Tom Cruise came a long way from a childhood spent struggling to 
overcome dyslexia and a thunderous family life. Audiences first 
discovered him in Risky Business before he was propelled to 
stardom when he revealed his action-adventure sensibilities in 
Tony Scott’s Top Gun – by the way, look out for Tony’s latest 
flick Domino, very similar in style to Man on Fire.

So where were we? Oh yes, the Tom Cruise factor. Did he get lucky
or was it just a flair as a businessman that next took him to 
Color of Money and Rainman? Both co-starring legends in the 
business (Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman). Was that the deal? 
Star in a film with a legend and some of that charisma and 
success will rub off on you? Well it did! But let’s keep in mind 
as well that Paul Newman was on the down slope of his career and 
he also benefited from the youth and energy that Cruise infused 
into those scenes. 

Then came a string of other films including Far and Away, 
Interview with a Vampire to just mention a few. Cruise then tried 
his hand at producing such films as Mission Impossible which he 
first worked on with Brian DePalma with whom he originally had 
some creative differences. Then MI2 with John Wood. He brought 
the adaptation of Open your Eyes to the screen and titled it 
Vanilly Sky. While many may disagree that he has great acting 
skills, no one could deny that he has the star quality and 
presence. The Last Samurai which many called a masterpiece was 
really just your ordinary "man falls into extraordinary situation
and turns the whole world around" kind of deal. His acting was 
not impressive by all means although the production value was 
impressive.

His latest film was yet another adaptation of the popular War of 
the Worlds which Orson Wells had had a great success with in his 
time. At the helm of the project was Steven Spielberg who is 
known to get great performances from his actors. Having worked 
previously with him on Minority Report, Cruise found an immediate
ease with letting his emotions show and that is the reason why 
his performance in War of the Worlds may be one of the best in 
his career.

Cruise is currently said to be working on an untitled independent 
project that will co-star his ex-wife Nicole Kidman and there are
rumors circulating about him having co-written the script for 
Machiavelli Hangman which is based on the Warren Commission and 
the Kennedy assassination of 1963. Gary Oldman played the part 
of Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone’s big hit JFK. Will Cruise 
also play the obsessive compulsive assassin this time around?

Whatever Tom Cruise does will bring in big bucks at the buck 
office. Whether he plays a man who runs from the police or a man 
who runs from aliens or a man who runs from himself, one thing 
is left certain: we will keep running to see every movie that he 
stars in or produces. 

Raina-Jane Wilson is a movie reviewer.
Machiavelli Hangman
http://www.hangmanmovie.com