In 2017’s American Made, Tom Cruise proved that he can be at his best when playing the exact opposite of Top Gun’s franchise hero Maverick. In 2017’s American Made, Tom Cruise plays real-life smuggler Barry Seal, a larger-than-life figure who ran drugs for the CIA during Iran-Contra. While Barry Seal made a lot of money during his escapades, American Made doesn’t portray the pilot as a charismatic antihero. The fact that the drug money was used to fund anti-Communist death squads in South America is never far from the audience’s mind, making Cruise’s character an amoral figure.

Throughout his career, Cruise has played all manner of morally murky characters. He played an outright villainous assassin in 2004’s underrated thriller Collateral, a campy vampire in 1994’s Anne Rice adaptation Interview With A Vampire, and a grotesque parody of a Hollywood executive in 2008’s Tropic Thunder. However, in recent years, Cruise’s work in the Mission: Impossible franchise, the Jack Reacher movies, the Top Gun series, and standalone hits like Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow have solidified his status as a major action star. Strikingly, American Made turned one of his most famous roles on its head.

Tom Cruise Played The Opposite Of Top Gun’s Maverick In 2017’s American Made

Barry Seal Is The Polar Opposite Of Top Gun’s Maverick

As Barry Seal, Tom Cruise played the opposite of Top Gun’s Maverick in American Made. The parallels are obvious, as both characters are pilots employed by the US government to help out with international interventions. The differences are equally obvious. American Made sees Cruise play a pilot who works outside the law as Barry Seal is secretly hired by the CIA to run cocaine, but simultaneously chased by the DEA. American Made’s high-flying story could not be less like Top Gun’s plot, as Cruise’s Barry Seal doesn’t care about his country and is only in it for the money,

Cruise’s seal is never portrayed as a hero but rather a pawn in a dark chapter of the CIA’s history.

Seal actively helps fund and arm anti-American forces when it is convenient, and he is never portrayed as a hero but rather a pawn in a dark chapter of the CIA’s history. American Made’s brutally bleak ending implies that either the cartels that Seal worked for or the CIA themselves had him killed, whereas Maverick is celebrated for his contributions to America’s Navy in the cheery finales of both Top Gun movies. Despite, or perhaps because of, these differences, American Made is exactly the sort of project Cruise should seek out in his later career as it challenges his screen persona.

Tom Cruise’s American Made Performance Is What His Career Needs More Of

Cruise Needs To Leave His Comfort Zone More Often

It is always fun to see Cruise play Ethan Hunt, Maverick, or another charming, effortlessly cool action hero. However, the versatile actor has proven himself to be a once-in-a-generation talent when he leaves his comfort zone and takes on more morally complex roles. From Magnolia to Born on the Fourth of July to American Made, Cruise’s career is dotted with performances that display the extent of his range. In recent years, reliably popular blockbusters have been Cruise’s primary focus. However, American Made’s inversion of Top Gun proves that it pays for Tom Cruise to take risks.