Top Gun 1986, Minority Report 2002, Collateral 2004, and The Last Samurai 2003
If there was only more time, I would add Rain Man to the list. That's another great one from Cruise that deserves recognition. It's time will come. For me, Top Gun represents the birth of Cruise as a movie star and the proper introduction for him in tonight's marathon. He's done other notable roles in movies like Taps, Outsiders, and Risky Business. Everyone can debate on which movie made Cruise a mega star but if I had to put money on it, I would say Top Gun is what introduced the world to this actor. The movie has gone onto becoming an action movie classic and romantic drama. The plot for Top Gun puts Cruise in a Navy elite fighter weapons school, where students compete to be the best in the class. While on his mission to become the best in the class, he falls for a civilian instructor and learns a few things from her that aren't taught in the classroom. Cruise is backed by a strong supporting cast among the likes of Val Kilmer, Kelly McGillis, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, and Michael Ironside. The film is iconic from its impressive visual effects, to it's two lead stars, to cheesy but iconic lines in the script such as "Take me to bed tomorrow or lose me forever," or "You can be my wingman anytime." Top Gun is the ideal summer blockbuster and drama with a powerful message about friendship. The second film for Tom Cruise night is Minority Report directed by legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. This is Cruises first pairing up with Spielberg and the end result is a spectacular science fiction thriller. The plot of Minority Report puts Cruise in the future as an officer for a special police unit that's able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes. The twist in the plot is Cruise himself is implicated in a future crime and is sought after by the police. Backing Cruise in this venture is a Max Von Sydow and Colin Ferrall. Minority Report is exciting, thrilling, suspenseful, and essential towards getting the best of Cruise in tonight's lineup. It only gets better with the next installment titled Collateral. Whereas the first two had Cruise as a heroic and likeable character, he plays a villain in Michael Mann's dark thriller. Collateral has him playing an engaging contract killer who takes hostage a cab driver played brilliantly by Jamie Foxx. During their cab ride, Cruise makes his rounds doing hit to hit throughout different sectors of Los Angeles. Becoming more obvious that Jamie Foxx's character knows he is not going to be spared, he must find a way to save himself and the final victim. Collateral represents a different change of pace for Cruise and makes him thrilling to witness playing a darker role. The final film of the night has Cruise giving probably the defining performance of his career. He is utterly amazing in this one and to this day, still makes no sense why he didn't receive an Oscar nomination for his role in The Last Samurai. Director Edward Zwick has a skill for getting actors in is films to turn in performances that appear to be the best they ever did on their resumes. For Tom Cruise, this is probably his finest hour. Last Samurai places him in the role of an American military advisor who embraces the Japanese Samurai culture he was hired to destroy after being injured in battle. It may seem like this story has already been done before in Kevin Costner's Dances With The Wolves, and James Cameron's Avatar, but it's the different style that each filmmaker brings to the story that makes them good or great. Edward Zwick gives you a world that sucks you right into it at the beginning and doesn't let go, even in the final moments. This film is literally incredible in it's presentation, costume design and art-set decoration. The music score by Hans Zimmer is among the finest work he's ever done. There is no better way to end this marathon than with this brilliant film.
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