Tom Cruise has been one of our most prolific movie stars for decades. After making a name for himself with films like Risky Business, Rain Man, and A Few Good Men, he was launched to superstardom in a way that few others have been able to match. In recent years, as Hollywood itself has gone through significant changes over what is even released, Cruise has taken on a different kind of place on the big screen. Although he has not been absent from films for a distinct amount of time, he has been holding firm to his place as a franchise stalwart.
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But the recent history of Cruise’s film career is unique, making today’s anniversary that much more interesting when considering the past 15 years of his career. Eight years ago today, Cruise starred in what was his last non-franchise movie, the 2017 feature film American Made. The movie stands out among his recent filmography not only because it had no place in a cinematic universe, or even ambitions of such, but because it was the last time he really flexed his movie star muscles.
Tom Cruise’s Last Non-Franchise Movie Is an Underrated Gem
Directed by Doug Liman, who worked with Cruise on Edge of Tomorrow and intends to send the actor into space for another project, American Made tells a wild true story. At the heart of the film is pilot Barry Seal (Cruise), who found himself caught between not only the drug cartels of Pablo Escobar but also the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the CIA. Seal not only smuggled drugs into the United States for the cartels but, when caught, ended up working as an undercover operative for the US Government, and that’s only part of it.
Cruise anchors the film with a charismatic, funny, and real performance (when was the last time you heard him use a convincing southern accent?), but he’s also flanked by a murderer’s row of great performers, including Domhnall Gleeson, Jesse Plemons, and Caleb Landry Jones. American Made stands out as an anomaly as reboots, sequels, and remakes continue to be driving forces at the box office. Some audiences have decried the lack of “movies for adults” being made at any noticeable scale in recent years, and that’s one reason American Made has continued to be an underrated little gem; it checks that box.
Furthermore, American Made doesn’t just wallow in being a character drama; it also has a unique kind of spectacle. Cruise fans are well aware at this point of his obsession with flying and how he utilizes his own skills on screen. We’ve seen it in the Top Gun films and Mission: Impossible, but the use of planes and Cruise’s pilot abilities are shown in a totally new light with American Made.
Liman utilizes extensive coverage from the exterior of the planes, which is woven together with shaky footage of Cruise operating them from the inside. No matter if he’s deliberately crashing his plane or trying to outrun gunfire in the air, there is a dramatic tension at the heart of these action beats that feels visceral. You’re not supposed to feel like this is a fun moment worth emulating for a kid on the playground like one of Ethan Hunt’s missions; it’s real, and it’s terrifying. This distinction makes it a total reverse for what we saw in Top Gun: Maverick, which made the reality of fighter jet pilots into IMAX-worthy bliss. That in mind, it’s easy to see why American Made has been somewhat forgotten.
American Made Proved Tom Cruise Doesn’t Need Blockbuster Movies, They Need Him
In the time since he starred in American Made, Tom Cruise has starred in just four other movies: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Though the box office success of these movies might make it seem like Cruise’s career is on the right trajectory, he seems best suited for blockbusters over middle-budget movies that aren’t even really being made anymore. American Made proves the opposite is true.
One thing that has to be stated is that even though American Made is based on a true story, very little of what is shown in the movie is actually the truth. But that is actually where Cruise’s involvement as the star works in its favor and proves he should go back to smaller-scale projects. Cruise uses his status as a believable performer in American Made, having crafted it over the years across countless movies, to lend credibility to a story that seems entirely too far-fetched to be based in reality.
By cementing Cruise at the center, the film can take the seed of the actual truth and then push it into wild places that are not reflective of reality. But with Cruise at the heart, in a grounded and everyman performance, the outlandish nature of the movie is given weight. On the flipside, that same credibility makes something as outlandish as the fiction of Mission: Impossible also have the same connectivity with audiences, but the tone of those specific movies means that they don’t need Cruise’s weight as a performer to make it believable. The audience is already bought into something crazy happening in Mission: Impossible, but an original movie like American Made doesn’t have that luxury from the onset.
What’s clear to anyone who watches American Made once its over is that Tom Cruise’s movie stardom is not defined by being shown on the biggest screen possible. Instead, his work is noteworthy for how his performance elevates the story and then lends weight to its drama and action. For nearly a decade, Cruise has continued to refine his place in action movie history, but we can’t forget that, as recently as eight years ago, he was still proving that he’s a movie star still capable of surprising us.
If we’ve convinced you to give it a watch, as of this writing, American Made is streaming on Peacock and Prime Video.
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