Thread: Giant crock of...

Ticked off enough to forget to post the article.

But, seriously, this is going in the Legendary Load of Sh1t column.

Tom Cruise as Lee Child's rugged Jack Reacher? Count us in!

By Thom Geier

Tom Cruise is in talks to star as rugged former U.S. Army cop Jack Reacher in writer-director Christopher McQuarrie’s adaptation of Lee Child’s 2005 novel One Shot for Paramount, EW has confirmed.

Cruise has apparently been circling Reacher for some time, which may come as a surprise to fans of Child’s best-selling thriller series. But even though Cruise doesn’t fit the physical description of Jack Reacher in the books (6’5″, 250 pounds, not particularly attractive), I think the now-middle-aged star would be terrific in the role.

Reacher is like a grittier, real-world version of Ethan Hunt from the Mission: Impossible series — he drifts from town to town with no luggage, pitching in to help crime victims, and using his military training and resourcefulness to get out of jams. (In One Shot, first published in 2005, he investigates a sniper attack in Indiana.)

Reacher knows how to throw punches, but he also feels the effects when a punch is thrown. It’s refreshing to see Cruise bypassing yet another comic-book movie for a potential franchise like this that’s action-oriented but more character-driven and grounded in reality.

McQuarrie, whose last directing credit was 2000′s The Way of the Gun, is best known as the screenwriter behind The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie (starring Cruise), and the recently tabled The Wolverine.

Interestingly, 2005′s One Shot isn’t the first Reacher book, or even one of the best. (EW gave it a B–.) But I’ll be first in line to see how Cruise embodies one of my favorite thriller heroes.

From Tom Cruise as Lee Child's rugged Jack Reacher? Count us in! | PopWatch | EW.com

I've read every Reacher novel and most of what Child has written. Cruise definitely has the box office draw and I hope they put out multiple Reacher films, but his physical impressiveness and ability is part of what makes the character interesting. Like a modern day Doc Savage or Tarzan. Reacher isn't some tiny pretty boy.

They can use CGI now and make Woody Allen into Hercules...

Or they could have hired someone taller than 5'.

Point taken, however it's still a GIANT CROCK OF SHORT.

What are they going to do about the rest of the cast, hire people who are 4'5"?

Terrible plan. Jack Reacher is a very rugged character. Tom Cruise will never be able to translate his presonna to the big screen. Too bad, because the character has a lot of potential, and Child is a very good writer. Not on the same par with Loren Estleman (Amos Walker), Lawrence Block (Matt Scudder) or Walter Mosley (anything he has ever written), to name just a few, but still very good. Could have been a decent film.

i stopped reading the books when in one he had been digging swimming pools single handed with just a spade all summer and his chest muscles were that hard that when he was shot with .22 the bullet never penetrated....................come on?