Good book, poor movie

Rating: 2/10 (7 August 2014)

Having read all of the Jack Reacher books, I really thought they would make a franchise movie series. The casting of Hobbit-sized Tom Cruise as the 6-5, 250lb Jack Reacher was the 1st indication that the "franchise" might be lucky if the 1st film makes any money at all. For that very reason, I waited until it made Netflix online before watching it. I'm glad that I didn't pay to go to the movies to see it, or buy the DVD. What a mess! The plot follows the book, which remains the best part of the movie. The mis-casting hurt the movie, as it's hard for the 5'7" actor to be imposing and intimidating without the odd high and low camera angles, to hide the height issue. Add to that the stilted, choppy dialog and wooden delivery, and the early parts of this movie are downright hard to watch. Much of Reacher in the Child books is relayed by either what Reacher's thinking, or creative dialog. The movie had a hard time providing either.
I'm convinced that, should they make another Reacher movie with Cruise and the same screenplay-writer, I won't waste my time watching it, even on Netflix.