Solid Snake

Ah, Jesus. I've been posting in the book forum. I search for the title and I started putting shit in there....but it's in the goddamn book forum. No wonder it was kind of mum in there.

It's based off a book in a series. Never heard of it, guess I'll toss it on the list of books I should look into at some point.



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Charlie Goose

Great series, but Cruise as Reacher makes my balls shrivel. And that trailer does nothing for me.

starseed1981

If my memory serves me correctly Jack Reacher in the novels is almost 7 feet tall and ripped......

Solid Snake

He is. But that's also impossible to find an actor that can act well enough for that. Seems like the creator of the series thought so too, seems like he's fine w/ Cruise.

JumpCutz

Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Hated the idea when he was cast and he just looks and sounds silly talking tough in this trailer.

CharlieK

I like Tom Cruise a lot, and the Jack Reacher novels are a lot of fun, but, man, is he out of place here. Yeah, he's not physically right for the character, but more than that, he just isn't as badass, as menacing as the character needs to be. Plus, he's so short. The character gets away with a lot just by being intimidating, and I can't see Cruise pulling it off.

I think Cruise wanted his own Bourne-like franchise with the up-close physical fighting and such and this is a great vehicle for that. Reacher does punch a lot of people in these books.

wmansir

I'm sure most authors would be fine with Cruise being cast as a lead considering the star power he brings to a project.

Cruise doesn't just lack the height and build of Reacher (and because of that he fights more Borne than Reacher's brute), he doesn't seem to have the grit and gravitas either. He looks too pretty, too clean. Reacher is a drifter who rides the bus between backwater towns wearing Wranglers and a Hanes T, he doesn't cruise city streets in his cherry muscle car and designer leather jacket.

Why So Blu?

Wow, they pulled a Vampire$ with Reacher, I see. James Woods looked nothing like Jack Crow from the book, but it was a John Carpenter film, which is why it worked. I'm curious now.

FinkPish

I thought Tom Cruise was pretty intimidating in Collateral, so I don't see why this couldn't work. Plus, with Christopher McQuarrie writing and directing, you know it'll have some snappy dialogue.

TheNightFlier

Not quite, but close enough. 6'5 and his weight varies between 215-250. You can also throw in the blue eyes, and blonde buzzcut as well. One of the worst miscasts on a physical level I've ever seen. Reacher is a basically a goliath and relies a lot on brute strength and force. Just what I expect out of 5'7 170 pound Cruise.

I always pictured Dolph Lundgren circa Universal Soldier when I read the books. Chris Hemsworth would have been a good pick.

WeylandYutani

And "John McClane" was a brutish Dirty Harry-type in Nothing Lasts Forever. In Benchley's Jaws, Hooper and Brody's wife have an affair. And in Who Censored Roger Rabbit, the lovable 'Toon gets machine-gunned to death. People need to get over this shit.

fumanstan

Never heard of the character or books before. Looks interesting to me.

wmansir

For some reason I always picture a bigger version of Paul Newman circa Cool Hand Luke.

Anyway, I'm not attached to the material enough to say that just because Cruise won't capture the character from the books it can't be a good movie.

whoopdido

I haven't read the books but I know people who have. They described Jack Reacher as Jack Bauer on steroids. Just a huge, ripped insanely tough and intimidating dude with mad asskicking skills. I got the impression that his physical attributes always played a huge role in the books. Obviously Cruise doesn't have those physical attributes but as long as the movie doesn't try to portray him as an intimidating tough guy then it's no big deal in my opinion.

I agree that people need to chill out if movies don't exactly match the books they're based on.

Neeb

This.

I was kind of agnostic on Cruise as Reacher until I saw the trailer.
Jack Reacher is somehow the perfect hero for Great Recession America. He himself has been laid off, and the guys he almost always finds himself going up against are still apart of the system that tossed him out. It's also no coincidence that a lot of the best Reacher stories are set in Rust Belt America- the places hit hardest by "downsizing" and are also off the attention of corporate media.
Essentially, Jack Reacher is a character from a Bruce Springsteen song come to life.

The trailer makes this movie look like a big budget remake of DRIVE. And no where near as cool.
Also, since we're talking cars... Reacher spends a lot of time on the bus. He doesn't drive classic cars. I think the only notable car in One Shot (source material) in an H2, and it's mocked extensively.
I'm not laying a lot of these bad decisions at the feet of Tom Cruise, but I really think the filmmakers missed some great opportunities to make a film that really resonated with America (and a lot of the ticket buying world) in 2012.

Mysteryfan

this

yojimbo44

The books are generally light, breezy escapist reading centered around the character of Reacher and his physical attributes are a large part of what defines him, in addition to his military and family background. Casting Cruise clearly eliminates that component of the character and the other touches in the trailer like the $600 leather jacket and muscle car aren't helping much either - I have liked MacQuarrie's work in the past, but this looks like someone read the back cover of the novel and made that movie based on that.

And I can't be the only one who has pictured Adam Baldwin when reading the books can I?

whoopdido

By the way, I just watched the trailer. Reacher in the books is MP (military police) right? The trailer made him out to be an ex-cop. Big difference.

Honestly, I don't think this movie will have any similarties to the book series other than the name of the lead character. For fans of the books, I think you just need to pretend that Tom's name is Bob Jones or something and then it'll just end up being a Tom Cruise action movie.

Solid Snake

While I've now great interest in the series' tone and whatnot from what I've read. I'm not stupid enough to not let the film stand on it's own either. It might be a stretch of an adaptation...but the film can't be shackled to the source. That goes for the book fans too. Otherwise we'd all hate the Bonds we've had. Which as a Fleming Bond fan I'm not a fan of the changes to that charcter's world. I'm not going to not say that we haven't had some great films from the series either...again.

It looks cool, seems like a different kind of Cruise role. Which I'm interested in for that. Not a Cruise fan but if he's got a movie that looks interesting to me...I'll see it. I hope it's good. Cruise is always interesting when he does something different. He does a bring a quality to it.

GoldenJCJ

Never heard of the books but I find the funniest thing about the trailer is the name "Jack Reacher". What a silly made up name.

Solid Snake

Better than Max Payne. Lol. I do love the MP games though, haven't played MP3 yet.

Vipper II

Dwayne Johnson would be good, too.

Solid Snake

Reading the physical description of the character. Hemsworth, as mentioned, fits it better. Though..in sheer presence and size...I'd be ok w/ The Rock, really enjoyed Faster.

RocShemp

Never read the books but am aware of the character enough to know its a miscast. Nonetheless, I like Cruise and I liked the trailer. I'm in.

JumpCutz

I wonder how many phone books Tammy had to sit on the reach the steering wheel? 50 year old midget kicks the ass of several 6'3 dudes half his age?

This is like casting Mickey Rooney as Zorro.