Tom Cruise may be overcompensating with his roided-out-looking appearance in the latest "Mission: Impossible," but I have to admire the guy. His career has been struggling for the last several years, what with all the couch-jumping and bloviating about religion and prescription meds. All that damage was self-inflicted, but he didn't let it put him off the career path too much.
During that time he continued to turn in good work, and didn't go into hiding. Most notably, his turn in "Tropic Thunder" as an overweight film producer with a potty mouth and a penchant for dancing was inspired.
Now it looks like audiences are ready to watch him again with "Ghost Protocol," which features some of the most amazing stunt work we've seen him do, and he exudes that charisma that is uniquely his.
Yet I still hear people complain about Tom Cruise movies, but it's usually nothing to do with the work itself.
How could it be?
Just look at his filmography even over the last ten years. They range from admirable misfires ("Valkyrie") to emotionally-deep ("Minority Report") and just plain bad-ass ("Collateral"). Even when movies he's done haven't been that good ("War of the Worlds," "Lions for Lambs"), he's been terrific in them.
My favorite Cruise performance came in P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia," as a chauvinistic motivational speaker raging against his father.
So why keep hating on Cruise? The guy is awesome. How could you not be on board for just about anything this guy wants to try?
I'm glad he's back with the new "Mission," but for me, he never left.
