MovieChat Forums > Risky Business (1983) Discussion > Best acting of any TC film

Best acting of any TC film

posted 15 years ago by zumwildenhirsch
38 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film for the first time last night after meaning to for 2 decades - just never got round to it. Having seen pretty much all of Tom Cruise's other films I was really struck by how natural his performance is compared to his later work. He seems to adopt a default intensity mode for almost every film now (and for the past 15-20 years) which sucks the naturalism out of him. I wish he could go back, watch Risky Business and remember that, if he would just loosen up and not be artificially intense all the time, he can deliver a very decent performance.

[–] thbryn 15 years ago

Those days are gone, forever. It was likely a product of his choices rather than he himself.

[–] danteism 10 years ago

I'm not a huge Tom Cruise fan by a long shot but it sounds like many have only seen the commercial summer movie and blockbuster action type films while his best work is elsewhere.

His performance in Magnolia is utterly astounding and enough to make up for every crap film he's ever made.

Then there's Born on the 4th of July, Jerry Maguire, Color of Money, Rain Man, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting as well. The praise for his comedic turn in Tropic Thunder was also well deserved.

As enjoyable as he was in Risky Business he hadn't even come close to hitting his stride yet.

[–] tbuchler-1 15 years ago

I saw this when it came out on big screen and rate it very highly, every single Tom Cruise movie since then has been a massive disappointment, because he is in it. What went wrong? It cannot be a simple answer of roles? Maybe he just got to the point of churning out the rubbish that fans expect. Guys like Brad Pitt and George Clooney add to the character. Tom is...well...Tom

[–] dinsdalethehedgehog 15 years ago

imho his best movie is and will always be Legend. but then again i love 80's fantasy movies:) he's also good as Lestat i thought. i really like him blonde, other than that i cant stand him

kif, i have made it with a woman...inform the men

[–] wtb2612 15 years ago

His best performance was in Magnolia.

[–] mrsbrownstone90 12 years ago

DISAGREE.
He was amazing in Magnolia (2000) and Collateral (2004)
I think his Magnolia performance as TJ Mackey was better than Joel performance.

ROCK OF AGES MOVIE BLOG -http://rockofagesmovieblog.blogspot.com/

[–] hnt_dnl 15 years ago

Guys like Brad Pitt and George Clooney add to the character. Tom is...well...Tom

Seriously? Got to be kidding. Pitt and Clooney are actor-wannabes. Cruise is the real deal. Here's a few where I recommend:

JERRY MAGUIRE
COLLATERAL
RAIN MAN
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
and of course this film

The man can act!

[–] thbryn 15 years ago

He was excellent in "Rain Main." But things have changed. It's not entirely his fault, but it's happened.

[–] jejozi 12 years ago

Don't forget Born on the 4th of July.

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

[–] jejozi 12 years ago

How about Born on the 4th of July?

This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.

[–] jmrex 12 years ago

You failed to mention...

The Color of Money
A Few Good Men
The Firm

[–] m-slovak79 15 years ago

well the Tom Cruise 'haters' cant deny one thing... Tom Cruise has to be one of the highest actors of all time if your looking at consistent movie quality pretty much and $$$ at box office. the guy has had a great career regardless if you like him or not.

and honestly... his strongest Decade would definitely be the 2000's for me since damn near every film he's made in the 2000's has been above average pretty easily as the only film he was in that i did not care for in the 2000's was 'Lions for Lambs', other than that they all been quite good (i won't count Tropic Thunder either since that was not really his film as he did not star in it).

but looking at the 1980's and 1990's i would say...

best of 1980's...

-Risky Business
-Top Gun
-The Color of Money (this is underrated (one of Scorsese's better films) but i do have to admit this one of the few films i felt Cruise was out shined, which was by Paul Newman. but then again this was a sequel to 'The Hustler' (1961) starring Paul Newman (which was a great film and easily my favorite 'black and white' film.)

(p.s. there's other solid film in the 1980's he was in but i think those three are the ones i would find myself watching the most often)

best of 1990's...

-Interview with the Vampire
-Jerry Maguire (Cruise/Zellweger worked great together. had nice chemistry and Cuba Gooding Jr was solid to. a greay film)
-Mission Impossible

(p.s. he also has other solid films in the 1990's but like the 1980's i think these three are the 'stand out' ones from the pack that i would find myself re-watching the most often out of his 1990's flicks)

best of 2000's...

-Mission Impossible 2 (yes i said it.. this is quite underrated it's WAY better than it's 5.x/10 claims it is (i would not give it less than a 8/10 minimum for my single vote. even 'average rating' wise it should EASILY be low to mid 6's BARE MIN although high 6's would be about right.) but for some reason people hate this film on IMDB but the general public sure liked it as it was the best of the trilogy (sales wise) and i would agree with that. Cruise/Newton work well on screen together which helps makes this the best of the MI series. plus not to mention the actions scenes where really nice and when i first seen them i thought they where really cool/fun etc)
-Collateral (huge fan of this and it's my 2nd favorite hitman themed film of all time behind 'Leon' (1994))
-The Last Samurai (huge fan of this to. a powerful film! ... has a high rating AND aint far from 100,000 votes to.)
-Valkyrie (one of my Top4 films (Felon/The Dark Knight/Gran Torino/Valkyrie) of 2008 and it's 1 of only 4 i rated higher than a 8/10 in 2008)
-Minority Report (also a quite popular film as it's got over 100,000+ (around 120K+ to be more precise) votes and not many films crack the 100,000+ mark on IMDB so anything that does usually has to be really liked in general.)

MI3 - War of the Worlds , are also solid.

hell... this decade is almost to the point where you could pick a film and not complain if it where not for 'Lions for Lambs' (i wont count Tropic Thunder since it's more of a Ben Stiller etc type film) ... but out of his 'good films' in 2000's to date, i would say that overall 'Vannila Sky' was his weakest of the good/great ones which is pretty much every other films besides Lions for Lambs/Tropic Thunder.

-------------------------------------------

so while not everyone will agree on what's his best etc etc... you have to admit most of his films are easily above average especially in the 2000's as he's put out some of his top top films in the 2000's which as i said before i think is easily his strongest decade out of the 3 (80's/90's/00's) so far without question.... either way, Cruise would have to be ranked pretty high on the 'all time best actors' list just because of the success he's had that not many reached his level in that dept over such a long period of time on top of it.

and come to think of it... he's got to be one of my favorite actors if not THE BEST just because a high percentage of the time if he's in a film you can pretty much expect it to be easily above average and there's not to many others actors out there i can say that about especially to sustain a level of quality which even some of my better actors like Nicolas Cage/Denzel Washington etc etc (i know people like to make fun of Cage on IMDB but you gotta admit his career has been generally good. im also a HUGE fan of Cage's 2005 film called 'Lord of War' which i consider to be a masterpiece.) have had a more up and down career (although generally good in my opinion) vs Cruise where his quality standards have been consistently high for the most part.

---
My Vote History ... http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=11026826
---

[–] davidsena 13 years ago

Interesting to see the Co$ machine in full on assault. Do you really have to be OT-V to be allowed to touch a computer?

[–] mrsbrownstone90 12 years ago

great post!

ROCK OF AGES MOVIE BLOG -http://rockofagesmovieblog.blogspot.com/

[–] facepunch77 15 years ago

tom cruise is great in everything. that's why he's tom cruise.

[–] Topsy_Turvy_van_Gogh 14 years ago

I'll agree.. In Tom's recent films he does give off a 'Tom Cruise intensity' which kind of takes you out of the film and reminds you that you're watching Tom Cruise playing a character....
But I get this vibe mainly from his action flicks.

I think his best work was in 4th of July!
That movie was incredible. He blew me away with that performance.

[–] DracTarashV 12 years ago

You know, I will probably agree with you. His performance in this film was very natural - he wasn't trying anything - didn't force anything - everything he did came naturally, you couldn't tell he was acting.

YET, I still believe his performance in "Born On the 4th Of July" happens to be his best; that performance was very intense, real, powerful - and Tom completely deserved the nomination... But, "intense" is something Tom definitely adopted in his later roles... but of course, in BOT4OJ, the situation his character was in, it seemed necessary for Tom to portray him in such way.

I have to say Tom was a very good actor all throughout the '80s & '90's, but in many of his roles, he looked like he was putting too much effort in certain scenes. I mean, he was always believable as Vincent Lauria, Ron Kovic, Lestat De Lioncourt, Bill Harford, and Frank T.J. Mackey... but there was always something about some of them that seemed, well... unnatural - you could almost tell he was acting... ALMOST. It came close to "overacting", but not quite. I don't know, I can't explain it... There's a certain trait about Tom Cruise in most of his films that make him, well... Tom Cruise - but I think that is something all actors posses. Regardless, he is a good actor who can act.

But all in all, I will agree that this is his most naturalistic performance to date. He felt like a real person.... It was JOEL! Not Tom Cruise.

[–] Vincen7 12 years ago

I don't really agree.. even in his more recent films like Collateral or War of the Worlds he acted naturally and didn't force anything.. also in 1999 he played 2 completely different characters.. Magnolia as an over the top sex guru and Eyes Wide Shut, as the quiet, shy doctor.. he pulled those off brilliantly too.. so maybe it's just that he looked very different in 1983..

[–] Gwasgray 12 years ago

Naturalistic acting?? I mean, he wasn't bad for an inexperienced 18 year old but
to be frank his acting in this was a bit stilted most of the time. I don't how you can say this is better than anything he's done as a more mature and experienced actor.