Tom Cruise can be marmite for some people, but he can never be accused of ever phoning in a role or a performance. Of all the films he's ever appeared in, you'll find him (most often) leading from the front and giving it socks. We're particularly excited to see what's to come from his next big film Oblivion. Watch the trailer here. In the meantime, here's five of his best...

5. TOP GUN

"That's right, Iceman. I am dangerous." If you were a young boy, growing up in early 90's Ireland, this film was on constant repeat on Network 2. Playing reckless fighter pilot / "naval aviator" Maverick, Tom Cruise rose to international superstar status on the success of this film. In fact, Top Gun was so successful, the US Navy had recruitment booths set up outside cinemas during its initial run.

4. TAPS

"It's beautiful, man! Beautiful!" Taps is a brilliant little film that isn't referenced too much in Tom Cruise's back catalogue, mainly because he was a supporting cast member. Nevertheless, he steals every scene he's in in this Lord of the Flies-esque drama about a military school that's forced to close. Starring alongside baby-faced Sean Penn, Timothy Hutton and Giancarlo Esposito (Gus from Breaking Bad), Tom Cruise played an unhinged student at the school who, along with the rest of the cast, led a sit-in protest that ends in tragedy.

3. COLLATERAL

"I shot him. Bullets and the fall killed him." Tom Cruise is known for immersing himself in his roles. In Michael Mann's Collateral, he played the ice-cold assassin Vincent, who's "making his rounds" with Jamie Foxx as his captive / taxi-driver. This was a huge gamble for Cruise, who up to this point, had never played a villain before. Needless to say, he absolutely nailed it in this, perfectly mixing charm and humour with dead-eyed ruthlessness. One of Michael Mann's best films.

2. MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

"Kitridge, you've never seen me upset." The first, and arguably the best, Mission Impossible exploded onto screens in the summer of 1996. It's true, the plot is more than a bit complicated - there's something to do with a list and a mole - but Cruise leads the film with a convincing performance as IMF (No, not the International Monetary Fund) Agent, Ethan Hunt. The climax, on top of a speeding TGV, has aged remarkably well considering it's seventeen years old.

1. A FEW GOOD MEN

"Did you order the Code Red?" It's true, the courtroom scene at the end with Jack Nicholson is so quotable now, it's almost a parody of itself when you look at it now. Still, A Few Good Men is one of those films were there are no flashy pyrotechnics, there are no CGI trains - it's just stripped back and down to the individual performances. Working with a script by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin, Tom Cruise delivers his strongest role as Lieutenant Kaffee, the lawyer assigned to defend two Marines accused of killing a colleague in a brutal hazing ritual. Amazingly, however, Cruise was never nominated for an Oscar for his role.