Tom Cruise. What a guy, huh? I don’t necessarily mean that in the complimentary sense, but more in the way one might react upon laying eyes on a cryptid or some sort of folkloric entity.
I, like many others, struggle to dislike the man. Every time Cruise does something cool, like shit-talking AI or passionately chewing out people for not following COVID guidelines on set, I have to remind myself that this is the same guy who went on that weird anti-psychiatry tangent in 2005 and, well, y’know—there’s the whole Scientology thing.
And, once again, I feel like I’m having to resist the efforts of his extremely talented PR team, because I have probably watched this video of Cruise visiting Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man animators’ 15th-anniversary MAPPA EXPO about four times already.
If you need some context—and trust me, everyone who has laid eyes on this did at one poin—Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu attended the Expo as part of the press tour for the film Digger.
I’m not sure how this visit ties to Digger, as I, much like everyone else on planet Earth (other than Kotaku’s Ethan Gach), have not seen the film. Whatever the PR justification is, clearly it worked, because here I am talking about it.
It’s a bizarre watch, akin to watching a Victorian child’s TikTok review of a bag of Flamin’ Hot Doritos, which perhaps explains why the internet responded to the drip-fed clips of Cruise’s MAPPA tour with reticent delight.
It also doesn’t hurt that Cruise’s affection for MAPPA’s talented animators feels genuine and extremely endearing. The tour ends with Cruise begging MAPPA character designer Tadashi Hiramatsu to let him return and watch its team work in person. And hey, perhaps it’s because the guy is a phenomenal actor, but I genuinely believe he means that.
Besides, whatever Digger’s total box office gross ends up being, the 200-million dollar loss was absolutely worth it, because this incredible picture of Tom Cruise staring down Eren Yeager’s End Titan form is priceless. Odd that there seems to be so much chemistry between the two, as I always figured Cruise’s dream wife would be Chainsaw Man’s Makima.