Is Tom Cruise one of the greatest action heroes? Is he great enough to be put up on the Mount Rushmore of greatest action movie stars? It has to be a matter of opinion so let’s have mine officially out here. But first, why are we even asking this question?
The Movie Professor on X (Twitter) recently posted a meme modeled on Mount Rushmore such that there is room for four greatest action movie stars on the monument. Three of those are pre-filled with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Tom Cruise. The Movie Professor asked who should be the fourth greatest action hero on this monument.
For this movies fan, however, the question became whether Tom Cruise really belongs there. Now to be honest, I stopped watching action movies ages ago and my exposure to the genre didn’t get past the early 2000s. So my assessment of Cruise as an action hero rests on whatever I saw over twenty years ago, based on which I leaned against him claiming the third slot. A number of real hardcore action heroes flashed in my memory as more eligible replacement of Cruise. Among them are Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, Richard Norton, Van Damme, and Michael Pare, and Mark Dacascos, to name a few.
Now to be fair, I had to look up Tom Cruise on the IMDb to get an idea of how many action movies he has done as a lead. Of his 48 acting credits – which aren’t many compared to the actors I thought of as action stars – most of his post-2003 credits are indeed in the action genre with him as the lead. Since I have not seen those and likely won’t be seeing them anytime soon, if at all, I hereby disqualify myself from passing a ruling on this case.
So the jury is out on Mr. Cruise and you are welcome to drop your two cents in the comment section below.
About the Author
Ernest Dempsey is a writer, editor, blogger, and critic.
