Come on man. Eli's vice was mescaline.
Come on man.
I would agree that what Cruise is doing right now isn't anything great, acting wise, but in his prime the dude had chops. He's not Daniel Day Lewis or Philip Seymor Hoffman, but he can act. He should have won at least 3 Oscars by now (Rain Man, Born of the 4th of July, Magnolia) and was good-to-great in many, many other films:
Risky Business
The Color of Money
A Few Good Men
The Firm
Interview with the Vampire (fantastic "bad guy" turn - should have done this more)
Jerry Maguire
Eyes Wide Shut
Vanilla Sky
Minority Report
Collateral (see Interview with the Vampire)
Tropic Thunder (!!)
Again, I know opinions vary, but Tom Cruise is about 50 rungs on the acting scale above someone like Mark fucking Wahlberg.