Tom Cruise Face-Off: His Best Movie Revealed

Last week, with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One arriving in theaters, we thought it would be the perfect time to look at the stunt-filled road that got us here and ask you to help us decide which of Tom Cruise’s movies was the best of the best. 

Now, after thousands and thousands of 1v1 battles with matchups like Mission: Impossible – Fallout vs. Top Gun and The Last Samurai vs. Risky Business, the ultimate Tom Cruise movie has been chosen.

So, which movie claimed the top spot in our battle of Tom Cruise’s filmography? Drumroll please…

With a commanding 83% win percentage, Top Gun: Maverick has soared above the competition, much like it did at the box office last year. Yes, the film that became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time in North America and the twelfth highest-grossing film of all time globally has similarly captured the hearts of IGN’s audience.

We almost had a Top Gun takeover in this Tom Cruise face-off but Edge of Tomorrow had just enough in its own tank to secure a second place finish with a 74.2% win percentage that Top Gun’s 72.9% win percentage just couldn’t… well… top. 

Mission: Impossible – Fallout placed fourth and marked the first Mission: Impossible film to rank in this Face-Off. It was joined in the top 10 by Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation, and the original as they ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively. Mission: Impossible 3 took spot #14 and Mission: Impossible 2 was at 23rd place.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One was not part of this face-off as it just landed in theaters, but be sure to let us know where you think it would rank on your list below!

Minority Report placed fifth, A Few Good Men followed at sixth, and The Last Samurai rounded out the top 10.

On the other side of this Cruise ship was Endless Love, which was actually Tom Cruise’s first movie role. It was a smaller role and was released back in 1981, so it’s not too much of a surprise that some of his bigger films that centered on him performed better.

Right behind Endless Love was The Mummy, which also probably shouldn’t surprise too many people as it wasn’t reviewed well and the director of the film, Alex Kurtzman, actually said it was “probably the biggest failure” of his life.

The rest of the bottom 10 included All the Right Moves, Lions for Lambs, Rock of Ages, Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Outsiders, Legend, Far and Away, and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

Are you wondering where your favorite Tom Cruise movie landed, like maybe War of the Worlds? (It took spot #17!) For all the rankings, you can check out the full list of where all 41 Tom Cruise movies who competed in this Face-Off ended up.

For more Tom Cruise, check out our Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One review, our list from 2017 of the 30 greatest Tom Cruise movie moments, or our look at why the Mission: Impossible movies are only as good as how far Tom Cruise falls.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.