Best Action Star of the 21st Century

I liked Burt Reynolds a lot, but I don't see any similarities at all with Tom Cruise. For starters, Burt made mostly dumb, simple, good-times movies....and he was generally either a good ol' boy or a cop 90% of the time. He stretched himself a bit more in his third act, which I liked. I generally look back on Burt and his films with fondness...not so much for the quality, but more for nostalgia. I was a kid when he was that huge, fun Hollywood star in the late 70's thru early 80's.

But again, I see zero similarities...unless you were kidding and I missed it. Tom Cruise has quite a bit more range, for starters. For example...The Color of Money....Born on the 4th of July....Rain Man....The Firm....A Few Good Men....Interview w/ a Vampire.....Mission Impossible....Jerry MaGuire....Eyes Wide Shut.....Magnolia....Vanilla Sky.....Collateral.....The Last Samurai.........etc, etc. Simply an amazing body of work. When people hear the name Tom Cruise, they typically think of action movies (which is pretty dismissive of his other genres)....but I get it. They do this because his action movies in the past 25 years have been amazing...one after another.

But if you ever want to get a reminder of TC's acting chops, check out a movie like Born on the 4th of July. He's incredible in that movie...and he will break your heart. I'll put that performance up against ANYTHING Burt Reynolds ever did....and it wouldn't be CLOSE.

Again, nothing against Burt....but I'd guess even he would have admitted....he was just churning out mindless, C-level films for most of his career, simply trading on his star power. He was more of a movie star than an actor, though he did have his moments.

As far as stunts....again, not even close. Burt did what....drove a TransAm in car chases? Tom Cruise ran down the side of a sky.....scraper!

Regarding Peter Pan Syndrome....Burt typically looked older than his age. When he hit mid-thirties, he kept the same look (of a guy in his 40's) for a decent amount of time (due mostly to mustache and cowboy hats). That look is pretty low maintenance. But he never really had a youthful appearance. TC has aged incredibly well...and still (at nearly 60) does stunts himself that guys half his age would pass on.