Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise began learning the real meaning of a self-destructive message when he became Scientology’s couch-jumping, psychiatry-slamming poster boy in the 2000s. But amid increasingly insidious accusations against the church—and recent rumors that he’s ready to quit for the sake of his daughter, Suri—Cruise’s silent submission to the David Miscavige regime belies the principled heroes he plays in $100 million blockbusters.
So why, despite the scandalous allegations linking him to nefarious Scientology deeds earlier this year in the documentary Going Clear, do audiences keep flocking to see him save the world as ‘90s era superspy Ethan Hunt?
Call it wishful movie-going: They’re buying tickets for Tom Cruise’s soul.
But really, the more that Mission: Impossible movies keep getting made, the more they stay the same: Sturdy action vehicles for ‘90s-era Tom Cruise to keep saving the world, featuring just enough Cruise to root for without having to overthink about the man underneath. For every insane Scientological scandal that rocks Cruise’s now-carefully controlled image, these films will always harken back to the halcyon days of the ‘90s, before he was exposed as a figurehead for the most controversial religious organization of our time.
