4.

Mission:  Impossible III (2006)

image: Paramount

You might be scratching your head right now. Why did I pick Mission: Impossible III as opposed to the original?  Well, with the original, I don’t think that anyone was uncertain about Cruise’s ability to reboot a reliable franchise nor do I think that the role itself fell outside of his comfort zone.  It was actually super comfortably nuzzled all up in his comfort zone.  And why not Mission Impossible: II?  Even I don’t want to talk about that one.  But the trick Cruise pulled off with Mission: Impossible III is this:  for 2 hours and 6 minutes, he made us  forget that he jumped up and down on Oprah’s couch over falling in love with Joey from Dawson’s Creek.  How in the world did he pull THAT off?  Well, first of all, because he’s Tom Cruise.  And since Tom Cruise puts every single atom of his incredibly fit body 100% towards our entertainment, I bought Ethan Hunt’s mission it for the duration of the film, and then afterwards, marveled at the fact that I didn’t think about jumping or couches one time during the entire movie.  It also didn’t hurt that the studio decided to hand the directorial reigns over to J.J. Abrams after a cringe-inducing effort by the usually reliable John Woo, and Abrams let Tom Cruise do what he does best: run.  Did you see him run in this film?  It is downright intimidating how fast Tom Cruise runs, and undeniably exhilarating to watch.

For all the haters, I ask, do you think you can outrun Tom Cruise?  Didn’t think so. That breeze you feel is because Tom Cruise just surpassed your expectations at warp speed while running past you.