Resurrection

Whew, it has indeed been a while. I proposed to a friend the other day a somewhat "outrageous" statement so I'd like to qualify it here and now.

"Jack Reacher is my favorite character of any series, ever."

It almost hurt typing that, because it is so specific. It allows for no misinterpretation whatsoever. It's a highly qualified thing to say, which is something I dislike doing very much. I HATE speaking in absolutes.

And that is perhaps one of the reasons why I like Reacher so much...

Before I go into why I appreciate Reacher so much as a character I must first get one thing out of the way:

Tom Cruise is TERRIBLE as Jack Reacher.  There are plenty of reasons for this, none of which really involve Cruise's overall "qualifies" as an actor. I actually like Tom Cruise. In almost all of the roles for which he is most famous he is, in my opinion, quite good and well suited to those roles. Ethan Hunt IS Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise IS Ethan Hunt. TOP GUN!? I mean, he was perfect. So, so good. Risky Business? Perfect. I personally found him fantastic in Edge of Tomorrow (which is an incredibly under-rated movie).  He made Knight and Day somewhat watchable; he tried really hard in the Last Samurai to be the solemn, heart broken and broken down soldier on a last gasp effort in a cause that allowed him to find greatness and redemption.  I could go on and on and on. Part of what Tom Cruise is best at as an actor is in that sort of wry, self assured wise-guy humor. A certain smirk is very "Tom Cruise-ish." He's also very short and despite, for the most part, being very fit he is not generally regarded as a "big strapping guy."

And that brings me to my next point.

Half of who Reacher is as a character is who he is as a human being. I mean that in the most basic sense of the species. He is a big, hugely strong man whose facial features are cut from slabs of rock and whose stature intimidates others simply by being there in front of you.  That's WHO HE IS as a character. When I first started reading the Reacher novels (right around when the movie was coming out which, I admit, was my catalyst for starting the book series) I didn't think too much of the size disparity between Cruise and Reacher. But the more I read (I have now read 16 of the Reacher novels) the more I realized how wrong I had been at first.

Reacher is a big, big man. Not in a body builder way but in a sort of way that lets you know his strength comes half from being a born fighter and half from within. His cold sense of "never lose, never" lets you know that his aspirations are built on the foundation of always winning.

He's never "funny" exactly. He's not sarcastic in a way meant to arouse humor. He's coldly logical, precise, concise. He's never made long speeches, not in 16 novels involving 16 different stories.  Tom Cruise likes to talk. His character was constantly trying to be "funny." I think he missed, somewhat, the intent behind many of Reacher's lines in the "One Shot" story (which is what was adapted to the movie in Hollywood).

There's a scene in the movie where the local police officer in charge of the investigation asks Reacher/Cruise "What did you do in the army?" To which Cruise/Reacher responds "I did the same thing you do, except everyone I investigated was a trained killer."  In the movie you get the sense that the character is saying this to sort of "one up" the cop.  In my opinion, this is never the manner in which Reacher would've responded to this question (from an inflection standpoint).  Reacher was being extremely accurate in his statement. It wasn't meant to be humorous, or "one up" the cop, it was merely stated as fact.

I think that's another part of why I love Reacher so much: he is precise, he is observant, he is extremely aware, he is logical, he is factual, he is aloof (somewhat, until you piss him off), he is a drifter and he is incredibly, incredibly curious.  I think these are all things I'd like to think I see in my own personality. Many of them are (sadly) not there, but Reacher is a good man who uses his skills to help people who need his help. In many situations (by design, obviously) he is the ONLY person who can help. The police are out of the picture or unable or whatever, Reacher is there.

I highly recommend at least giving the first book in the series a try.