Ryan Reynolds isn’t grim enough and The Rock isn’t a very good actor.
I was thinking maybe Alexander Skaarsgard.
Funny, I thought Harrison Ford was an awful Jack Ryan; he did not look, sound, or act in any way like the guy in the books. Alec Baldwin, however, fit the role perfectly.
Jack Reacher isn’t a particularly widely know character; this isn’t Harry Potter. They can change some things about him.
Oh. Oh dear. I really hope that muscle car isn’t Reacher’s own in the movie. He hitchhikes, or takes the bus, in the books ffs.
I honestly normally don’t mind when film casts don’t fit my mental images - I don’t expect them to. But this… this is bad. It’s not even just that he’s too slight for Reacher, the whole persona seems wrong. What’s with the car? And the chirpy one liners? Very bizarre. Did anyone else notice the Mission Impossible vibe from the trailer music as well?
I think I’m just not going to bother with this one unless it gets awesome reviews. The film version in my head is pretty good, I’m going to hang onto that.
Yeah, that too. Reacher doesn’t waste words. The phrase “Reacher said nothing” is probably the most common bit of dialogue in the books! 
I was far more annoyed by this news when I first heard it, mostly because then I hadn’t seen the trailers for the new Alex Cross movie. I get it, really I do. But I think both are terrible decisions. Casting Cruise may increase the potential for more movies, and they can easily enough change the physical intimidation. I always pictured Reacher as Adam Baldwin, but there wasn’t a prayer of that happening. Cruise is short and kind of scrawny, but he’s played tough before. It’s annoying, but I don’t hate Cruise, and I think it may work out okay.
The Cross movie makes me angry. Tyler Perry is not a strong actor, and he is not convincing as a smart detective. He is in way over his head. Idris Elba was in the running for the part, but we get Tyler Perry. The whole thing is even worse once you see the trailer and how hard Matthew Fox pushed himself to get the villain right. I cannot think of a black actor who wouldn’t do a better job than Perry, and most of them would jump at the chance. There are so few good roles for black actors, and the one big budget role that should be guaranteed to go to a black actor goes to Tyler Perry. It will be terrible, and I don’t know if there will be a series.
After seeing that trailer, Tom Cruise doesn’t really look so bad.
[After drafting my post, I went back and just found the trailer. It’s not going to be the Jack Reacher from the books. But you can’t really have a lead who doesn’t say anything. I won’t like the movie as well as I would if they’d cast Adam Baldwin or Christian Bale and kept true to the book, but it may be fun and I’m still going to like it more than Alex Cross]
War of the Worlds in 2005 is his last really successful movie if you don’t count MI (but the last MI movie made over half a billion, so it seems kinda unfair to discount it). He’s been in a major hit every few years since the mid-80’s so while this Reacher movie may suck, it won’t be because Cruise can’t star in successful films.
That said, I saw the trailer for the Reacher movie the other day, and I have trouble thinking of the last trailer that made me want to see a movie less.
He does?
Yes, he does.
If you don’t think he does, you need to go check the box office on his movies again. Particularly his big-budget action flicks.
Curiously I was trying to find some quiet tv at 5 this morning (thanks, 11 month old baby) and happened on an interview with Lee Child, apparently recorded at a literary festival last year. He was asked about the casting and he seemed gracious but not hugely enthusiastic. He said he had thought it strange, but the book’s the book, the film’s the film, essentially. He did say that he expected viewers to have the same reaction he did when watching rehearsals, which is pretty much ‘oooh that’s wrong’ for the first two minutes, then ‘huh, ok then’ for the next 98.
Or maybe big-budget action flicks make a lot of money despite being saddled with Tom Cruise.
The baddies are clearly towering over him in the fight scene 
Come on, do you really think that’s true?
I don’t much care for Cruise, but i think it’s pretty silly to assert that his movies do well despite him. He’s a big-name movie star, and it seems to me that the vast majority of the mainstream movie audience likes him just fine, and doesn’t give a crap about his strange religious beliefs and other weird off-camera antics.
Yes, I do. James Cameron is a name that makes a big-budget action fan’s ears perk up. Tom Cruise? Who looks at - or listens to - Tom Cruise and thinks “Jesus, this is going to be awesome!”
I know, right? And did you catch buff leather jacket? I had no idea you could find those at the discount clothing store.
:rolleyes:
Yeah, it’s just a coincidence.
Allow me to toss in my disappoint of Tom Hanks in Da Vinci Code. I read both books with Clive Owen in my mind.. only to get Hanks with that godawful haircut.. and sophie was suppose to be THICK and sexy.. not look like she eats a piece of lettuce for dinner..
Concur.. done with him.. that last mission impossible movie..well one of them.. just not compelling. The samurai movie.. my ex’s boss said it best to me in a conversation.. “I was thinking how good this movie would be if Tom Cruise wasn’t in it”.. lol
I watched the trailer and I was disappointed. Not surprised that I thought he sucked, but disappointed that he did indeed suck. When he was cast as Lestat, I didn’t think he was right, but watching the movie I think he did a good job. I’m not getting Lestat vibes from the trailer.