Tom Cruise has still got it

A five-minute applause for Top Gun: Maverick and an honorary Palme d’Or; Cannes Film Festival was a hoot for the Mission Impossible man.  

That winning smile  

At 59, Tom Cruise is showing no signs of slowing down. The return of Top Gun, 36 years after the release of the eighties blockbuster, certainly raised some eyebrows when it was first announced. But, like most things in Cruise’s world, it worked out just fine.  

More than fine, in fact. The premier of Top Gun: Maverick, saw a five-minute applause for the film; a rubber stamp of approval from movie big wigs, and a huge check in the box for Cruise’s return to the cockpit.

Flying high 

The premier brought more than a touch of Hollywood to the famously tasteful Cannes Festival. French fighter jets took to the sky streaming blue, white and red smoke, and Cruise’s winning smile was as dazzling as ever.  

He had plenty to smile about too, after being handed a surprise Palme d’Or along with a substantial tribute reel for all to see. Cruise has long been a Hollywood giant – metaphorically speaking, of course – and despite a few box office duds, the strings to his bow are in ample supply. It doesn’t look like he intends to call it quits yet, either. Responding to a press question asking why, as a family man, he still did his own stunts, his retort – “Would you ask Gene Kelly why he does all his own dancing?” – received another standing ovation. Ever the showman, right Tom?