some the actor's more dramatic ventures. Notably, in "A Few Good Men," Tom's cocky lawyer, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, ignores the advice of his team (consisting of Demi Moore and Kevin Pollack) and takes on Jack Nicholson's sharp-tongued Colonel Nathan Jessep all on his own, leading to that rather famous "I want the truth!" bit. 

Likewise, in 2008's "Valkyrie," Tom's one-armed, one-eyed Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg plots with an assortment of German officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler and ends up planting the bomb himself (this one is based on an actual historical incident , so we'll let it slide). Other Cruise vehicles such as Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," Christopher McQuarrie's "Jack Reacher," Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July," and Sydney Pollack's "The Firm" position Tom against an evil/corrupt establishment that he must battle on his own.

Does the superstar actively look for such projects, or is Tom's massive portfolio of rogue action heroes merely a case of typecasting?    

Tom throws on the shades

You can't really discuss Tom Cruise without acknowledging his vast collection of shades. Whether shooting pool with Paul Newman in Martin Scorsese's "The Color of Money," counting cards in Las Vegas with his brother Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) in Barry Levinson's "Rain Man," or chasing Jamie Foxx around downtown Los Angeles in Michael Mann's thriller "Collateral," Tom has a knack for hiding his mug behind a pair of sunglasses that somehow make the cool actor even cooler — if that's even possible.

In "Risky Business" and "Top Gun," Tom slid on a pair of Ray-Bans and helped popularize the brand in the 1980s, according to  Mental Floss . Some time later, in 2000's "Mission: Impossible II," Tom adorns Oakleys during the famous mountain climbing sequence, while "American Made" saw the star slip on a pair of Randolph Engineering Aviators with memorable results (via Ask Men ). 

In his latest feature, "Top Gun: Maverick," Tom oozes cool behind a pair of Ray-Bans that were custom-made to fit his face, according to "Top Gun: Maverick" costume designer Marlene Stewart in an interview with  The Daily Beast .

In other words: It ain't a Tom Cruise film unless it features Tom Cruise in sunglasses. 

Tom saves the day

Aside from a few exceptions, Tom is typically the de facto star of the films he appears in. As such, it makes sense that his character always ends up saving the day from the forces of evil. In fact, the only time he doesn't save the day in an epic action movie is Michael Mann's "Collateral." Even then, his cold-hearted assassin influences Jamie Foxx's world-weary cab driver enough to force a positive change in the young man's life, which can technically be seen as a win for Tom — without Vincent, it's doubtful Max ever finds the confidence needed to dump his crappy job and move on with his life.

Otherwise, Tom is typically the man of the hour by the final reel of any film. Whether its stopping dastardly terrorists or corrupt IMF operatives from destroying the world in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise , saving Iceman and Rooster in the "Top Gun" films, or taking down an alien tripod to save his daughter in "War of the Worlds," you can pretty much count on Tom to get the job done with nary a hindrance to his superstar good looks.

Even when Tom plays a jerk — as he does in Doug Liman's sci-fi epic "Edge of Tomorrow" — he finds a way to ditch the ego long enough to reset time and destroy an entire alien race (with a little help from Emily Blunt). It seems no mission is too impossible for Tom freaking Cruise.

Tom gets the girl

Tom enjoys plenty of perks thanks to his unflinching heroism. His characters typically earn the respect of their peers — and sometimes even the antagonist! — and then head off into the sunset with a newfound meaning on life, a pile of money, and, well, the girl.

No matter the circumstances, Tom Cruise always gets the girl. In "Risky Business," he ends up with Lana (Rebecca De Mornay), the sensitive sex worker. "Top Gun" sees our beleaguered hero ride off with Kelly McGillis, while "Top Gun: Maverick" pairs him with Jennifer Connelly — who happens to be a very rich, well-to-do single mother — and "Minority Report" rewards his efforts by fixing him up with his estranged wife.

Following his courtroom standoff with Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men," it's hinted that Demi Moore has eyes for Tom, while Michelle Monaghan and Rebecca Ferguson take turns locking lips with our main man in "Mission: Impossible — Fallout." In all likelihood, Tom probably could have run off with Vanessa Kirby!

In short, Tom can get any woman he wants. Now, whether they're attracted to his killer good looks, impeccable fashion sense, daredevil stunt-work, heroic swagger, or all of the above is a topic worth discussing.

Tom gets mad

Tom Cruise may be the king of cool, but even the most even-keeled action heroes lose their patience every now and again.

As it turns out, Tom's explosive temper rears its ugly head so often that it's practically a trademark. It's little wonder that Ben Stiller cast him as the foul-mouthed Les Grossman in the 2008 comedy "Tropic Thunder." Hidden under layers of prosthetics, Tom shouts, curses, and dances away with the film, revealing a darker side that somehow fits snugly amidst the comic antics of Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black. In one of the film's most memorable scenes, Les loses his cool at a Vietnamese soldier, whom he assumes is another movie producer trying to screw him over (it's a long story), resulting a prolonged tirade of profanity and insults that left audiences in stitches.

More dramatically, in "A Few Good Men," Tom rages against Demi Moore after she makes an egregious error and even does the "toss everything off the desk" bit for good measure. In "Mission: Impossible," he justifiably loses his cool after his entire team is killed during a mission gone wrong. And in "War of the Worlds," Tom tosses a slice of peanut butter-covered bread at a window, following a frustrating exchange with his children. These are but a few examples of Tom's ability to blow a gasket, but make no mistake, Tom loses his cool quite often throughout his filmography. 

Tom takes off his shirt

Like all good movie stars, Tom is blessed with a superhuman-like body that he seems to keep in incredible shape at all times. Save for his overweight character Les Grossman, Tom typically carries an incredible physique that he's clearly not afraid to show off at every possible opportunity, sometimes with humorous results. 

In "Jack Reacher," for example, Tom sheds his shirt and attempts to carry a serious conversation with Rosamund Pike's Helen Rodin. At one point, she stops mid-sentence and implores him to cover his naked torso, which is an order he comically ignores. Likewise, in the action comedy "Knight and Day," Tom wows Cameron Diaz during a foray on a tropical island. And in "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," he sheds his top for an exciting fight sequence during which he crunches up a pole to escape — an action so extraordinary, you can't help but chuckle. And who could forget the infamous scene in "Top Gun" that sees Tom and Val Kilmer (along with a handful of co-stars) engage in shirtless volleyball?

We're not judging! After all, we'd probably spend our entire life hanging out by the beach if our abs looked like Tom's. If you've got 'em, flaunt 'em! 

Tom is surrounded by incompetent supporting characters

Tom tends to steal the spotlight from his fellow co-stars mainly because, well, they aren't very good. There's Demi Moore's headstrong lawyer in "A Few Good Men," who makes a number of egregious errors that force Tom to fly solo. In the "Mission: Impossible" films, we're told Tom's IMF crew rank among the best of the best, but — aside from Rebecca Ferguson's scene-stealing Ilsa Faust — most of his team prove quite inadequate in the line of fire and contribute very little to the overall mission (besides pressing a button or two).

In Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," Tom's John Anderton escapes the clutches of his co-workers mostly due to their incompetence, whilst the climax of "Top Gun: Maverick" pairs him alongside Miles Teller's inept Rooster and all but forces our leading man to take control of the precarious situation. The result? Tom commandeers an F-14 and engages in combat, while Rooster spectates from the co-pilot's seat.

Can you think of another character from, say, "Days of Thunder," or "Jack Reacher?" Neither can we. Tom has a tendency to hog the spotlight whilst his co-stars gawk at his coolness from a distance. Again, no judgment. We're not knocking Tom Cruise. In fact, we're too busy gawking at his awesomeness with everyone else.

Tom goes real fast

We've already discussed Tom's obsession with motorcycles, but that's only part of the story. Nearly every Tom Cruise movie features the actor going  really  fast, either by running, driving, flying, or boating. "Top Gun" is the obvious choice here, but also consider Ron Howard's dramatic epic "Far and Away," in which Tom hops on a horse and outruns  everyone  to claim his piece of Oklahoma property. Or, how about "Minority Report," where he leaps on the back of a flying attacker and rockets up a building? One of the most memorable sequences in "War of the Worlds" involves Tom driving a minivan  really  fast down a highway while arguing with his son. And "Collateral's" climax literally takes place on a high-speeding subway train. 

So, yeah, when Tom Cruise says he feels the need for speed, he means it. 

In fact, Newsweek notes that in "Top Gun: Maverick," the actor took to the skies in an actual fighter jet and by the looks of it, hit some pretty astonishing speeds, while "Mission: Impossible — Fallout" gave him a chance to fly a helicopter through snow-covered mountains at an accelerate rate. Smithsonian Magazine details how "American Made" allowed the actor to put his pilot's license to use and perform intense flying sequences in a six-seat Piper Aerostar 600 and a Cessna 414.

Let's just say, Tom knows how to take our breath away.

Tom hangs on for dear life

In many of Tom's films, the actor is forced to hang onto something for dear life. You may remember that plane sequence at the beginning of "Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation," but there are actually so many instances of the superstar clinging to the side of something or other in a desperate attempt to keep himself from falling, or (in this case) as a means to slide a key card into an underwater computer. In "Knight and Day," the action maestro hangs onto Cameron Diaz's car while battling bad guys; in "War of the Worlds" he hangs onto a group of strangers to avoid being sucked into an alien ship; and in "Rock of Ages," he clings to a pole while performing a shirtless musical ballad.

Perhaps most famously, Tom hung off of the side of the massive Burj Khalifa building for "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol." Stunt coordinator Greg Smrz explained to Yahoo! how Cruise managed to hang off this enormous skyscraper that extends 2,722 feet in the air (which Cruise later ascended to obtain this photo ). Even "Edge of Tomorrow" featured the actor clinging to an object — a machine gun attached to a military aircraft — during the action-packed climax, which is set at the well-renowned Louvre in Paris, France. 

Considering his age, it's likely we won't get to see Tom hang around much longer, but we'll continue to enjoy his many death-defying feats for as long as he's willing to perform them.

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Tom Cruise Movies List

• Movies or TV
• IMDb Rating
• In Theaters
• Release Year

1. Endless Love (1981)

R | 116 min | Drama, Romance

Parental disapproval of a passionate romance between two teenagers leads to arguments, circumstance, insanity and tragedy.

Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Brooke Shields , Martin Hewitt , Shirley Knight , Don Murray

Votes: 9,563 | Gross: $31.18M

2. Taps (I) (1981)

PG | 126 min | Drama

Military cadets take extreme measures to ensure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.

Director: Harold Becker | Stars: George C. Scott , Timothy Hutton , Ronny Cox , Sean Penn

Votes: 20,078 | Gross: $35.86M

3. The Outsiders (1983)

PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama

In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell , Matt Dillon , Ralph Macchio , Patrick Swayze

Votes: 97,380 | Gross: $25.60M

4. Losin' It (1982)

R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama

Set in 1965, four rowdy teenage guys travel to Tijuana, Mexico for a night of partying when they are joined by a heartbroken housewife who is in town seeking a quick divorce.

Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jackie Earle Haley , John Stockwell , John P. Navin Jr.

Votes: 5,223 | Gross: $1.25M

5. All the Right Moves (1983)

R | 91 min | Drama, Romance, Sport

An ambitious young football star is trapped in a dying mill town--unless his gridiron skills can win him a way out.

Director: Michael Chapman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Lea Thompson , Craig T. Nelson , Charles Cioffi

Votes: 20,385 | Gross: $17.23M

6. Risky Business (1983)

R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A Chicago teenager is looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.

Director: Paul Brickman | Stars: Tom Cruise , Rebecca De Mornay , Joe Pantoliano , Richard Masur

Votes: 99,728 | Gross: $63.50M

7. Legend (1985)

PG | 94 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

A young man must stop the Lord of Darkness from destroying daylight and marrying the woman he loves.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise , Mia Sara , Tim Curry , David Bennent

Votes: 72,383 | Gross: $15.50M

8. Top Gun (1986)

PG | 109 min | Action, Drama

As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise , Tim Robbins , Kelly McGillis , Val Kilmer

Votes: 502,036 | Gross: $179.80M

9. The Color of Money (1986)

R | 119 min | Drama, Sport

Fast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Paul Newman , Tom Cruise , Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio , Helen Shaver

Votes: 93,200 | Gross: $52.29M

10. Cocktail (1988)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A talented New York City bartender takes a job at a bar in Jamaica and falls in love.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bryan Brown , Elisabeth Shue , Lisa Banes

Votes: 91,767 | Gross: $78.22M

11. Rain Man (1988)

R | 133 min | Drama

After a selfish L.A. yuppie learns his estranged father left a fortune to an autistic-savant brother in Ohio that he didn't know existed, he absconds with his brother and sets out across the country, hoping to gain a larger inheritance.

Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman , Tom Cruise , Valeria Golino , Gerald R. Molen

Votes: 546,179 | Gross: $178.80M

12. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War

The biography of Ron Kovic . Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bryan Larkin , Raymond J. Barry , Caroline Kava

Votes: 115,822 | Gross: $70.00M

13. Days of Thunder (1990)

PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Drama, Sport

A young hot-shot stock car driver gets his chance to compete at the top level.

Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise , Nicole Kidman , Robert Duvall , Randy Quaid

Votes: 96,310 | Gross: $82.67M

14. A Few Good Men (1992)

R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller

Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jack Nicholson , Demi Moore , Kevin Bacon

Votes: 287,042 | Gross: $141.34M

15. The Firm (1993)

R | 154 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A young lawyer joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.

Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jeanne Tripplehorn , Gene Hackman , Hal Holbrook

Votes: 147,572 | Gross: $158.35M

16. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)

R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror

A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.

Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt , Tom Cruise , Antonio Banderas , Kirsten Dunst

Votes: 347,082 | Gross: $105.26M

17. Mission: Impossible (1996)

PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jon Voight , Emmanuelle Béart , Henry Czerny

Votes: 469,885 | Gross: $180.98M

18. Jerry Maguire (1996)

R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise , Cuba Gooding Jr. , Renée Zellweger , Kelly Preston

Votes: 286,803 | Gross: $153.95M

19. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

R | 159 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Tom Cruise , Nicole Kidman , Todd Field , Sydney Pollack

Votes: 374,684 | Gross: $55.69M

20. Magnolia (1999)

R | 188 min | Drama

An epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jason Robards , Julianne Moore , Philip Seymour Hoffman

Votes: 328,232 | Gross: $22.46M

21. Mission: Impossible II (2000)

PG-13 | 123 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

IMF agent Ethan Hunt is sent to Sydney to find and destroy a genetically modified disease called "Chimera".

Director: John Woo | Stars: Tom Cruise , Dougray Scott , Thandiwe Newton , Ving Rhames

Votes: 377,418 | Gross: $215.41M

22. Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)

Not Rated | 142 min | Documentary, Biography

The career and life of Stanley Kubrick is explored through pictures, clips from his films, his old home movies, comments from his colleagues and a narration by Tom Cruise .

Director: Jan Harlan | Stars: Katharina Kubrick , Malcolm McDowell , Stanley Kubrick , Barbara Kroner

Votes: 12,202

23. Vanilla Sky (2001)

R | 136 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful lover.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise , Penélope Cruz , Cameron Diaz , Kurt Russell

Votes: 285,528 | Gross: $100.61M

24. Space Station 3D (2002)

Not Rated | 47 min | Documentary

From outer space countries don't exist.

Director: Toni Myers | Stars: Tom Cruise , James Arnold , Michael J. Bloomfield , Robert D. Cabana

Votes: 1,747 | Gross: $93.37M

25. Minority Report (2002)

PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery

John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise , Colin Farrell , Samantha Morton , Max von Sydow

Votes: 583,865 | Gross: $132.07M

26. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

PG-13 | 94 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

Upon learning that his father has been kidnapped, Austin Powers must travel to 1975 and defeat the aptly named villain Goldmember, who is working with Dr. Evil.

Director: Jay Roach | Stars: Mike Myers , Beyoncé , Seth Green , Michael York

Votes: 222,742 | Gross: $213.31M

27. The Last Samurai (2003)

R | 154 min | Action, Drama

Nathan Algren, a US army veteran, is hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in the modern warfare techniques. Nathan finds himself trapped in a struggle between two eras and two worlds.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Tom Cruise , Ken Watanabe , Billy Connolly , William Atherton

Votes: 470,586 | Gross: $111.11M

28. Collateral (2004)

R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.

Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jamie Foxx , Jada Pinkett Smith , Mark Ruffalo

Votes: 432,746 | Gross: $101.01M

29. War of the Worlds (2005)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise , Dakota Fanning , Tim Robbins , Miranda Otto

Votes: 474,810 | Gross: $234.28M

30. Mission: Impossible III (2006)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes into conflict with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer who threatens his life and his fiancée in response.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Tom Cruise , Michelle Monaghan , Ving Rhames , Philip Seymour Hoffman

Votes: 390,458 | Gross: $134.03M

31. Lions for Lambs (2007)

R | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Injuries sustained by two Army rangers behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman, a journalist and a professor.

Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Tom Cruise , Meryl Streep , Robert Redford , Michael Peña

Votes: 52,666 | Gross: $15.00M

32. Valkyrie (2008)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller

A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise , Bill Nighy , Carice van Houten , Kenneth Branagh

Votes: 259,063 | Gross: $83.08M

33. Tropic Thunder (2008)

R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, War

Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller , Jack Black , Robert Downey Jr. , Jeff Kahn

Votes: 447,592 | Gross: $110.52M

34. Knight and Day (2010)

PG-13 | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

A young woman gets mixed up with a disgraced spy who is trying to clear his name.

Director: James Mangold | Stars: Tom Cruise , Cameron Diaz , Peter Sarsgaard , Jordi Mollà

Votes: 210,236 | Gross: $76.42M

35. Takers (2010)

PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A group of bank robbers find their multi-million dollar plan interrupted by a hard-boiled detective.

Director: John Luessenhop | Stars: Chris Brown , Hayden Christensen , Matt Dillon , Michael Ealy

Votes: 65,750 | Gross: $57.74M

36. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.

Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Tom Cruise , Jeremy Renner , Simon Pegg , Paula Patton

Votes: 528,123 | Gross: $209.40M

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Tom Cruise runs. But is he any good at it?

IN 2018 , TOM CRUISE finally joined Instagram, and fans sure felt the need for speed: He picked up 550,000 followers in less than an hour. Now he's up to 6.5 million followers, and they're greeted by the actor's self-assessment of his own career in his bio. He could have gone with "Three-time Oscar nominee," or "Sold $10 billion worth of movie tickets."

But instead, he picked: "Actor, producer, running in movies since 1981."

It's a winking, self-aware nod to this much-memed chapter of his Hollywood career. He always gets the rogue bad guy with the rogue nuclear codes from the rogue country, and he does it in a sprint. By one running blog's count , he's run in 44 of his 52 movies, and that includes two running scenes in his newest movie, "Top Gun: Maverick," which opens this week nationwide. A quick reminder: Tom Cruise is 59 years old, the same age as Wilford Brimley when he was chasing Mitch McDeere in "The Firm."

But that raises the question... Is Tom Cruise actually a good runner? We convened an elite panel of Olympians, film critics and former coaches and set out on a mission to analyze Cruise's running -- and might have stumbled onto a never-before-told origin story of his first theatrical running moment.

The evolution

The official start of Tom Cruise, the running actor, was in 1981 when he ran in his first movie, "Endless Love."

But perhaps the most formative run of Tom Cruise's life came in 1980, during his senior year at Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey. His old wrestling coach, Angelo Corbo, says Cruise -- then going by his legal name, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV -- was a decent 122-pounder.

But Cruise came in one day on crutches right before the 1980 wrestling postseason and said he'd slipped coming down the steps at his house. Since he was done with wrestling, Cruise wondered if it'd be OK to go out for his first play, "Guys and Dolls." Corbo said yes.

A few weeks later, though, Cruise came to Corbo and asked if he could come along to the state tournament to support his teammates. Corbo gladly welcomed him into the team van for the trip, and on the way to states in Princeton that March, they decided to get some lunch at a Mexican restaurant. His ankle had healed up enough to lose the crutches, so he walked in and sat down at the table with his teammates.

Almost immediately, Corbo says an assistant coach pointed at Cruise, then at a jar of hot peppers. "I'll bet you $5 you can't eat one of those peppers without drinking anything," the coach said.

Cruise quickly said yes -- "Tom always accepted any challenge, no matter what," Corbo says -- and chomped into it. Within seconds, everybody at the table thought smoke was going to start pouring out of his ears. Cruise leaped up and ran out of the restaurant with the rest of the team unable to keep up. "He ran real fast that day," Corbo says.

When they caught up to him, his teammates and coaches found him on the ground in the parking lot, face buried in a snowbank, stuffing snow into his mouth to cool it down.

"Well, he didn't technically drink anything in the restaurant," one kid said.

The assistant shrugged his shoulders and pulled a $5 bill out of his pocket. "Here, you win, Tom," he said.

With snow all over his mouth, Cruise gave a wide-eyed, toothy smile, similar to the one that would eventually sell somewhere around $10 billion worth of movie tickets. As Corbo describes the scene, he notes that Cruise had a look on his face of a satisfied performer who just captivated an audience for the first time. If there's a pre-Hollywood moment when Thomas Mapother turned into Tom Cruise, that might have been it.

That messy restaurant run sure sounds a lot like the version we see in Cruise's early movies. In "The Outsiders" and "Taps," Cruise runs quite a bit, and it's a sloppy, under-developed run. It's not until toward the end of "Risky Business" in 1983 when Cruise vaults up his high school's steps and jets through the hallways that the beginnings of a steady, faster form begins to emerge.

Caryl Smith Gilbert, a four-time NCAA champion coach who now leads the Georgia men's and women's programs, watched a reel of every Tom Cruise movie run and did a deep-dive analysis. She says she thinks Cruise steadily got better from 1981 until around the early 2000s, then had a breakthrough. Ever since, she says, you can see a clear desire to keep improving.

"It's right around the time he's in 'Collateral' that I could really see it," she says. "His technique got better, and I was like, 'Hmmm, he has to be getting real coaching.' And I also think you can tell that he must do this in his free time now. Like, he really is trying to get better."

Happy Birthday to @TomCruise , who wrestled at Glen Ridge (NJ) High School @NJSIAA shared that wrestling "helped him fit in after moving to the town from Kentucky. When an injury cut short his senior season, he tried out for the school musical. You know the rest ..." pic.twitter.com/goFrJYIwzn — NWHOF (@NWHOF) July 3, 2021

There is a common misconception that most great sprinters must be tall, and the success of Usain Bolt (6-foot-5) certainly has played a part in pouring concrete around that idea. But the truth is, most great male sprinters are in the 5-foot-6 to 6-foot-3 range, according to a study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.

And breaking news, Tom Cruise is, uh, not tall. He's often listed at 5-foot-7, but it's always felt like the way college football SIDs decide to round up all incoming freshmen by one inch and 20 pounds. Whatever his actual height, let's just say he won't exactly be playing Jack Reacher any time soon. (Checks IMDb, stands corrected.)

But Cruise's size shouldn't -- and doesn't -- matter much. "A lot of powerful runners are 5-foot-6 or below," says three-time Olympic gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee. "It's all about the turnover of your legs and generating velocity. I don't think his height is a disadvantage."

In "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol," Cruise comes barreling out of a building as a massive sandstorm descends in the background. It's a long, striking visual because of the way Cruise's open hands slice through the air, over and over again, like he's in the middle of a round of Fruit Ninja.

It's one of the most glaring differences between his early film running and what he has done for the past 20 years or so. When Smith Gilbert says she thinks Cruise must have gotten some running coaching, she zeroes in on the major alteration to his hand movement -- he's gone from sporadically balled up, like many untrained amateurs, to remarkably straight in recent years. In many scenes from the past decade, Cruise's parallel flat palms are almost comical, as if a robot learned how to run from watching another robot.

That must be bad then, right? Not necessarily. People often associate running with balled-up fists, but quite a few great sprinters -- Carl Lewis, for example -- look an awful lot like Tom Cruise when they run, with their palms open. Many high-level runners say that the open versus closed hands debate is entirely a personal choice, that there's really no right answer.

In fact, coaches occasionally recommend that some runners consider a Tom Cruise-ish open-handed technique because, as strange as it might sound, great sprinters work hard to be as relaxed as possible. Smith Gilbert says clenching up hands can be the first sign that a runner is pressing, which affects the rhythm of their breath, which drains their speed and endurance.

"You can be open hand or close hand, as long as the shoulders are rather relaxed," she says. "The goal is good form and being as relaxed as possible. Tom Cruise knows what he's doing."

Cruise's technique can appear incredibly stiff at times, with his chest upright as though he's getting buckled into a roller coaster, flat palms churning, chin high with his face tensed up. Both Smith Gilbert and Joyner-Kersee independently flagged Cruise's running as being slightly too upright and recommended a little more forward lean. But only a little -- and neither was sure that that would be how he'd run without the cameras on.

"I bet that's something they make him do because it looks good on film," Joyner-Kersee says. "In real life, I could get his speed up by just angling him a little bit forward."

But they also both applauded Cruise's technical prowess, saying it's easy for a layperson to mistake stiffness for a good, consistent style.

"At the end of the day," Smith Gilbert says, "running is one foot in front of the other, as fast as possible. Running velocity is stride length times stride frequency. And he's pretty good in that regard."

Believe it or not, Tom Cruise might actually be fast. Like, really fast. A few years ago, a Quora user attempted to analyze Cruise's speed in several movies and estimated that Cruise hit about 15.3 mph at times, usually while wearing non-running shoes and full pants, no less. Cruise himself said he's been clocked at 17 mph.

Last year, marathoner Will Blase wrote a story for a running blog, The Harrier, in which he wanted to explore the idea that Cruise might be the fastest actor ever captured on screen. He pitted Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" runs against four other iconic movie sprints -- Tom Hanks from "Forrest Gump," Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky II," Harrison Ford running from a boulder in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and Marcus Henderson's terrifying nighttime sprint toward Daniel Kaluuya in "Get Out."

After poring over footage for days, Blase reached a verdict that surprised even him: Cruise edged out Henderson for the gold medal in his unofficial movie Olympics, with Hanks and Ford at third and fourth, respectively. Stallone finished last. "That dude is a robot," Blase says of Cruise. "It's incredible. He has it boiled down to science."

But would Cruise be better suited for sprints or slightly longer races? Smith Gilbert thinks Cruise would be great at the 800 meters or even the mile because she thinks he could sustain his top-end speed.

But Joyner-Kersee thinks Cruise could be a good 100-meter runner, and she says he looks like he might be in the 12-second range right now. "That's really fast for people who don't train to race," she says.

And what would happen if Cruise did train? Well, first of all, Cruise should know that he has an open invitation to come work with Joyner-Kersee and her husband, former U.S. track coach Bob Kersee. "I believe we could work with him, see what he's got," Joyner-Kersee says. "We could probably get him to 11.5 with ease."

For the record, 11.5 is very fast ... and definitely fast enough to catch up to Robert Duvall on pit row if they ever have a "Days of Thunder" rematch.

Mental toughness

In "Mission: Impossible Fallout," Cruise has a scene where he runs and leaps from one building to another. It's a long jump that the script called for him to not quite make, slamming into the side of the other building and pulling himself up.

Even with cables attached to his back, it was a brutally violent scene. On an early take, Cruise lands exactly where he is supposed to, a few feet short of making it onto the other roof. But Cruise's right foot bends at a gruesome angle -- he'd broken it on impact.

Yet Cruise claws his way onto the roof, climbs to his feet and limps past the camera with a broken ankle. That take is actually in the movie. Cruise took two weeks off but then returned to shooting, even though his ankle wasn't healed.

When he discussed it on "The Graham Norton Show" in 2018 alongside castmates Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill and Simon Pegg, Cruise looks so proud when they roll bonus footage of the gruesome break. Pegg blurts out that he can't watch multiple times, and Norton tells Cruise he's nuts.

But Cruise took it as a challenge -- that word comes up over and over again when people talk about Tom Cruise.

"I knew I broke it instantly," Cruise says. "We have a release date, so we have to keep going."

Cruise has gotten only more aggressive about doing all of his own stunts, including the runs. He once told Men's Journal that he likes to spend as much time as possible training for his stunts -- and likes to oversee training for the rest of the cast, too. "If he wasn't an actor, he'd be a great stunt man," says legendary stunt coordinator Greg Powell, who worked with Cruise on the first "Mission: Impossible."

One aspect of Cruise's running that came up repeatedly with experts was the fact that so many of Cruise's runs are in suits or regular clothes. Sprinters are notoriously fickle about wardrobe, wanting as little as possible, Joyner-Kersee says. She specifically marveled at the amount of running Cruise does in "The Firm" where he has on a suit and a long coat and is carrying a briefcase, and he's soaked in sweat.

"I never even liked running if I got a few drops of rain on me," she says, shaking her head. "To do something over and over again like he does, that's good mental capability. He has the physical stamina, but to not get bored with it, doing it repeatedly and stay in character and still be able to produce what the scene requires. Even with breaks, it's impressive."

She laughs and looks back at a mural on her wall. It shows her running in her last Olympics. "I know toward the end of my career, I could always get up to 100% speed," she says. "But I could only do it once. I'm not sure how Tom Cruise is doing what he does."

Theatricality

There's not much debate about this fact: Cruise is the Meryl Streep of running, and it's virtually unfathomable to imagine anybody ever being able to put together both the body of work and the body to be running into their 60s.

And it's not just that he does a lot of running in movies; it's also that his running does a lot in his movies.

"His running always conveys something important in the movie," says Christy Lemire, a film critic at RogerEbert.com and cohost of the "Breakfast All Day" movie podcast. "He's running toward something and he is going to get there -- whether it's freedom or the truth or his wife is in danger. It's not just running as a crucial part of an action set piece. It is a physical manifestation of his ethos."

When author and film critic Amy Nicholson set out to write her book, "Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor," she felt compelled to dedicate an entire page just to Cruise's running. As she worked her way through all of his movie runs, she picked out a few that stick with her.

For instance, she likes Cruise's transformational running in "Knight and Day," the oft-forgotten rom-com thriller with Cruise and Cameron Diaz. In that movie, Cruise is a covert operative pretending to be a schlub. So some of his runs are a little clunky ... until he needs to be Ethan Hunt-like again later in the movie. "Some of his characters are better runners than others," she says. "Watch that movie, because it's an example of him having a goofy run. He allowed himself to be sloppy."

She also thinks his range of runs in "War of the Worlds" is a key entry in the Tom Cruise running library. Before the movie began shooting, director Steven Spielberg and Cruise huddled about what kind of hero Cruise would be. Spielberg told Cruise that alien invasion movies always feature people who are standing up and fighting.

But he wanted to do something different -- he envisioned Cruise's Ray Ferrier as a scared dad, running away and running to survive, not to defeat the evil aliens. And the style of Ray's actual runs needed to convey that, that he was terrified and just trying to survive the world for once, not save it single-handedly.

"He is charged in that movie to do nothing but run in fear and convince other people to run in fear with him -- even when his own children want to stand up and fight back," Nicholson says.

Lemire is a runner herself and says she can't imagine having to combine the amount of physicality with whatever mood Cruise is trying to portray for audiences.

"He has to do so much with his eyes and his face and his gait," she says. "He's never going for a leisurely jog along the beach and enjoying the scenery. He's trying to convey to us whatever his character is going through in that moment. And we underestimate that skill, that ability to make running a physical and emotional experience."

So ... is Tom Cruise good at running?

When he was Glen Ridge's wrestling coach, Corbo would have his group of 20 or so wrestlers do a circuit around the high school. They'd run past the cafeteria, up the stairs to the second floor, all the way to the end of the school, down the stairs to the first floor, then all the way back to the cafeteria. "The loop," he calls it.

Cruise often got roughed up in the room by more experienced wrestlers -- by Corbo's count, Cruise was 7-12 as a varsity starter. But when it was time to do the loop, he would morph into that kid who couldn't back down from a challenge. He'd run the loop hard, getting competitive with some of the same teammates who'd squash him every day on the mat.

One time, Cruise had been hurtling through the hallways and sheepishly approached Corbo at the end of the run. He wanted his coach to come look at one of the big metal doors in the stairwell.

Corbo went with him and found that the small rectangular sliver of glass in one of the doors was cracked. Cruise had been trying to outsprint a teammate and plowed through the door so hard that he broke it. Corbo said thanks for telling him, and when he was asked later by a school administrator whether he had any idea how one of the thick glass windows had a long crack in it, Corbo covered for Cruise.

"I have no idea," he said. "Those are pretty hard to break."

So Corbo's answer to the billion-dollar question of Tom Cruise's running prowess is yes, he's a good runner.

And the running experts agree.

"I've been to the Olympics," Joyner-Kersee says. "And he has pulled me in: Tom Cruise is good at running."

Before Smith Gilbert will answer that question on a recent Zoom call, she tilts her chin up to the sky.

"I think he is good at running -- for Hollywood," she finally says. "By that, I mean, I think that is him actually running in the scenes. But if he came out to race us at Georgia, we would demolish him."

She drops her chin down and stares right into the camera then, and says, "But I bet he would love to challenge me on that."

Tom Cruise Is Remaking A Wild Clint Eastwood Action Thriller | GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT

A few months ago the trades announced that Tom Cruise signed a strategic partnership with Warner Bros. to develop and produce original and franchise theatricals for Cruise to star in. At the time, what exactly he was planning to develop remained unknown.

Now GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT can exclusively report that one of those movies will be a remake of the 1977 Clint Eastwood action thriller The Gauntlet . Tom Cruise will take over the role originally played by Eastwood in the movie, that of alcoholic Detective Ben Shockley.

The original version of The Gauntlet was also directed by Clint Eastwood, but our source tells us Christopher McQuarrie will direct the Tom Cruise version. Tom Cruise will, of course, produce as part of his new deal with Warners.

McQuarrie has become Tom Cruise's go-to director over the years. He directed Tom Cruise on movies like Jack Reacher , The Mummy , and three Mission: Impossible (soon four) movies. Now Christopher McQuarrie is working with Cruise on The Gauntlet .

This information comes from the same proven source that has broken several other, now confirmed , WB-related stories for us. GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT ‘s editorial policy prohibits me from printing stories submitted by sources without a proven track record.

The Gauntlet is not one of Eastwood's better-known projects. It received mixed to favorable reviews on its release. The story involves a detective ordered to escort a prostitute to a trial, where she's expected to testify against the mob.

As you'd expect, things don't go well, and Detective Shockley ends up under attack and on the run. The movie's filled with some pretty big action set pieces, including high-speed pursuits with helicopters and motorcycles. There's even a road warrior-style chase in a hastily armored bus. It's easy to imagine Tom Cruise turning that into one of his stunt-laden action flicks, only with perhaps a grittier twist than what we've come to expect from him in the Mission: Impossible films.

GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT

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Screen Rant

Tom cruise campaigned to play key watchmen character, reveals zack snyder.

Director Zack Snyder reveals that Tom Cruise campaigned to play a key character in his Watchmen movie, though couldn't agree on which one.

• Tom Cruise's ambition and commitment to roles could have resulted in an interesting portrayal of Rorschach in Watchmen .
• Cruise's lack of major villainous roles may have also made playing Ozymandias equally intriguing in the 2009 movie.
• Despite the actor's campaign to be in the 2009 movie, Snyder ultimately couldn't part with his casting decision for Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach.

Zack Snyder reveals that Tom Cruise chased the role of a certain key Watchmen character. The 2009 superhero film was praised as a gritty, visually striking, and faithful adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic novel it was based on, but the complex narrative proved to be too hard to follow for those who weren’t already familiar with the source material. The film holds a 65% from critics and 71% from audiences on review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Watchmen was also considered a box office flop, grossing only $185 million, but its gritty tone helped shape the future of superhero films.

In an interview with Happy Sad Confused , Watchmen director Snyder revealed that Cruise wanted to play Rorschach . The reveal comes right after Snyder said that he wanted Cruise to play Ozymandias. The conversation about the reveal is brief, but Snyder said that Cruise was capable of playing the dark, complex character Rorschach, only for the filmmaker to have already cast Jackie Earle Haley. Check out what Snyder shared in the quotes and video below:

Zack Snyder: I wanted Tom Cruise for Ozymandias. Tom wanted to play Rorschach. Josh Horowitz: Tom wanted to play Rorschach? Zack Snyder: He wanted to play Rorschach, which, I mean obviously, he could have done. Yeah. But we had Jackie already and Jackie is, like, unbelievable! I mean, but I certainly would have considered Tom in retrospect if I hadn't had Jackie. Horowitz: So you meet with Tom, and you're like, "Ozymandias." He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanna play that weird, crazy guy." Snyder: Which would have been unbelievable, in retrospect, yeah.

Cruise’s Ambition & Commitment Would Have Produced An Interesting Rorschach

Despite Cruise not being known for playing characters like Rorschach, the actor’s ambition and commitment to his roles may have resulted in an interesting portrayal of the character.

The world of Watchmen is one filled with anti-heroes. Cruise playing Rorschach would have been an interesting choice, as the actor is better known for playing characters who are clearly heroes, like Mission: Impossible 's Ethan Hunt or Top Gun 's Maverick. By taking on the role of Rorschach, he may have produced a dark, morally complex character Cruise isn’t well known for.

Despite Cruise not being known for playing characters like Rorschach, the actor’s ambition and commitment to his roles may have resulted in an interesting portrayal of the character. Whether it be in his action-oriented work or some of his more dramatic fare, like Born on the Fourth of July , the four-time Oscar nominee has frequently shown a dedication to pouring himself completely into his roles. The recent installments of Mission: Impossible are prime examples of this, as Cruise has opted to do most of his own stunts, many of which are incredibly dangerous.

The Most Dangerous Stunt In Every Mission Impossible Movie

Given Rorschach was one of the more action-heavy characters in Snyder's Watchmen with his various vigilante work and brutal escape from prison with the help of Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II, Cruise could've leaned into the stunt performing he's now become known for with the 2009 movie. That being said, the argument could also be made that the star's lack of major villainous roles throughout his career could've made his playing Ozymandias to have been just as intriguing. While the movie may not have scored widespread acclaim, Haley's performance does remain a standout, assuring that Snyder ultimately made the right choice.

Source: Happy Sad Confused

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In 1986, DC Comics published a comic book limited series consist of 12 issues titled  Watchmen . Creator Alan Moore worked with artist Dave Gibbons for the project, which released monthly issues from 1986 to 1985. A movie adaptation was released in March 2009 under the direction of Zack Snyder. The story of  Watchmen  happens in an alternate reality 1985, with references to events that occurred in the 1940s and 1960s. In the old days, a group of crime fighters in costume, called the Minutemen, went down in history as contributing to the many victories achieved by the United States. In the series’ history, the United States won the Vietnam War and no Watergate scandal occurred. In the present (1985), a Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union is threatening to turn into a nuclear war. One of the retired superheroes, The Comedia aka Agent Edward Blake (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), is murdered, and the investigation leads to a discovery of a conspiracy that brings other heroes out of retirement. Other heroes include Jon Osterman/Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl (Patrick Wilson), Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre (Carla Gugino) and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley). In 2015, news about HBO working on a TV series for  Watchmen  began to surface with early reports saying Snyder will be the director of the TV adaptation as well. In mid-2017 news broke that Snyder will be replaced by Damon Lindelof, who is the co-creator and showrunner of  Lost . As of this writing, Lindelof has neither denied nor confirmed his involvement in the project but he has been vocal about wanting to be part of it, and that he wants a close adaptation of the comic book.

Zack Snyder Reveals Tom Cruise Wanted to Play a Hero in Watchmen, But ‘I Wanted Tom Cruise for Ozymandias’

Zack Snyder says Tom Cruise wanted to play one of the heroes in Watchmen, but he was eyeing Cruise for the evil Ozymandias.

• Zack Snyder wanted Tom Cruise to portray Ozymandias in Watchmen, but ended up not appearing in the film, with Matthew Goode taking on the role instead.
• Cruise had his eyes set on playing Rorschach, but the role went to Jackie Earle Haley, who delivered an incredible performance in the 2009 movie adaptation.
• Ozymandias himself, Goode, also portrays another villain in the new horror film Abigail, which is now playing in theaters.

Tom Cruise wanted to portray Rorschach in the Watchmen feature film. At the end of the day, though, Jackie Earle Haley ended up winning the role of the one superhero whose conscience proved to be his undoing at the conclusion of Zack Snyder’s 2009 superhero flick. However, had the filmmaker had his way, Cruise would have appeared in the movie as an entirely different character, the deceitful and scheming Ozymandias. Snyder said during his sit-down on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:

"I wanted Tom Cruise for Ozymandias. Tom wanted to play Rorschach … he wanted to play Rorschach, which, I mean, obviously, he could have done. But yeah, we had Jackie [Earle Haley] already. And Jackie is like, unbelievable. I mean, but I certainly would have considered Tom, in retrospect, if I hadn't had Jackie. ‘I want to play Rorschach,’ which would have been unbelievable, I mean, in retrospect.”

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Cruise didn’t appear in 2009’s Watchmen , and the role of the superhero-turned-villain, Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias, ended up being played by Matthew Goode ( Match Point, The Good Wife, Abigail ). While promoting his new film Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver on Happy Sad Confused, Snyder also addressed the rumor that Keanu Reeves probably came up in the casting discussions as Dr. Manhattan, because Snyder's wife, Deborah, is such a huge Keanu fan. But Billy Crudup ultimately played the most powerful of all the so-called Watchmen.

Abigail's Twists, Matthew Goode at Being Bad

Abigail’s Rotten Tomatoes score promises a scary good time, as the horror film opens in theaters today. And the Watchmen’s own Matthew Goode plays an integral role in directors' Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s new movie. Goode portrays the father (Kristof Lazar) of the ballerina vampire (Alisha Weir).

And while there certainly are plenty of hints suggesting a connection between Lazar and Dracula, the filmmakers otherwise known as Radio Silence decided that another twist would be faced head on. Rather than hiding that Abigail (Weir) is a vampire in the trailers, Bettinelli-Oplin and Gillett decided to let the cat out of the bag. Gillett said during the ReelBlend podcast (per CinemaBlend ):

“We would always encourage people who are fans of something to try to go in as blind as possible. We do that with movies that we love, and are anticipating. Like, I refuse to watch any trailer for the new Alien movie, just because I want to have that experience in as blind a way as possible. But I think once we really landed on the very iconic image of Ballerina Vampire, we knew that it was going to be the biggest part, or the most memorable part, of what the marketing of this movie would be.”

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Gillett continued:

What it ultimately ended up doing was, I think it challenged us to just make sure that everything that comes before and after that very specific twist has to really matter, and be really fun and really entertaining.

Abigail is now playing in theaters. And MovieWeb’s Abigail review is calling the film a “slapstick heist thriller with gory results.” Bettinelli-Oplin and Gillett’s latest horror concoction also debuted with $1 million domestically, during its Thursday previews, en route to what is being forecast as a $12 million to $22 million opening weekend domestically.

Watchmen is available to stream on Max , at the time of this writing.