"Deja Cruise" ("Edge of Tomorrow")

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I remember the good times. When Tom Cruise slid across the floor lip-syncing to Bob Seger in his underwear or went face-to-face with a demonic Tim Curry. I was a boy at the right age when he shot down Soviet fighters with Dr. Green in a F14-A Tomcat or tried to get Elisabeth Shue drunk on cocktails. It didn't feel weird when he was gave 10 year-old Kristen Dunst her first hickey or shopped at K-Mart to buy Dustin Hoffman underwear. And while I don't like film adaptations of popular television series, Ethan Hunt was worthy enough to stand alongside the likes of Peter Graves, Martin Landau, and Greg Morris. But that was many years ago and now I can't help but wonder...
What the hell happened?
Seriously, where did he go wrong? At what point did we as a nation lose Tom Cruise and get a stark raving lunatic with no talent to take his place in a series of forgettable films? Can anyone pin point the exact moment? Because it's been a long time since we were treated to a decent performance by Cruise in a decent movie (and no, "Tropic Thunder" doesn't count because he was portraying a stark raving lunatic with no talent.)
I hope some day we get the return of that actor; I really do. The guy who went toe to toe with Paul Newman at a pool table or never gave up trying to get Dakota Fanning killed by aliens. But alas it looks like for the time being we have to put up with him trying to pretend to be the last samurai in Japan or the last German Colonel who can't speak German.
Or maybe we can't handle the truth it's over. - Jake

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