Tom Cruise is a movie juggernaut. Since his debut with a minor role in 1981’s Endless Love, the actor and producer has earned billions at the box office, playing super spies, airline pilots, crime-fighting cops and cool sports agents.

In this feature, we rank his 15 best films. But don’t take our word for it. We’re tossing it to check aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes for the final verdict. The people have spoken, so here’s the global consensus on the best Cruise releases in terms of critical score.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018), 97%

Cruise’s super-spy series, otherwise known as “the one with Superman,” reached its peak when Hunt teamed up with Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel to stop arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles who launched three simultaneous nuclear attacks. in the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca. Stunning action sets, powerful performances and incredibly high stakes make it the highest rated M:I film to date.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022), 96%

The highest-rated film outside of Mission: Impossible, Cruise returns after more than thirty years as top aviator Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell. As his nickname suggests, he’s too villainous to direct missions, so he’s stuck training recruits. However, Maverick is soon drawn into one last duty with the bitter son of an old naval enemy.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023), 96%

Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible is his third most popular. It is also his most abstract. Here, the villain is not a human, but an incredibly advanced AI with the ability to destabilize the world. The filmmaking, on the other hand, is classic cinematography with solid sets and dramatic pieces that are a debt to the silent age of filmmaking.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) 94%

As the IMF dissolves, the terrorist threat, the Syndicate moves in to fill the void, risking the safety of the entire world. This is the film that introduced the long-term love interest of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), a British agent with nefarious motives. There’s also a high-speed car chase through Morocco, a tense underwater heist, and Cruise clinging to a plane as it takes off (he actually did).

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), 93%

AKA the one where Cruise scales the Burj Khalifa. An extended sequence in which Hunt and his IMF team attempt to steal vital documents in a top-secret delivery elevated the series to must-see cinema status. Jeremy Renner also joins the cast in a mysterious role, promising to take over the mantle from Cruise, but as we saw later, Cruise outlives him.

Risky Business (1983), 92%

The actor, star creator Cruise, plays high school student Joel Goodsen, who has the house to himself when his parents go on vacation. After racking up a huge bill by spending the night with an escort, Cruise tries to raise funds quickly by turning his house into a brothel.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014), 91%

Cruise doesn’t play an invincible hero in this sci-fi epic. Instead, he is killed within moments of the opening battle against a horde of evil alien invaders. But he wakes up from his dirty slumber and finds himself trapped in a time loop, doomed to repeat the same battle over and over until he finds a way to reverse the tide and help humanity win alongside Emily Blunt.

Minority Report (2002), 89%

Cruise teams up with director Steven Spielberg in this near-future thriller from esteemed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick. Set in 2054 Washington DC, the police have the power to stop crimes before they happen with the help of three superpowered people who can see the future. But when Cruise’s character is accused of committing a pre-crime, he goes on the run from Colin Farrell’s dogged agent.

Rain Man (1988), 88%

Dustin Hoffman steals the show in this classic ’80s drama about a pair of siblings who go on a cross-country road trip. He plays Raymond, the autistic older brother of Cruise’s Charlie, and is about to inherit their father’s $3 million fortune, which is left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. From the moment Charlie first sees him as a burden, he discovers an unbreakable brotherly bond with Raymond.

The Color of Money (1986) 88%

Old Hollywood meets new when Vincent (a young Cruise) joins forces with pool con artist Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) to scout pool halls and make a ton of money. While Vincent is an eager student, his brash ways soon create a rift with Felson, and they meet as adversaries on the circuit after being eliminated.

Collateral (2004) 86%

Jamie Fox is a taxi driver from NYC who dreams of a break in the Maldives. Cruise is his passenger, a ruthless assassin who pays Fox to drive him around and destroy targets. However, with Fox witnessing and complicit in Cruise’s crimes, it might be easier to get to the Maldives.

Born on July 4th (1989), 84%

One of Cruise’s most difficult films, he plays a permanently paralyzed ex-Marine who accidentally kills a fellow soldier. Now, after two tours in Vietnam, he finds no fans among the indifferent public and develops his own powerful critique of the war that claimed so many lives.

American Made (2017), 85%

The true story of Barry Seal, a pilot recruited by the CIA to help in their war against the communists in Central America. They want to outfit his plane with sophisticated aerial surveillance cameras and provide reconnaissance. But Barry is soon in over his head when he is forced to smuggle drugs for the cartel and throws himself into one of the biggest CIA operations in history.

A Few Good Men (1992), 84%

Cruise stars alongside Demi Moore as military lawyers defending two US Marines accused of killing one of the sailors at Guantanamo Bay. Instead of pursuing a plea deal, they attempt to unravel a deeper conspiracy by calling the formidable Colonel Jack Nicholson to the stand. Powerful performances from Cruise and Nicholson and a great script from a young Aaron Sorkin.

Jerry Maguire (1996), 84%

“Show me the money.” Cruise is in charismatic form when he was fired from his job as a sports agent forced to start his own management firm. Desperate to recruit star athletes, only one agrees to join him in a seemingly doomed venture: Cuba Gooding Jr. in an electric performance as Rod Tidwell. While Cruise struggles with his business, love blossoms between him and single mother Dorothy (Renee Zellweger).