Reacher - variations on a theme
Sep. 26th, 2016 09:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI just watched the Tom Cruise Reacher movie for the second time, from a very different perspective than when it first came out. Back then, I didn't even know who Reacher was, so I came to the movie unbiased by prior expectations. Since then, I have listened to twenty Reacher books, so I'd like to think I know him pretty well.
Obviously, Tom Cruise doesn't fit the physical profile at all - for a start, he's ten inches too short, and he's not blond. But hey - physical appearance isn't everything - though Reacher's physicality does inform his actions and his attitude to quite an extent.
The other main drawback for me was that Tom Cruise's Reacher doesn't have the right intonation. Now, this is partially because I'm so used to Jeff Harding's voice as Reacher - but the dialogue wasn't right in a lot of ways. Reacher has certain phrases he uses a lot ("Outstanding" springs to mind), and the single most frequent repeated sentence in any Reacher book is, "Reacher said nothing." So, Cruise's character was at once too loquacious and not sarcastic or funny enough.
And then there was the driving. In the movie, there are two sequences that rely on Reacher being able to drive in a ridiculous fashion - but it's emphasised many times in the books that he failed Advanced Driving!
Reacher nearly always teams up with a female lawyer/cop/federal agent/private investigator - and the movie is no different. They're generally very well able to look after themselves, though, so it was a bit disappointing that Rosamund Pike ended up in classic damsel-in-distress mode. I don't remember if this happens to her in the book or not, but I do know there are more significant female characters in the book, who add a great deal more to how it plays out.
So, it's impossible for me to see my imagined version of Reacher in the Tom Cruise movie version - but it's still quite a good film and largely entertaining. My reason for re-watching it was to help me decide if I want to go and see the next one, due out in the next few weeks - and I think my decision is that I will. Not least because it's an adaptation of one of my favourite Reacher books, and I'm hoping the inclusion of Cobie Smulders in the female partner role will improve that side of things no end.
Obviously, Tom Cruise doesn't fit the physical profile at all - for a start, he's ten inches too short, and he's not blond. But hey - physical appearance isn't everything - though Reacher's physicality does inform his actions and his attitude to quite an extent.
The other main drawback for me was that Tom Cruise's Reacher doesn't have the right intonation. Now, this is partially because I'm so used to Jeff Harding's voice as Reacher - but the dialogue wasn't right in a lot of ways. Reacher has certain phrases he uses a lot ("Outstanding" springs to mind), and the single most frequent repeated sentence in any Reacher book is, "Reacher said nothing." So, Cruise's character was at once too loquacious and not sarcastic or funny enough.
And then there was the driving. In the movie, there are two sequences that rely on Reacher being able to drive in a ridiculous fashion - but it's emphasised many times in the books that he failed Advanced Driving!
Reacher nearly always teams up with a female lawyer/cop/federal agent/private investigator - and the movie is no different. They're generally very well able to look after themselves, though, so it was a bit disappointing that Rosamund Pike ended up in classic damsel-in-distress mode. I don't remember if this happens to her in the book or not, but I do know there are more significant female characters in the book, who add a great deal more to how it plays out.
So, it's impossible for me to see my imagined version of Reacher in the Tom Cruise movie version - but it's still quite a good film and largely entertaining. My reason for re-watching it was to help me decide if I want to go and see the next one, due out in the next few weeks - and I think my decision is that I will. Not least because it's an adaptation of one of my favourite Reacher books, and I'm hoping the inclusion of Cobie Smulders in the female partner role will improve that side of things no end.
