Jack Reacher may have worked if it was shot in 1975 staring James Caan and Burt Young, but Tom Cruise is just not tough enough to deliver what the material needs. His Reacher may think he’s channeling Eastwood, but he just is not a badass. He’s Tom Cruise. Hollywood star. Wacky Scientologist. He couldn't bus Lee Marvin’s table at a bar. You need a grizzled worldly fucker in that role—quiet and weary, and yet a man of action—someone who challenges Henry Silva to arm wrestling and wins. Much like how the character is actually written by UK crime writer Jim Grant. In Grant's novels, Reacher is a mountain of a man, a typical pulp fiction drifter and anti-hero, a harsh character who knows the score. Bigger than life as these characters usually are; a sort of male superhero fantasy without the powers—but not a Cruise-style movie star.
