The importance of Tom Cruise
FirstpostAfter the first trailer of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation played out on the internet some seven years ago, people were awed and aghast that Tom Cruise had attached himself to the outside of a flying plane for a film stunt. The last surviving superstar whose ludicrousness and feverish commitment has been both regaled and criticised, Cruise returns with the promise that cinema’s last surviving superstar is yet to be galloped and rolled into anonymity by the tidal wave of giant ensemble casts, CGI supporting acts and the notion of collaboration when it is really colonisation. In a photo shared on an episode of the Late-Night Show after the release of Ghost Protocol, Cruise is seen sat atop the Bhurj Khalifa – one of the world’s tallest buildings – on what seems like a platform the width of a narrow ledge, without a safety harness. But Cruise isn’t just the last great action hero, he has the sprinklings of a star ever since his modest body and innocent face walked onto scenes everywhere. Cruise, has in this age of fluid but ultimately trivialising collaboration held his ground as the star who remains outside the reach of the creative world’s deepest pockets.