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In both movies, Costner and Eckhart are being chased by shadowy government figures while on the run with their respective daughters. Borrowing from lackluster action films like “Three Days to Kill” and the recently released “The Expatriate,” Reacher is paired with a weaker female protagonist whom he needs to protect. In this sequel, Cruise opts to tone down the film’s violence and gore, replacing well-choreographed fight scenes with plentiful exposition. At the end of every Jack Reacher novel, the reader is overflowing with adrenaline, knowing that the tall, dark and silent man got his guy. Modeled after Gary Cooper and Clint Eastwood, Reacher would drift in and out of towns and cities across the United States and would be compelled by his morality and by the locals to solve a violent murder or clean up a murky conspiracy. When Child wrote his first Jack Reacher novel in 1997, he envisioned Reacher as a modern day cowboy in a world gone wrong. This control turned what could have been a phenomenal addition to a new franchise, with a violent protagonist facing complex murders and gritty plots, into Tom Cruise playing Tom Cruise. By having so much creative control, however, Cruise tainted the character whom audiences were rooting for in the first movie.
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In the second iteration of the series, Cruise teamed up with prolific director Edward Zwick, who directed Cruise in “The Last Samurai,” and helmed other films like “Glory” and “Blood Diamond.” Cruise, who produced “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back,” stated in numerous interviews that he wanted to humanize Child’s cold and nearly invincible protagonist. The film’s plot twists and willingness to have key characters murdered at will shocked audiences, and the climactic final fight was on par with the classic action scenes from the shootout in “Dirty Harry” to the car chase in “The French Connection.”Īll of this contributed to why “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” was such a disappointment. For a film rated PG-13, the fight scenes were brutal and pushed the boundaries of the movie’s rating. As far as action movies go, “Jack Reacher” developed a following that would rival other sleeper-hit action films such as “Taken” and “John Wick.”Ĭruise, along with director Christopher McQuarrie, surprised everyone with a hardboiled detective film that depicted Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) trying to solve a crime while simultaneously being hunted. Instead of being a critical and commercial failure, the film went on to gross over $218 million.Ĭruise proved again to be an unstoppable force in the industry, which led Paramount Pictures to approve a sequel. Many predicted that the ultraviolent “Jack Reacher” would be a massive flop due to the film’s vicious plot and Tom Cruise’s out-of-character performance. On top of the odd casting choice, the film had to delay its premiere date in North America following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. When Tom Cruise was first cast as Jack Reacher in 2011, fans and critics alike questioned how the action star, best known for his role in “Mission: Impossible” franchise, could portray a 6-foot-5, 230-pound ex-military police officer in Lee Child’s beloved crime series.