Every Tom Cruise Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
4. Born On The Fourth Of July (1989)
Netting Cruise his first of three Oscar nominations, Born on the Fourth of July finds the actor playing a soldier far removed - but more genuinely heroic - than other military figures he's played through the years.
As Ron Kovic, Cruise offers up his single most transformative role, portraying a real-life Vietnam War vet who gets badly injured on duty and becomes a prominent anti-war protester.
Every scene of the drama hinges on Cruise's intensely raw, painfully human portrayal of man who seems to have lost it all but refuses to succumb to the card life has dealt him, and the actor nails it without missing a beat. Never has he been so emotionally devastating on-screen.