Tom Cruise is also a freak. But the problem is, Tom doesn't look like Lebron. He looks like a normal person. A normal, albeit, beautiful person. But he's not a normal person. He's an extreme, crazy person. So his freakishness, the fact that he's so different from you and I, is shocking. It's disturbing. But I thought he was like me! He's not like you! Or any of us! And that's not a bad thing.
I watched Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol over the weekend. I really enjoyed it. And I realized something: I always enjoy Tom Cruise in movies. I don't necessarily love all of his movies, but I always love Tom in them. He's fucking awesome.
For much of his career, a large percentage of the population also thought Tom Cruise was awesome. And then a little thing happened:
We found out about his personal life. His Scientology. His couch jumping. His laughing. The way he chooses his wife. His hatred of psychiatry. That time he yelled at Matt Lauer. His laughing. The fact that he isn't aging.
If it wasn't for all of that stuff, America would still be in love with Tom Cruise. And we should still be in love with him.
Tom isn't the kind of actor that you're supposed to identify with. He's not an every man. He's not Tom Hanks. He's not Paul "One Note" Giamatti.
He's the kinda guy who runs around on the tallest building in Abu Dabi. You don't do that, Tom does. So why should he have a normal life?
Just like we aren't 6'8" black men with a super human like abilities, we aren't Tom Cruise, so why should he be like us? I don't want Tom to be sitting around playing XBox and watching Friends, that's what I do!
He should be believing in aliens and arraigned marriage and silent births, he's Tom fucking Cruise! He's bigger than life. Not just in movies, in actual real life. That's pretty cool, in my book.
He's a movie star in the classic tradition. There was a time, it was right before Dustin Hoffman's ugly ass showed up, where movie stars were like this. They were better looking and more awesome than us. People went to movies for the very reason that these stars were different. And they knew that those guys were living completely different lives than them. That was almost the whole point.
And then a bunch of unattractive actors started getting cast as leads and then the whole thing became about the audience identifying with everyone on screen. They were representing us. And that's okay, I guess, but there's something to be said for the other way, Tom's way. For freaks. People who we can never hope to be like, or in some cases, even want to be like. Circus attractions. You're not Ethan Hunt, but maybe Tom could be, and that's why he's the perfect guy to play the role.
I can feel that you're not fully coming with me on this, so let me ask you something else: has Tom Cruise ever not brought it in a role? Has he ever been the worst part of a movie? Hell no. You've never read a review of a Tom Cruise movie that said "Tom seemed a little checked out". He's always checked in.
Tom attacks every role the same he'd attack Sigmund Freud with a baseball bat. He doesn't have any off days. You can't say the same for Brad Pitt or a lot of other pretty boys. This is what he does. Like Lebron, he was born a star. But unlike Lebron, he cares. He wants to be the best. At everything. And he is.
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