So, when Jeff and I went and saw To Rome With Love on Friday, one of the trailers that played before the film was for the upcoming Tom Cruise action film, Jack Reacher. The audience started snickering the minute that Cruise first showed up in the trailer and was openly laughing by the time Cruise was saying, “Remember, you wanted this.” I’ll admit that, while I didn’t laugh, I did smirk a little because, seriously, we all know that Cruise has probably said the exact same thing at least once to Katie Holmes.
On a perhaps more serious note, the laughter highlighted the central question of Tom Cruise’s career right now. Will audiences continue to take seriously a man who apparently accepts the existence of Evil Lord Xenu and who strikes many people are being just a little bit creepy? True, it didn’t keep people from seeing the latest Mission Impossible film but then again, that film was sold less as a Tom Cruise film and more as the continuation of an established franchise.
I’ve never read any of the Jack Reacher books but they’ve apparently got a pretty devoted fan base* and, just to judge from some of the comments that I’ve seen online, a lot of that base is not that happy about Cruise playing the title character. Apparently, the literary Jack Reacher stands 6’5 and Tom Crusie … well, Tom Cruise doesn’t. In fact, Cruise appears to be the shortest person in this trailer.
Paramount is planning to release Jack Reacher on December 21st, presumably hoping to draw in filmgoers who are looking for an alternative to snooty Oscar contenders.
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*Apparently, Stephen King is a huge Jack Reacher fan which, to be honest, doesn’t fill me with hope. Just judging from his occasional columns for Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King has terrible taste.
Through the Shattered Lens 
Tom Cruise is said to be 5′ 4″, but it’s the fact that this trailer comes across as a desperate clone of Drive is what leads me to snicker.
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Movie audiences tend to care less about the people in the movies as opposed to what the movies are about. Angelina Jolie is perhaps the most recognisable actress in the world, but how many people went to see “A Mighty Heart” at the arthouse? People still flock to Mel Gibson films, and it’s fair to say that he has faced more backlash from the media than Tom Cruise. Perhaps the phrase “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” applies here.
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You do have a point there. As I type this, there’s a story over on my Yahoo homepage asking whether or not Taylor Kitsch is “box office poison” as the result of starring in three box office disappointments this year — John Carter, Battleship, and Savages. I think a more realistic question would be “Does anyone know that Taylor Kitsch was even in those three films?” A more realistic question would be “Why did Disney spends millions upon millions of dollars to make a film based on a series of books that most people have never heard of?” Or. by that same logic, why would you speond millions to make a movie based on an old boardgame? But instead of considering that, the story seems to be, “Audiences just don’t want to watch Taylor Kitsch.”
That said, Taylor Kitsch does tend to come across like a bargain basement Channing Tatum.
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Yeah, Cruise should be Jack “I cant” Reacher (uh, given the height thing. I thank you…).
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Oh yeah, and no shit about King’s tastes! I was always shocked and appalled when reading his likes, etc in EW. you know of what you speak, oh wise one. Uncle Stevie is a crock!
🙂
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