Afterglow: Tom had an odd decade in the 2010s trying to gain his footing outside of his surefire series with a rare supporting turn in the musical bomb Rock of Ages. A movie that had the fatal flaw of casting bad actors as leads. Needless to say, Cruise stole the show, not that there was much to steal. He then scored some rebounds with Jack Reacher his first non-Mission movie with Paramount since his firing in 2006. Casting himself as the 6’5 hulk known in the books turned as many heads as when he was cast as Lestat in Interview With The Vampire. The movie earned over $200 million on a comparatively modest $80 million budget in order to be regarded as a decent success. And thus began his directing collaboration with Christopher McQuarrie who he hired to direct the fifth Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Although he returned to the sci-fi ballpark with Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion (another decent hit), his only non-Mission: Impossible $100 million domestic earner since 2005 was Edge of Tomorrow. Until now.

Late-peak: Fast forward 17 years he is the master of the softball interview. He has never gone on Colbert, instead setting records with funny sketches with James Corden. Honestly, it’s a great spot to be for someone more used to jumping out of a plane than on a couch. He will be Corden’s last-ever guest on The Late Late Show. At 60 years old, 10 years older than the next most prominent movie star Dwayne Johnson (and making much better movies). The consensus seems to be that most people aren’t phased too much by any of Cruise’s offscreen interests. As long as he delivers on screen. And he does so on a consistent basis.

He is known to be incredibly gracious and present with fans far beyond what you would expect of any movie star. As time goes on, Cruise matches his commercial success by upping the spectacle onscreen. And that makes for the perfect escape for audiences to pay to see at the end of the day. But as Jimmy Kimmel asked Cruise in an interview lately how long can it last? As Ed Harris reminds us in his most recent film: The end is inevitable Maverick. Your kind is headed for extinction. Yet with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opening this summer, somehow looking better than all the films in the series previously, We believe in Cruise: Maybe so sir, but not today.