Tom Cruise Rewind

Only six months passed after  A Few Good Men was released before another film starring Tom Cruise as a lawyer premiered. This film is The Firm , a lengthy adaptation of the John Grisham novel by the same name. Cruise plays Mitch McDeere, a lawyer fresh out of law school who has just received the job offer of a lifetime. However, it doesn't take long for Mitch's life -- and the movie in general -- to descend into outlandish chaos.

Courtroom dramas are a staple in the world of classic films, with popular movies like Anatomy of a Murder , Judgement at Nuremberg , and 12 Angry Men among them. By 1992, the format of these dramas was definitely well-established and familiar to most audiences. But despite the increased risk of slipping into the mediocrity of familiarity, A Few Good Men does the exact opposite and comes through with a script and performances so bombastic that it remains highly memorable almost thirty years after its initial release.

The second film Cruise made in the 1990s also happens to be his second film with his then-wife Nicole Kidman. Their status as newly-weds had a large impact on the film's production from the get-go, as it largely became a vehicle for the two of them to show off their relationship. While this movie aims to be a historical romance of epic proportions, the film's lack of exploration into topics like class and immigration and forgettable lead characters do little to create a lasting impact.

Days of Thunder ushered in a new decade for Tom Cruise. As his first film of the 90s, it marks both a fumbled transition from his reputation in the 80s to the more dignified image he crafted of himself in the 90s and a more dramatic transition in his personal life as his marriage to Mimi Rogers ended and his marriage to Nicole Kidman began. For better or for worse, it's the latter reason that makes this film more interesting than anything else. On its own, there's hardly anything memorable.

Eight years and ten movies after Cruise's first film  Endless Love , Cruise finally accomplished a feat that seemed perhaps implausible after some of his more pronounced cinematic failures: he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The film that earned him this nomination was  Born on the Fourth of July , adapted from Ron Kovic's autobiography of the same name and directed by Oliver Stone, who had snagged the Oscar for Best Picture two years prior with another Vietnam War story,  Platoon . While  Platoon  might have ultimately had a larger impact on film history than  Born on the Fourth of July , the latter marks a large development in Cruise's career: not only was he a movie star, but he was a critically-acclaimed actor, as well.

Although Cocktail was a critical failure, it did little to harm Tom Cruise's career. This is largely due to the fact that five months later, Cruise's third attempt at an adult drama was released. At last, he had a critical and commercial hit with Rain Man .

Cocktail remains one of the most well-known Tom Cruise films, even if for the completely wrong reasons. Despite being a commercial success, it was lambasted by critics, earning it its spot as his lowest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes to this day. With that much unanimous negative feedback, it feels silly to argue anything different; however, I do believe there is something of value to be found within it, even if it takes a bit of digging to get there.