Take 177: War of the Worlds & Blood Diamond. Cruise Vs. DiCaprio: A Hollywood Legacy.

🎙️ Mostly Film: Cruise Vs DiCaprio – Aliens, Diamonds & Dad Problems

This week, Mostly Film continues its cinematic showdown series with a face-off between two heavy-hitters: Tom Cruise running from aliens in War of the Worlds, and Leonardo DiCaprio smuggling conscience and conflict diamonds in Blood Diamond.

First up: Cruise ditches the hero cape to play a regular, kinda-bad dad just trying to survive the apocalypse (and raise his kids) in Spielberg’s darker, grittier take on alien invasion. From barefoot sprinting to emotionally charged parenting, it’s Cruise in full “human panic mode”—and honestly, it works.

Then we head to Sierra Leone for DiCaprio’s Oscar-nominated turn as a jaded ex-mercenary looking for redemption (and a really valuable pink rock) in Blood Diamond. He’s grizzled, morally messy, and speaking in a South African accent that actually kind of nails it.

We break down:

• Why War of the Worlds is secretly a movie about fatherhood

• How Cruise turned vulnerability into a superpower

• The ethics, grit, and heat exhaustion behind Blood Diamond

• Whether DiCaprio should’ve won that Oscar

• And who came out on top in this week’s Cruise vs. DiCaprio matchup

So grab your flashlight, your Letterboxd, and maybe a bottle of water—we're heading into deep space and deeper moral questions. It’s Mostly Film... and we’ve got mostly takes.