The first photo featuring Tom Cruise in the big-screen adaptation of Lee Child’s bestselling 2005 crime saga Jack Reacher, has been released and you can see it above. Cruise will play the titular character in the film, an ex-military policeman turned vigilante drifter, who is drawn into the case of a sniper who randomly targeted civilians.
The film, due in theaters Dec. 21, was adapted from the ninth novel in Child’s series, “One Shot.”
Cruise’s character in the film will differ from his usual ambitious, highly-stressed and charming roles, according to Entertainment Weekly, as this film’s protagonist is a darker and more stoic personality. Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s screenwriter and director, pointed out the dark aspect of Reacher.
“Someone asks him at one point in the story about the difference between a military policeman and a regular cop,” McQuarrie said. “Reacher points out that [for military police], every suspect is a trained killer.”
McQuarrie also told EW that Reacher has very little invested in the present.
“He is free from any sort of anxiety. He is truly not encumbered by all the bulls–t that makes up our daily lives,” he said. “He literally and figuratively has no baggage.”
Reacher does have one valued possession- his 1970 Chevelle SS, which is featured in the film’s just-released promotional photo. In the image, Reacher has just battered the car while escaping from police, who wrongfully suspect him of a murder.
Some fans of the Reacher book series have been quite vocal with their dissatisfaction with the choice of Cruise as their hero. The 5-foot-7 actor is physically far from the massive Reacher described in the text, but Cruise addressed this issue in a video aired at CinemaCon in April.
“For those of you who know the books, I’m obviously not 6-foot-5, like Jack Reacher,” Cruise said. “But Lee felt that I was the right guy to drive fast cars and kick the s–t out of people on-screen.”
Whether or not Cruise is able to pull of the character has yet to be seen. However, he may surprise everyone with his portrayal. We will just have to wait and see.








