Nope. Not going to happen. The people who have never read the books will be very disappointed with the movie, because unless you know the Reacher backstory, a lot of the movie and a lot of his actions will not make sense. There is a very well developed Reacher history that has everything to do with who he is and how he thinks and reacts. The way Cruise plays him, he could be named Tommy Numchucks for all that matters. So other than the brainless lunks who just want to see some dude beat up another dude, it won't work.
And then there are the legions of Reacher Creatures, fans like me who feel this is a travesty and an abomination. Every post about the movie on FB, on EW, on any of the usual entertainment news sites - 95% of all reader comments are negative and universally condemn the choice of Cruise. 100% of those are like me, and would sooner swallow a bag of glass than pay to see and support this movie. I love how Lee Child keeps saying the fans will come around, that a "small" minority are the only ones complaining. Yet he had to cancel part of his recent book tour because people were hassling him so badly at every stop. His latest book did not do as well either, because I, and many like me, see him as a sell out. I'll buy it from a used bookstore someday, but my days of signed first editions and trecking faithfully to his book signings are over.
Our hope is that if it bombs bad enough, they will recast Reacher to a more believable actor. So fuck 'em and feed 'em fish heads. Tom Cruise will never be Jack Reacher to me.
I get it.
If they cast Jonah Hill or Seth Rogen in a remake of To Kill a Mockingbird (in a role other than Boo) or tapped Miley Cyrus and Ben Stiller as Scarlett and Rhett in a new version of Gone With the Wind I'd be mortified.
But my mortification doesn't matter.
Yes there are a lot of people who read the books. Yes, there are little fan clubs and whatnot out there. What you're missing is that even if there were two million people who felt exactly as you do for exactly the same reason, that's a tiny and insignificant fraction of the people this movie is designed to reach.
They don't care about you.
The movie will sink or swim NOT because "Tom's the wrong guy to play this character I have in my head." It will flourish or fail completely depending on the action and story.
Of course all the comments are negative. The small segment of people who are as outraged as you are all hitting the same sites. I'm telling you now that it doesn't matter at all. Not a single bit.
This movie isn't FOR you.
This guy's "back story" isn't going to matter to 97.58634% of the people who go see it. They aren't going to see "Jack Reacher" don't give a fiddling fuck who Jack Reacher is, and won't have any idea that this was a book before they go.
It's Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible, Action, Fighting, Cars going fast, nekkid chick? nekkid chick? nekkid chick?
I'm going to predict now that it does fairly well because people (sheep that they are) will still head down to the multiplex to watch Tom make the serious face and blow shit up. They don't care that he's 5'4" 140. Don't care that Harrison Ford's 5'4" 135 either. It's not going to set records in the Batman/Avengers explosion of 2012 and it might not meet MI numbers, but it's not going to flop. In fact, I'm willing to get there's going to be at least one (if not more) sequels and they'll all feature Tom Cruise -- who will then BE Jack Reacher even to those who later decide to read the books on which the movie they watched was based.
What color were Dorothy's slippers in the Wizard of Oz? If you said ruby, guess again. In the book they were silver. And Oz was a real place, not a dream.
It may not happen for you, but this is happening. Not defending Cruise because I pretty much hate his whole schtick. Liked him in Risky Business, liked him less in Top Gun and it's been a pretty slow and steady descent since.
This is like when Michael Keaton was cast as Batman with freakshow Tim Burton to direct. All of us who were faithful to the comics over the years were outraged. No message boards as such back in 1989, but we found ways to voice our discontent. Then the movie came out. In retrospect it sort of sucked. But it was pretty cool at the time.
There are a lot more brainless lunks with brainless chicks who want to see Cruise do another formulaic action movie than there are people who've read the books and care.
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