Personal life doesn't tarnish Tom Cruise's star

LOS ANGELES - Just turned 50, Tom Cruise is eligible for membership in AARP. Just split from third wife Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise is the object of told-you-so cynics who simply knew that romance wouldn't last. Just finished with his stab at something really different as a heavy-metal rock god in "Rock of Ages," Tom Cruise is coming off one of the lowest-grossing movies in his career.

Yet just out with his latest action flick, "Jack Reacher," Tom Cruise remains one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

He's weathered ridicule, intense speculation about his family life, bumpy stretches at the box office brought on by audience disdain over his personal antics and some ill-considered movie projects.

And Cruise is right where he was when 1986's "Top Gun" vaulted him to superstardom: On top. Maybe not the same level of on top as the 15-year stretch that began in the early 1990s, when practically every Cruise film was bound to be a $100 million hit.

But for a guy his age, with his baggage, in a business that deifies youth and excommunicates talent when it goes off the deep end, Cruise still prospers.

"None of us can stay in the spotlight that long without some i! ssues and some controversy. Tom has stayed committed all along to finding great projects," said Rob Moore, vice chairman at Paramount Pictures, which released "Jack Reacher" on Friday. "What you see over time is that Tom has been in such a great list of movies that are of such high quality, that ultimately, people come back to the work and the talent."

Fans seem to agree. In a poll of nearly 1,000 people buying movie tickets at Fandango.com, 82 percent said Cruise's personal life does not influence whether or not they will see his movies.

"The target audience for 'Jack Reacher' probably doesn't care whether he's married, separated or divorced," said Fandango.com chief correspondent Dave Karger. "As long as teenage guys tell their friends that they liked it, that's all that matters."

Arriving amid a pre-Christmas rush of films, expectations are modest for "Jack Reacher."

Adapted from "One Shot," part of Lee Child's series of best-selling books about a mysterious ex-military investigator, "Jack Reacher" features colder, crueler violence than the typical Cruise a! ction fil! m, which could hurt its prospects after the school shootings in Connecticut.

Cruise's Reacher is a fairly merciless lone wolf, while the movie opens with gruesome slayings as a sniper randomly scopes out victims to shoot.

"No question, for any of these types of movies, it's a raw nerve," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "Violent imagery of any kind may be a bit of a tougher sell right now."

Yet for the long haul, Cruise's prospects look steady. Despite derision his private life has brought him, Cruise has suffered only bumps and bruises professionally.

Yet they have kept coming. In 2005, Cruise scored one of his biggest hits ever with "War of the Worlds." The following year, after alienating many people with his suddenly public sermonizing about his Scientology beliefs, damage was evident as "Mission: Impossible III" seriously underperformed the franchise's earlier installments.

Paramount, Cruise's long-time studio home, dumped him in 2006 over his odd behavior, and the actor went on to a failed attempt to revive the United Artists banner that resulted in the 2007 war-on-terror dud "Lions for Lambs."

Then Cruise and Paramount realized what a good thing they'd had together. He rejoined the studio for "Tropic Thunder" and last year's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," which restored Cruise to the blockbuster ranks and generally is regarded as the franchise's best installment.

No matter what anyone thinks of his personal life, Cruise has a reputation as one of the hardest working men in show business, with an unparalleled work ethi! c.

! "He's very focused," said Emily Blunt, his co-star in the upcoming sci-fi thriller "All You Need Is Kill" that is now shooting.

"Tom has always been nothing but professional and sweet and open and a lot of fun for me to be around," Blunt said at last July's Comic-Con fan convention.

Paramount is squarely back in the Tom Cruise business with "Jack Reacher," a solid action tale with decent reviews. If fans turn up, it could be another franchise for him and Paramount, where a fifth "Mission: Impossible" film also is under consideration.