Reacher

[todthedog]

Based on the books by Lee Child the hero is a hulk of a man, if memory serves 198cm, an ex military cop who now wanders the USA no longer wishing to be confined by rules and regulations. The choice of the somewhat smaller Tom Cruise 170cm in the title role is a little strange, less so as Cruise is also the producer.
The film centres on a seemingly open and shut case of an ex military sniper accused of a mass killing. Of course all is not as it seems and Reacher teams up with a local defence lawyer to investigate. The film rattles along, it is not bad and at no point was I bored. At one point Reacher gets into a fight with five other men and you wander why they bothered to turn up, the result is inevitable. A few twists and turns slightly better than average but not much so.

[droopsnoot]

I haven't seen the film yet, but have read all the books which I've largely enjoyed with the exception of certain parts. The one before last has the feel of a short story that was padded out into a full-length novel, but the latest one was better. I read an interview with Lee Child where he talked about the choice of Tom Cruise for the role, and said that Reacher is described as big and ugly, and there aren't all that many ugly actors around that could carry it off. I guess the fights are a bit like those in The Transporter, where the baddies obligingly only fight our hero one at a time.

[UncleIan]

My ex boss was the profile of Jack Reacher on the book covers. He happened to be in a meeting with the publisher, trying to negotiate some ad rates, when the graphics people walked past, needing to finish the covers the next day, took one look at his 6'4" frame, baldy head, and the build of a rugby second row, big and sturdy basically, interrupted the meeting, asked him nicely. He figured it might be good for business, so after trying to demure, in the English way, he was dragged off to the photo studio. Ended up on the covers/inside covers for all the millions of books sold for years and years, actually, probably until they rebadged one with Tom Cruise on the cover.

Anyway, safe to say, he wasn't impressed with the casting prior to the film coming out.

[AleisterCrowley]

Did he get paid ?!

[UncleIan]

Did he get paid ?!

I'm pretty sure he did it as a favour for the publisher. Scratch my back etc, probably got a few decent (liquid) lunches out of it, and a cracking anecdote.

At the time I think he was editor of "The BookSeller", self styled organ of the book trade. Which usually had a full page book advert on the front, a fair few Reacher books later, the publishers bought a front cover advert for the latest book, which only had his Jack Reacher profile, and the text:

He's got two rules:
1. Do it his way
2. Do it his way

Of course, the cover was framed and put on my boss's office wall. I guess by then most of the book trade knew the tale, and the whole thing was was a massive inside joke. Still, I guess they wanted to pay front cover prices for an inside joke, payback in a way.

[JMN2]

... The one before last has the feel of a short story that was padded out into a full-length novel, but the latest one was better...

I agree, although the more recent novels are missing those lengthy and detailed fight scenes, every move scientifically described.