What Should Tom Cruise Do After Mission Impossible?
We’re less then a month away from Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning hitting theaters. This is supposed to be the last Mission Impossible movie and will close out an era for Cruise’s career. It raises the question, what should Tom Cruise do after Mission Impossible? Let’s talk about it!
What’s Next?
Tom Cruise has a few movies lined up after The Final Reckoning release. Next year, he’s teaming up with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the director of Birdman and The Revenant. It’s supposedly a drama that’s probably going to be an Oscar contender (maybe finally give him an Oscar). It also stars Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy, and Sandra Hüller. It has a great cast and it’s cool that Cruise is doing something that’s not an action movie soon after The Final Reckoning releases. He’s had several movies rumored to be happening for a while but nothing has been confirmed. It sounds like he’s going to be teaming up with SpaceX to film a movie in space directed by Doug Liman. That’s something that’s been in the works for a long time, I don’t know if that’ll happen. There’s ever changing rumors about Edge of Tomorrow 2 happening (it should happen). We’re supposedly getting another Top Gun movie, not much updates have been given on that. He’s not going to be out of work, but it’s not exactly clear what direction his career is going after The Final Reckoning comes out.
What SHOULD He Do Next?
As far as answering the question, what should Tom Cruise do next? As much as I love the Mission Impossible movies, Edge of Tomorrow, and Top Gun: Maverick. I think he needs to move away from action movies. I feel like he’s been in an action rut for years. I don’t mean that as a bad thing. As long as his action movies are incredible and top three of the year, I don’t care. But at the same time, he’s been an action guy for almost 30 years. Mission Impossible (1996) turns 30 next year, he’s been primarily an action star since then. With the next Mission Impossible being called Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning that seems perfect to end this era of his career and move onto something else.
One thing to keep in mind about Tom Cruise is that he’s a fantastic actor. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that he’s world class and able to be fantastic. One of my biggest movie pet peeves is when people say “Tom Cruise is just The Rock but white.” People often criticize The Rock for playing himself in every movie and they apply that logic to Cruise which I think is wrong. He’s very versatile and has done a lot of different things. Since he's been the action guy for the past 30 years you see him as that one thing instead of a dramatic actor. Maybe my favorite movie is A Few Good Men. I love that movie. He has a little bit of that Tom Cruise movie star charisma about him, but it’s a dramatic role within a dramatic movie. He’s holding his own against Jack Nicholson, one of the greatest actors to ever live. He was a dramatic actor before Mission Impossible (1996) came out. You watch stuff like Jerry Maguire and give just another dramatic performance that earned him an Oscar nomination. You look at the number of directors that he’s worked with and it’s fantastic all the way. Back in the ‘80s he worked with Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, two legendary directors. I haven’t seen his Scorsese film, The Color of Money. But it’s still a Scorsese movie where he’s acting opposite Paul Newman. The big answer in my mind as to what Tom Cruise should do after Mission Impossible, it’s dramas.
For a bit, he was in walks to be in Quentin Tarantino’s 10th film, The Film Critic. Now it’s turned into Taranitno’s script but directed by David Fincher. I hope he still gets a role in that. Maybe it’s not even a big role, maybe it’s only 10-15 minutes but it’s this memorable character that allows Tom Cruise to disappear into this role. Let Tarantino’s script and Fincher’s direction be the star, not himself. I don’t know if this is an ego thing but Mission Impossible has turned from a spy franchise adapted from a 1960s tv show to a Tom Cruise action franchise. Even Top Gun: Maverick heavily produced and worked on by Cruise. Maybe he needs to do a drama where he doesn’t producer or anything, he lets the creative team do the thing and he just gets to act. That could be really cool.
A comparison that I think is worth making is Robert Downey Jr’s performance in Oppenheimer. Where we all fell in love with Downey in the MCU. His performance as Tony Stark is maybe the most celebrated performance of the 2010s. As far as blockbuster performances, he’s at the top of the list. You forgot that he was a great actor that’s world class. Then Christopher Nolan casts him in Oppenheimer and he’s only in it for 20 minutes but steals the show and wins the Oscar. Suddenly you’re reminded that he’s world class and fantastic. If Tarantino or Scorsese does that with Cruise and gives him a 20 minute part that earns him another Oscar nomination, maybe even a win that’ll be cool. And once again remind everybody that he’s a great actor.
One final to talk about here, one of Cruise's best movies and performances is Tropic Thunder. He’s only in the movie for five minutes, pretty much just an extended cameo. It’s just so funny to have somebody like Cruise come in to dance and say funny things. His two requests to Ben Stiller for that movie is he wants fat hands and he wants to dance. He made that character iconic because he’s versatile and willing to go for it. That movie is filled with iconic scenes and moments but the most memorable is Cruise’s scenes. I know that we’ll never get a sequel to Tropic Thunder. If there’s a way to give him another cameo in a comedy that would be awesome. Once again, don’t market him in the movie. Have it be a surprise but it’s just a small one or two scene cameo and it’ll be so much fun.
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