What if they were 17 again?

Tom Cruise

Now: It’s been years since anyone thought of Cruise as a young, fiery male lead. In “Lions For Lambs,” he was an uptight, middle-aged Congressman; in “Valkyrie” [pictured right], a deeply flawed, eyepatch-wearing Nazi notable only for the fact that he failed to kill Hitler.

Then: Back in his prime, there was no debating Cruise’s ability to command the screen as a kinetic, blazing ball of energy. His first big break came in “Taps” [pictured left], when he starred opposite Sean Penn and George C. Scott as a young military cadet who decides to fight back when it’s revealed that his cherished school is being converted into condos.

Better when? Until he gets his groove back, we prefer Cruise’s good old days.