# Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher? WTF?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 2, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865 "2012-06-02T13:38:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/141 "2012-12-24T03:28:10Z")
Wow, ok then. The Jack Reacher of the movie is very different from the Jack Reacher just described. The movie JR avoided killing unless he was being shot at. As far as I can remember he only kills one person who wasn’t directly shooting at him, and that person really needed killing. There were only two hot babes in the movie, and their hot babeness wasn’t a big deal. One’s a smart lawyer and one’s a sweet, scared teenager. Neither flaunts their bodies much. There were no babes on the police force.
The plot was fairly grounded in reality, no saving the world or country, or even county or city. It’s a conspiracy that’s maybe a bit preposterous but very localized to the situation at hand.
The movie Reacher is very smart and makes connections that others haven’t made, but in some cases he doesn’t make a connection until it’s too late, so he’s not a genius god among men. I liked the movie Reacher very much. It isn’t that Cruise made him “likeable” (I don’t remember the stereotypical Cruise grin being used at all), it’s because as written and played he’s an interesting, principled, intelligent human being. I don’t know what I’d think of the book Reacher without reading myself and even counting for hyperbole on **TonySinclair’s** part, he doesn’t sound very realistic.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/142 "2012-12-24T04:28:56Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#):
>
> I have to say, with the exception of a couple (strangely, including the first of the series), they were enjoyable page-turners. But any fan of the series who says he will have trouble suspending his disbelief about ANYTHING has got to be kidding.
Well, it’s true the novels are not heavily reality-based.\*
Still, you’d want the cinematic version of the superhero to at least vaguely resemble the character physically. I’d have the same reaction many if not most Reacher fans have to Tom Cruise in the role, if Pee Wee Herman had been cast as John MacDonald’s Travis McGee.
\*For me, the most ludicrously unbelievable plot aspect in any of the half-dozen or so Reacher books I’ve read (I don’t think I’m revealing anything crucial here, but if you’re concerned, stop reading) was how author Lee Child had Reacher & Co. traveling along the Maine coast in one novel (_Persuader_, I think). At one point Reacher was driving a truck south of the Portland area on I-95, and Child had the bad guys tracking Reacher via a remote electronic bug while traveling a parallel road (Route 1). Anyone who’s ever driven those roads knows that I-95 is a high-speed Interstate and Route 1 is a local access route full of fried clam joints, stores, motels and red lights, where you’re lucky to go 45 mph in between towns. The bad guys would have lost their quarry in the first 10 minutes. There are at least two more occasions in the book where characters have to get somewhere in southeast Maine fast and are debating whether or not to take I-95 or Route 1. Wake up, idiots!
Drove me nuts.
Oh, and there was an interview with Lee Child in the N.Y. Times Magazine today in which he fawned over Tom Cruise’s performance in the movie. I suspect Child is hoping for an extended film series which will bring him mucho $$$.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/143 "2012-12-24T06:25:57Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Still, you’d want the cinematic version of the superhero to at least vaguely resemble the character physically. I’d have the same reaction many if not most Reacher fans have to Tom Cruise in the role, if Pee Wee Herman had been cast as John MacDonald’s Travis McGee.
Who are you talking to? If fellow book fans, hasn’t that already been established by the whinefest that comprises most of this thread? For those who haven’t read the books, we don’t care, because we haven’t read the books, and judge the character by what’s onscreen. But hey, if the whine is loud and sustained enough by those who have read the books but won’t see the movie, the movie will die, and no more Jack Reacher movies will be made. That’ll show the money-grubbing Lee Childs who’s boss.
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### Author:  [@Madman\_777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madman_777)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/144 "2012-12-24T06:42:17Z")
I remember a few years ago corresponding with one of Lee Childs people via his website, thanking him for an autographed book etc.
I recollect when I asked when a movie was coming out she clearly stated that they were very excited that they were talking to Viggo Mortensen…
So, like most people here I agree that to us “purists” TC is an inane choice but what are you going to do? We all form an image of what someone looks like when we read a book - that’s one of the best things about books, the images are yours and the ones in my head are a damn sight better than anything TC has ever done!
On a side note I read Game Of Thrones after I had seen the series so most of the work was already done for me…still had issues with Ser Jorah Mormont though.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/145 "2012-12-24T07:51:37Z")
Casting Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher is like casting Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sherlock Holmes.
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### Author:  [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/146 "2012-12-24T15:13:37Z")
I have read all the books. Saw the movie yesterday. The script was very well done and followed the book faithfully with minor liberties. Cruise carried off the role exceedingly well.
Rosamond Pike is hot! Love to see more of her. Lots more.
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### Author:  [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/147 "2012-12-24T19:17:15Z")
> [@Equipoise](#):
>
> The movie Reacher is very smart and makes connections that others haven’t made, but in some cases he doesn’t make a connection until it’s too late, so he’s not a genius god among men. I liked the movie Reacher very much. It isn’t that Cruise made him “likeable” (I don’t remember the stereotypical Cruise grin being used at all), it’s because as written and played he’s an interesting, principled, intelligent human being. I don’t know what I’d think of the book Reacher without reading myself and even counting for hyperbole on **TonySinclair’s** part, he doesn’t sound very realistic.
Other than saying “always” instead of “almost always,” I don’t think I exaggerated much. I actually left stuff out. I didn’t mention another of his mental powers, always knowing the correct time to the second without a watch, even after being knocked unconscious (yes, he once lost a fight, when a man got the drop on him with a shotgun, and then had some 300-pound ex-Nebraska Cornhuskers hold him while they smashed a rifle butt into his face. I think that was the only time), and being able to wake up at the exact time he wanted, no matter how exhausted he was. I didn’t mention the short story prequel where he was 13 years old, confronted a gang of older, bigger kids and kicked their asses, made out with a girl he had just met, and then almost casually solved a couple of mysteries that had stumped the MP’s and the CID for days, saving his father’s job and his brother’s reputation. Or the classified file the army had on him, where they had secretly filmed young kids watching the _Creature in the Black Lagoon_ to see their reaction to danger, and all the other kids recoiled in horror when the creature first appeared, but six-year-old Reacher jumped forward with an instantaneously produced switchblade open, ready for combat. I am not joking.
But it’s true that the book they based the movie on is one of the least unbelievable, in that the dastardly plot he stumbles onto is only local in scope, and he isn’t saving the country from civil war, or a 40-ton dirty bomb. I look forward to the more exciting sequels.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/148 "2012-12-24T20:22:38Z")
> [@Equipoise](#):
>
> For those who haven’t read the books, we don’t care, because we haven’t read the books, and judge the character by what’s onscreen.
Sorry, but any enjoyment you might think you’re getting out of seeing a movie with a miscast Reacher is illegitimate. 🆒
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### Author:  [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/149 "2012-12-24T20:56:31Z")
I’m a big Reacher fan, read most of the books. Horribly disappointed that Tom Cruise was cast as Reacher. Don’t care for Tom much at all.
That being said, I went last night with my husband to see it. He’s a big Reacher fan as well, and perhaps more outraged at the casting.
We both thought it was a solid B +
They did not try to make Tom bigger than he was with angles, casting, etc. I respect that. Robert Duvall was great.
One of the better movies I’ve seen lately, as good as Skyfall.
I was pleasantly surprised.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/150 "2012-12-24T21:19:09Z")
New film project announced today:
\*(AP) Dreamworks Studios today announced that actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been signed to play the leading roles in an upcoming film based on the careers of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams.
A studio spokesman said “While we anticipate that tennis fans may be initially disconcerted by the casting of the Olsen twins, we feel that their celebrity and popular appeal will bring a new dimension to this compelling story.”\*
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### Author:  [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/151 "2012-12-24T21:48:43Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> New film project announced today:
>
> \*(AP) Dreamworks Studios today announced that actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been signed to play the leading roles in an upcoming film based on the careers of tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams.
>
> A studio spokesman said “While we anticipate that tennis fans may be initially disconcerted by the casting of the Olsen twins, we feel that their celebrity and popular appeal will bring a new dimension to this compelling story.”\*
Makes sense for Mary-Kate, but I’m not buying Ashley.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/152 "2012-12-24T21:53:28Z")
Tom Cruise is so deadly serious in the preview. If I ever watch the movie I’m going to expect him to say “And don’t call me Shirley!”
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/153 "2012-12-25T01:43:30Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> Sorry, but any enjoyment you might think you’re getting out of seeing a movie with a miscast Reacher is illegitimate. 🆒
_smile_ Luckily, my illegitimate enjoyment is counteracted by **Fir na tine’s** enjoyment, and trumped by **fisha** and her husband’s enjoyment, since they all read the books.
Btw, I really can’t believe I’m defending a Tom Cruise movie, considering I’d like to slap him upside the head and scream at him to WAKE THE FUCK UP! Jack Reacher’s not even going to make my Top 20 favorites of the year. I finally did see **The Impossible** , and it’s about 100 times better. But, credit where credit’s due. I enjoyed myself and that’s good enough for me.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/154 "2012-12-25T05:01:13Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> **Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher? WTF?**
I know, Right? W. T. F’ing. F.
And of all people. I mean, OK, you had trouble finding a talented actor that tall. OK, I get it. Not that I think it was really impossible. . . difficult, yes, but not impossible. But they would have had to take a risk, I mean really count on the fans to show up and talk it up and get the word out. They would have had to settle for a long term sell instead of a best-ever opening weeked.
Jerks.
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### Author:  [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/155 "2012-12-25T05:41:28Z")
> [@TruCelt](#):
>
> I mean, OK, you had trouble finding a talented actor that tall.
But do you need a talented actor? The books would be reduced by about 30% if you just eliminated every variation of “Reacher said nothing,” and his stolid demeanor doesn’t pose much of a challenge. You might need a talented actor to convey menace when he’s 5’7", but not if he’s the right size.
> [@](#):
>
> But they would have had to take a risk, I mean really count on the fans to show up and talk it up and get the word out. They would have had to settle for a long term sell instead of a best-ever opening weeked.
If that was their reasoning, they seem to have miscalculated. The opening weekend was a disappointing $15.6 million, barely beating out _This Is 40_. By comparison, _The Hobbit_, which would have been **perfect** for Cruise, made $84 million the previous weekend, and $37 million against _Reacher_.
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [December 25, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/156 "2012-12-25T19:50:28Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#):
>
> . . . _The Hobbit_, which would have been **perfect** for Cruise . . .
Made me snort! 😃
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### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/157 "2012-12-27T17:20:32Z")
Which is weirder: Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir, or Tom Cruise as a person taller than 6 feet?
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### Author:  [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/158 "2012-12-27T18:37:29Z")
Saw it, enjoyed it well enough. So went and read the first two Reacher books.
Preposterous to say the least (and based on this sample Lee Child must really hate the FBI), but in an easy reading way.
Preferred the Tom Cruise version. Probably won’t read a 3rd book.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/159 "2012-12-27T18:49:54Z")
The “Bane” actor Tom Hardy was actually 3 inches shorter than the Batman actor Christian Bale and they pulled that off.
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### Author:  [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)
#### Post date: [December 27, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-cruise-as-jack-reacher-wtf/623865/160 "2012-12-27T20:04:06Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#):
>
> Saw it, enjoyed it well enough. So went and read the first two Reacher books.
>
> Preposterous to say the least (and based on this sample Lee Child must really hate the FBI), but in an easy reading way.
You only _think_ he hated the FBI in the second book. After the fourth book, you’ll wonder whether the FBI blows up school buses full of special needs children just for the fun of it.
But I did keep reading them. They’re like potato chips.
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