CRUISE AND JACK REACHER? A BIT OF A DIFFERENCE

Cruise as Jack Reacher

  Jack Reacher, according to author Lee Child who created him, is a 6ft. 6in. blonde-haired ex-soldier who is "built like the side of a house....his hands, giant battered mitts that bunch into fists the size of footballs."
   Tom Cruise, who is portraying him in the action thriller Jack Reacher, is dark-haired, 5ft 7in tall with a baby face and small, soft hands. 
  A problem? Very probably. The speculation on social media sites has been so negative that research firm Fizziology reported the buzz was the worst it had ever seen surrounding a particular actor in an upcoming picture. 
   One commentator on the website of the film magazine Empire wrote: "Jack Reacher is a sledge hammer, Tom Cruise is an underwear dancing sissy."
   Paramount, the studio that put up $60 million to make the picture, is banking on Cruise's star power to make the movie a success.  
   And so is Cruise-----he has bought the rights to all 17 Jack Reacher books, hoping to turn them into a Mission: Impossible-type franchise.