Tom Cruise vs Jack Nicholson

Who's the more talented movie star?

One is possibly the greatest actor of his generation and the other is Tom Cruise. The answer should be obvious.

Jack Nicholson for sure

Well, it depends in what you mean by movie star. Nicholson is the better, more talented actor. But Cruise (he is a good actor too) is a huge box office draw and you could argue he is the more "talented movie star".

Nicholson, easily. Cruise is a decent actor, but he gets by more on his charisma. Nicholson is one of the most talent actors ever.

I feel like Cruise doesn't get to show his acting chops most of the time. He's a great actor when he wants to be like in Collateral and The Color of Money.

And "Magnolia."

What?

Jack, obviously.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME ?

Most talented, Nicholson. The one I prefer, Cruise.

Obviously Jack Nicholson.

The guy is a master at his craft. Watch 'The Shining' for confirmation.

Sir Jack.

Or Five Easy Pieces, which is a more understated but equally brilliant performance.

Yeah, he was fantastic in Magnolia.

Jack Nicholson takes the cake, granted he's had a longer career with a great deal of work, but Tom Cruise is still pretty good, but his popularity has taken a hit since his public comments and stance and involvement in Scientology, and negative attention in his person life with celebrity news/gossip sites, so much so that people just don't want to see him movies. Paramount dropped him years back because of this. He still makes good movies regardless if people want to watch them. Jack Reacher and Edge of Tomorrow were really good and he did an excellent job in both. Still, he's no Jack Nicholson, who played great roles in such movies as The Shining, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, As Good As It Gets, he was also Tim Burton's Joker. Still, I expect Cruise to go on and make good movies, he's already signed on for a 2nd Jack Reacher film last I heard.

As actors I'd say their talent is on equal grounds, but Nicholson has accomplished more. Nicholson likely has a higher positive recognition and favorability than Cruise over Cruise's personal life. When I hear "who's a better actor", I realize though that sure actors do act and some do have varying degrees of talent, but many times it's not so much their talent that's sought but the persona of the actor. That's why we often see typecasting. It's a real treat when we see actors step out of their skin to play a role.

too easy, tom cruise all the way.

He overracted a bit in "The Shining", I liked him in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest"

Though Nicholson is the obvious answer, Tom Cruise really surprised me with his portrayal of Lestat in "Interview with a Vampire", he somehow pulled it off. Even Anne Rice was pleasantly surprised.

Jack for sure, Tom is great but if u take a look at their movies you'll find out that Jack had role in more awesome movies than Tom , Tom needs to stay away from action movies if he wants to show his talent , he's damn talented and i'd like to see him in movies which are dependent on the actor u know like Dramas and Biographies , in an action movie you can't demonstrate your acting skills.

@AFBrat77: jack Nicholson is a good actor. he was good in the shining, but when its a choice between him and tom cruise, its M:I all the way!

cruise is underrated. risky business is a classic.

Cruise at his best (Magnolia) is really something. Nicholson, however, is among the greatest actors ever. His work in the early 70s is probably the best run any actor has ever had.

It's honestly a disservice to try to compare the two when they are both really talented actors that really have their own niches.. Both Jack and Tom have pulled off amazing performances in numerous movies, and they really play different roles for there to be a direct comparison..

Nicholson is better and Tom Cruise has good movies like mentioned above. Top Gun, Vanilla Sky, Mission Impossible, and Edge of Tomorrow are among his best.

Nicholson is kind of overrated. He's a great screen presence, but he tends to mostly just play himself.

You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!!

Cruise is better, mainly because he is more diverse and played in more (good) movies overall.

Nicholson has played some great roles but cruise keeps on dishing out one after the other. People will talk about the shining, easy rider, one flew over the cuckoo's nest and the departed but nicholson was best in 'as good as it gets'. In that movie nicholson shows that he can do character acting.

But cruise has things like that as well , like in collateral where he plays a hitman. He has way more movies where he plays his role superb: vanilla sky, the firm, rain man, risky business, cocktail, war of the worlds, interview with the vampire, eyes wide shut.

but apart from that he stars in numerous action movies as well, lately he even takes on scifi movies and does this extremely well (he did some before that but never pure sci fi like now). I know i was thinking when i started watching oblivion and edge of tomorrow, a sci fi movie with cruise, this has to be good .

And it is. As good as nicholson is, he will never be the genius that is cruise, because he can simply play everything and he does it great. He also does it run of the mill. Don't get me wrong nicholson is a great actor but he will never be of the caliber than cruise is.

Only di caprio, tom hanks and brad pitt are of that same kaliber, others can be great but they're not geniuses like they are. I would say someone like jude law, matt damon, edward norton, johnny depp, anthony hopkins and robert de niro are more something of nicholsons kaliber. They're great actors, but they will never have that genius like cruise.

It's quite simple, when you look at cruise, he can do comedy, action, character acting, drama, horror sci fi. Nicholson for instance will never pull off action like cruise did/does it. Norton and damon will never do comedy, while cruise will. I can see de niro do drama, action, comedy but i won't see em do horror or sci fi. Di craprio, hanks, pitt and cruise will simply pull off every role no matter what you give em , nicholson and the others will just in some parts not perform well, it's just not a part of their repertoire.

If you have never watched collateral, vanilla sky, eyes wide shut, cocktail, jerry maguire or rain man, i suggest you do. Actually pretty much every movie with cruise is good, and that's also the case with brad pitt, tom hanks and di caprio. That's not the case with nicholson or other actors for that matter.

the only jack Nicholson movie I've ever seen was the shining

I'm not a big fan of his movies.

I prefer tom Cruise especially Cocktail, War of the Worlds and The Color of Money