The Last Movie Star

Humphrey Bogart never played a character — he played Bogart. John Wayne, Steve McQueen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone — these were movie stars. You paid to see them as much as whatever movie they were in.

And they’re a dying breed these days — with one notable exception: Tom Cruise.

The 53-year-old star avoids provoking his fans, embraces popular movie genres over art-house trifles, and gives it the proverbial 100 percent in front of the camera. His ties to a controversial religion haven’t permanently dinged his box office chops, either, nor all those rumors (you know the ones).

Before 2008’s “Tropic Thunder,” the idea of a balding Cruise dancing and twerking to Flo Rida as a profane character in a Ben Stiller comedy was unthinkable. But with the decline of the action movie, with star power fading across the medium, and franchises taking over, this seemed like Cruise’s future. He would become a higher rent Neil Patrick Harris, doing cameos or appearing as himself. Maybe disappearing as his 50s set in.

That hasn’t happened, and one viewing of “Tropic Thunder” will tell you why. There are actors who act and do so superbly (Meryl Streep, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew McConaughey) and there are movie stars, and there is only one left … it’s Cruise.

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That doesn’t make Cruise a movie star any more than any other celebrity with a big checking account, but his command of the screen is a different story.

When McConaughey’s agent character invades Les Grossman’s office, the Cruise character in “Tropic Thunder,” over a contract breach, Grossman goes into a fit of rage that has been copied to parody in the years since. McConaughey stares in awe, unable to react to Cruise, who has created an amalgam of the Hollywood brass he’s dealt with during his career.

He’s the last person people will sit in a dark room with strangers and watch for $20.

One reason Cruise remains relevant, and refreshing, is that he doesn’t deliberately alienate fans. Some stars get hyper-political (Sean Penn) or mock segments of the movie-going public in press chats (too numerous to list). Emily Blunt earlier this month had to apologize for taunting GOP voters while talking up her new project, “Sicario.” Cruise mostly steers clear of such ideological rhetoric.

That’s not to say his off-screen behavior is perfect. Cruise was deemed crazy in 2005 after his sofa-jumping appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. His long-standing ties to the Church of Scientology, a religion many view with either skepticism or alarm, doesn’t help, either. Like some other male actors, rumors of his sexuality have dogged him through the years — despite two marriages to Hollywood starlets and a string of high-profile romances.

Maybe these flaws have humanized him to a degree. That isn’t Superman driving the Porsche off the side of a cliff, but just a guy with his own inferiority complex and serious religious and personal issues.

Since “Tropic Thunder” boosted his career, Cruise opted to find movies that audiences, not critics, wanted to watch. He respects those who pay their hard-earned money for a leisurely night out. Instead of opting for “serious” work, he pumped up his franchises and spy flicks. Fewer Oscar chances, but more happy moviegoers.

Cruise’s 2014 film “Edge of Tomorrow” was the best science-fiction movie in years, far better than any of the sequel and franchise fare of late. The last two “Mission: Impossible” movies have been two of the most enjoyable and fun action movies in years. “Jack Reacher” has taken the action novel throne previously held by the Tom Clancy canon, with the franchise being amped up in its second outing.

Cruise steers clear of such ideological rhetoric.

Actors in comic franchises often reject their on-screen alter egos (“Spider-Man” star Tobey Maguire was often perturbed at the notion he read comic books as a kid), or shrug off any possibility of a connection with their action personas (Harrison Ford). Cruise, in comparison, owns a P-51 Mustang and a fleet of Ducati Superbikes, many of which have appeared in his movies. He also does much of his own stunt work, no matter how ridiculous or dangerous.

He also benefits from keeping in almost genetically impossible shape for a 50-plus star. And he’s shrewd enough to poke fun at his age. (The joke he makes at his own expense in the bar in ‘Reacher’ when approached by an interested member of the opposite sex, was simultaneously self-aware and said with no wink or regret).

Cruise ultimately wants nothing less than giving people their money’s worth. It’s why he still matters, perhaps more than ever.