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 series, and grossed nearly $400 million at the box office. In 2007, Cruise took a rare supporting role for the second time in "Lions for Lambs", which was a commercial disappointment. This was followed by an unrecognizable appearance as "Les Grossman" in the 2008 comedy "Tropic Thunder" with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. This performance earned Cruise a Golden Globe nomination. Cruise played the central role in the historical thriller "Valkyrie" released on December 25, 2008 to box office success. In March 2010, Cruise completed filming the action-comedy "Knight and Day", in which he re-teamed with former