You won’t find me complaining much about movies or books. I just don’t get too wound up about it, but this time I can’t keep my mouth shut. :bad: I have a guilty pleasure. I like reading mindless action thrillers to kill time. Lee Child’s books help me bide time while in hunting camp, or waiting in construction traffic. Ever since I picked up the first Child’s Jack Reacher novel I couldn’t wait for the next one. Reacher is a 6’5" mountain of a man in his 30’s in the book. For some reason Hollywood decided to cast a 5’7" pipsqueak 50 yr old washed up actor for what could have been one of the best action films in a long time. WTF??? Tom Cruise? Too bad they fucked this one up.
Well lets make a list of actors that are closer to that description. It might end up that Tom Cruise was best for this role if all the 6’5" actors in their 30’s suck ass.
• Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
6’5", age 40
• Chris Hemsworth
6’4", age 29
• Eric Bana
6’2", age 44
Ya he really doesn’t fit the role at all. Liam Neson, Hugh Jackman, Josh Holloway could all fit really well in that role. They have the rugged look Tom would not have even been on the radar for me.
I have read the entire Reacher series (in order) and always look forward to the next new book.
While TC would not have been my first choice to play Reacher, I have always enjoyed the MI movies and also really liked Collateral, so I will reserve judgement until I see the movie.
Keep in mind also, that for most of the people that will see this movie, this will be their first exposure to Reacher, so they won’t know the difference.
This is why I’m still hopeful for Reacher. Tom did an excellent job in that movie. I’m just glad they did not cast Jason Statham in the role.
I laughed when I saw this commercial. Tom Cruise? Too much.
He did an OK job with this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmKR6evZRQQ
Tom’s production company = Tom as lead actor.
I saw the trailer and thought it looked like a pretty decent action film. I’ve never heard of this series as well as many other folks, so Sensei does have a point. Politics and religion aside, as well as me still trying to still wrap my head around TC in a serious bad ass role, he does make very entertaining action movies (minus Ghost Protocol). Maybe it’s because he looks like such a wus, that his image, challenges the roles he plays, so the performance after serious preparation, looks more entertaining and credible. Sorta like Matt Damen in the Bourne series. Collateral is arguably (IMHO) his best offering yet.
So what’s he going to do? Stand on a ladder?
Never heard of Jack Reacher series but TC did an awesome job in Collateral and he made that movie. His best movie, period.
If he brings some of that same charisma to this I think it will be good. I also just saw the first preview for this last night and I was impressed, enough so that I may see it in the theatre.
Also, if the TTPs are “accurate” and not Hollywierd, I think it will be better. That’s another thing I liked about Collateral.
When I read those books I always pictured Mandy Patinkin from Criminal Minds/Princess Bride for some reason.
I dunno why.
My opinion of TC has evolved over the years. My first memory of him was Taps and The Outsiders when he played supporting roles and did a great job. I was a teenager when Top Gun was released and he became a megastar.
I lost interest in the 90’s when he started pushing his personal and religious views. In addition, I hated Top Gun II (aka Days of Thunder) and all of his estrogen flicks with Nicole Kidman.
However, a couple of relatively recent performances have rehabilitated my opinion of the guy. I agree that Collateral is some of his best work, but I also enjoyed The Last Samurai.
Eyes Wide Shut is a good movie…but I like those strange ones…
I’m about 50/50 on his stuff. Never liked any Mission Impossible stuff…some of his older movies are good like Risky Business and Top Gun are good. He does well when he can do that dumb look or is confused the entire movie.
I love pretty much all the Kubrick flicks.
Same here.
Saw it last night and actually enjoyed it. Seemed like they did their research and had good advisors on the weapon handling and terminology stuff. It was one of the very few movies I have seen that weren’t full-on retard with dual-weilding and the typical ridiculous hollywood gunplay.
I enjoyed it the film. I also was not aware of these novels beforehand. I will probably look them up and read them some time.
I went to see Reacher on Christmas eve, it kept me entertained and did not feel like a waste of money (which is all that I ask for in a movie).
Not a TC fan…mostly the opposite
I also laughed out loud when I heard he was playing Reacher
But I have heard reports that he captured the charachter…if not the “presence”
I will have to see for myself
TC did a hell of a job playing the bad guy Vincent in Collateral, thanks to director Michael Mann who is a gun guy TC receieved some top notch firearm training and not your typical Hollywood mall ninja fare.