Jack Reacher 2

Here’s a story you might’ve missed this past week. With the Fast and the Furious franchise under his belt, we’ve sorta learned to take Dwayne Johnson’s star power for granted. After all, Johnson was the highest grossing male box office star of 2016, suggesting that all you need is a half-decent fight choreographer and Johnson to gross $100 million at the box office. That being said, there was a time not so long ago when Johnson could still go after major Hollywood roles and lose out to more established actors. One such movie was Jack Reacher, which was a role the actor revealed he lost to Tom Cruise.

Don’t let that headline mislead you too much. Tom Cruise is fine. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back also did fine in its opening weekend. But there’s something inherently amusing about one the most recognizable movie stars in the world playing second fiddle to Tyler Perry and his ever-popular creation, Madea. The seasonally appropriate Boo! A Madea Halloween edged out Cruise’s latest sequel at the box office this weekend, contributing to a top 10 where moderately budgeted movies reigned supreme.

The first thing I think of when I hear the name Edward Zwick is his Oscar-winning 1989 film Glory. Specifically, I think of the time my entire 7th grade class was assembled in Marlboro Middle School’s amphitheater to watch it. And when the same thing happened again in 8th grade. And then again in high school, where I was shown Glory two more times in history classes. My colleagues on the ScreenCrush staff all have similar stories. For a certain generation of American school kids, Glory was like a rite of passage.

The Late Late Show With James Corden is no stranger to running stars through their career history, but if there’s anyone to run anywhere, it’s Tom Cruise. See the Jack Reacher star reenact an impressive span of his iconic movie career for James Corden, and we’ll show you the special guest!

The Jack Reacher of Lee Child’s novels is a massive 6’5” bruiser. The Jack Reacher of cinema is Tom Cruise, who’s only about 5’7. But there’s something satisfying about this casting. You expect a giant hulk to be able to handle himself in a fight. Cruise’s Reacher is an underdog every time he wanders into a fight and then takes them down three, four, or five dudes at a time. Is it plausible that a 54-year-old vagrant could maintain a flawless physique and dominate packs of professional killers even when cornered and heavily outnumbered? Probably not. Is it plausible that a kid who gets bit by a spider could turn into Spider-Man? There are things a viewer simply accepts because it is the premise of the movie.

If you have ever seen at least a couple of Tom Cruise movies, it will come as no surprise to you when I say the guy likes to run onscreen. Like, a lot. It’s his version of Humphrey Bogart’s overcoat or John Wayne’s hat. It’s his calling card, his signature. It wouldn’t be a true Tom Cruise film without it. His hair gets longer or shorter, he gets older and gains a couple of wrinkles. But the running never changes.

In the first Jack Reacher: Never Go Back trailer, Tom Cruise beat up 11 guys. In this new IMAX trailer, which is only 90 seconds long, he beats up eight. That includes a guy on an airplane, a guy he kicks in the face, a guy he jumps on from a great height, a guy he punches through the window of his car, and a guy he strangles with his own telephone cord while talking to him on the phone. He also threatens this man with the line “Maybe I rip your arm off and beat you to death with it.” Oh please oh please oh please Tom Cruise, rip his arm off and beat him to death with it. I’ve always wanted to see you rip a guy’s arm off and beat him to death with it. All my friends say it’s not physically possible. But I believe in you dude! Power of positive thinking!

Few things in life are as exciting as a new Tom Cruise action movie. We’ve all read articles declaring Cruise as the last true American movie star or marveling at his physicality even into his fifties, but even those pieces sometimes overlook the sheer pleasure of watching Cruise at work in any new Jack Reacher or Mission: Impossible movie. Five minutes of any basic cable police procedural should be enough to remind you that not every actor who holds a gun actually looks the part; actors like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves are on a level entirely their own.

Y’know those back to school ads for Staples? The ones that repurpose the Christmas standard “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” to celebrate children going back class? I always hated those ads as a kid. Going back to school was not a time to celebrate. It was a time for grief and mourning.

By my count, Tom Cruise beats up 11 men all by himself in the trailer for Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. 11! And that doesn’t include the four guys he beats up before the trailer starts that they show lying on the ground. And this is just a two minute and 30 second clip...