{"id":1208859,"date":"2026-02-21T04:07:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T04:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=601358"},"modified":"2026-02-21T04:07:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T04:07:53","slug":"a-definitive-ranking-of-tom-cruises-26-best-action-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/a-definitive-ranking-of-tom-cruises-26-best-action-movies\/","title":{"rendered":"A definitive ranking of Tom Cruise\u2019s 26 best action movies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tom
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After spending several months doing not much besides watching Tom Cruise<\/a> movies, I now spend a lot of time wondering about Tom Cruise running. <\/p>\n

The Mission: Impossible star is a high-cadence runner. He\u2019s famously short of stature<\/a>, low to the ground and with short legs. But that build is perfect for cinema, because those arms swing and those legs churn and convey a viscerality, a violence, a constant labored activity<\/a> that translates perfectly to the screen. What they convey is a man of action, a man summoning all of his energy and will in a single direction: to move as quickly as he can.<\/p>\n

What is he thinking about when he\u2019s running? I like to think the answer is nothing. That Tom Cruise is able to empty his head when he runs, blanking out his career, his cultural meaning, his past and present personal relationships, and move in a state of pure being. Maybe he\u2019s doing one of his infamous stunts, a run towards a large dangerous vehicle, or off the side of a cliff. Maybe that makes him run faster. Maybe he feels a drive toward oblivion (and for Oblivion<\/em><\/a>), to make the ultimate sacrifice to cinema, resulting in a cultural afterlife even longer than eternal stardom allows.<\/p>\n

This, in many ways, has been Tom Cruise\u2019s career-long relationship with action movies. They\u2019re his port in the storm, a safe harbor, a place to go and find love and acceptance when there seemingly is none to be had elsewhere. When the press is digging into your religion<\/a> or snickering about your failed marriages<\/a> or accusing you of being awkward or crazy or scary<\/a>, you can find refuge in a MacGuffin to track down, a bad guy\u2019s plot to foil, a world to save.<\/p>\n

The challenge each writer and director must face is how to handle Cruise\u2019s well-known persona. Do they lean in or subvert? And to what end? When gifted with perhaps the most charismatic, committed movie star ever, are you willing to grapple with this stardom, how it explains the actor at a given point in his career, and what our response to him means? Or do you run?<\/p>\n

The following is a ranking of Tom Cruise\u2019s greatest action films. In the interest of gimmicky symmetry, we\u2019ve once again capped ourselves at 26 titles<\/a>. We didn\u2019t cheat\u2026 much. The films below all contain shootouts, fistfights, corpses, and missile crises. Most importantly, they are (mostly) tense, suspenseful, violent, escapist popcorn, not to be confused with the other half of Cruise\u2019s equation: the pool-playing, the bartending, the litigating, and the deeply felt character work with auteurs, intended to get him the ultimate prize, which has eluded him for nearly half a century<\/a>. Let\u2019s run the numbers.<\/p>\n

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26. Valkyrie<\/strong> (2008)<\/h2>\n

Director: <\/strong>Bryan Singer
Where to watch:\u00a0<\/strong>Free on Pluto TV<\/a>, Kanopy<\/a>, Hoopla<\/a><\/p>\n

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