Tom Cruise and "The Last Samurai" can also be considered to be part of this formula. "Widescreenings" noted that for Tom Cruise's character Daniel Kaffee in "A Few Good Men", "[screenwriter] Aaron Sorkin interestingly takes the opposite approach of "Top Gun", where Cruise also starred as the protagonist. In "Top Gun", Cruise plays Mitchell who is a 'hot shot' military underachiever who makes mistakes because he is trying to outperform his late father. Where Maverick Mitchell needs to rein in the discipline, Daniel Kaffee needs to let it go, finally see what he can do." Sorkin and director Rob Reiner are praised
Tom Cruise filmography action spy thriller film "" (1996), the first film project of his production company Cruise/Wagner Productions, which he had co-founded with Paula Wagner in 1993. As of 2018, Cruise has appeared in five more films in the "" franchise: "" (2000), "" (2006), "" (2011), "" (2015), and "" (2018). He played the titular role in the Cameron Crowe-directed comedy-drama "Jerry Maguire" (1996), which garnered Cruise the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1999, Cruise starred in the Stanley Kubrick-directed erotic thriller