Top Tom Cruise Fims: 5 must-see Tom Cruise movies including Mission Impossible: Fallout and where to watch them

The world’s biggest movie star is back in cinemas this week for the latest entry in his dazzling filmography – Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.

‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ is the seventh film in the hugely successful series starring Tom Cruise as intelligence operative Ethan Hunt.

Since his big screen debut in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1981 film ‘Endless Love’ he has become one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors, with a string of hits to his name.

Here are five of the best.

Tom Cruise stars as Frank T. J. Mackey in Magnolia.

1) Magnolia (Rent from £3.49 on Apple TV)

Cruise’s striking turn as the repellent pickup artist Frank T.J. Mackey in Paul Thomas Anderson’s multi-stranded 1999 epic foresaw the rise of online misogynists like Andrew Tate. He was shortlisted for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar but, in one of the great Academy Award injustices, lost out to a comparatively forgettable performance by Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.

2) Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount+)

A mere 36 years after his first appearance as fighter pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in 1986, Cruise’s second instalment of high-flying fun was credited with saving cinema after the global pandemic. Even more wildly entertaining than its prequel, it grossed just short of $1.5 billion worldwide and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

3) Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Channel 4)

Other than the underpowered second film starring Scotland’s Dougray Scott, there’s plenty to recommend every entry to date in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ series. ‘Fallout’ is probably the standout though; with the most ludicrous stunts, a plot that never lets up on the tension, and a performance from Henry Cavill that redefines the word ‘muscular’.

4) Eyes Wide Shut (Rent from £3.49 on Apple TV)

Stanley Kubrick's final film split the critics on its release in 1999 but, like the majority of the director’s work, the erotic thriller has aged remarkably well and is worth revisiting. Cruise stars alongside his then-wife Nicole Kidman as a doctor who is shaken by his partner’s admission of thoughts of infidelity.

5) Cocktail (Disney+)

Perhaps the epitome of how Cruise can make the slightest film soar with his sheer charm, Cocktail tells the story of a New York business student who works in a bar to make ends meet. When an experienced bartender, played by Bryan Brown, teaches him the tricks of the trade, huge success beckons – but at what cost?