Over the years, theres been no shortage of moments when the culture has called for Tom Cruise to accept the scourge that plagues us all: mortality. Every now and again—particularly after the perennial action star releases a dud—the admonitions come. “Its time for Tom Cruise to act his age,” they said after the supernatural bomb that was The Mummy. “Cruise is strong and agile,” they clucked in the wake of American Made, but “nobody needs him to pretend hes 20 years younger than he is, too.” Freezing himself in a state of perpetual adolescence, they charged, had even sapped Cruise of his humanity.
This year, however, were all singing a different tune. Mission: Impossible — Fallout has been hailed the best action movie of 2018—even if it, too, is committed to perpetuating the fiction that as the franchise has gotten older, Cruise has stayed the same age. Perhaps most impressively, the film saw the franchises biggest-ever debut at the box office—a pretty unambiguous signal that plenty of fans will still show up to see Cruise do what he does best, tsk-tsking be damned.
And so, I stand before you days after seeing Fallout—clad in a seasonally inappropriate turtleneck and humming that iconic theme song, adrenaline still coursing through my veins—to offer a modest proposal: how about we all just agree, right here and right now, to let Tom Cruise act whatever age he wants? For those who have actually fallen for Cruises Dorian Gray–like magic trick, a reminder: the man is 56 years old. That makes him 22 years older than Rebecca Ferguson, who has played Ethan Hunts love interest Ilsa Faust for the last two Missions: Impossible. Like many Hollywood men, Cruise often plays romantic lead to women who are young enough to be his daughter—an opportunity rarely, if ever, afforded to aging actresses. This, perhaps, is reason enough to wag a finger at Cruise.
But then again: did you see Tom Cruise run in Mission: Impossible — Fallout?! His knees practically hit his chest with every stride! Did you appreciate the insanity of Cruise executing a fight scene alongside 35-year-old Henry Cavill in an immaculate white bathroom, nailing every punch, every dodge, every kick? Car chases, motorcycle chases, hand-to-hand combat on the side of a cliff—you name it, Cruise still has it covered. Oh, and just for good measure, this film threw in a helicopter chase through the snowy mountains of Kashmir.
Ethan Hunt has always had a cheeky streak, particularly when sparring with enemies. But the older Cruise gets, the looser he seems to feel in this role. Thats not always the case, particularly when big Hollywood franchises try to address the passage of time. Sometimes, you get Princess Leia getting promoted to General Organa; other times, you get Harrison Ford trading wisecracks with Shia LaBeouf. But the increasing ease with which Cruise slides into this role has cemented him, probably forever, as the only actor who can bear the weight of this franchise on his immaculately toned shoulders. After all, we all saw what happened after Mission: Impossible flirted with replacing Cruise in 2011s Ghost Protocol: Jeremy Renners William Brandt, once rumored to be Ethan Hunts successor, did not even merit a mention in Fallout.
Sure, allowing Cruise to play all the ageless action heroes he wants may mean letting go of the hope that he will move on to meatier, more dramatic roles in the later years of his career. Hes been concentrating on Ethan Hunt types for the past decade, and not all of them have made such a good impression: for every Edge of Tomorrow—a relentlessly watchable masterpiece co-starring Emily Blunts glistening biceps—theres been an Oblivion. The latter is the sort of movies critics focus on when they collectively call for Tom Cruise to grow up. The assumption here seems to be that Cruise could be doing more for us if he allowed himself to age, if he embraced the weight that could come with allowing himself to play a father, a husband, a beleaguered man in his 50s.
That said, would watching Cruise play a sad dad really contribute more to the culture than Cruise leaping from rooftop to rooftop, duping people with masks, and once again trying to clear his name after being framed? Would a thought-provoking performance really have more value than the escapist glee of Fallout? If Cruise can keep delivering action films as delightfully engrossing as the Mission: Impossible movies, Im willing to let the lesser movies slide. As long as Ethan Hunt lives, Ill keep telling Tom Cruise he doesnt look a day over 35, up until the day I die—you know, because he never will.
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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