Ok. Then who would you have cast as Reacher?

I've never read any of the Reacher novels, but if by "Cruise made it his own" you mean it seemed like virtually every other Cruise action movie, then I'd agree with you.

At last the voice of sanity. I have been scanning these replies with their various suggestions, rolling my eyes with incredulity. People mainly focus on the physical appearance of Reacher without taking into account acting ability, charisma and ability to intimidate. David Morse being a prime example. Have people heard him speak? How does that high pitch voice intimidate?
As you say Cruise made it his own. I have read all of the Reacher books and yet I still accepted Cruise in the movie. I hope they do another one with him.

You see, this list by jrock is totally ridiculous. None, and I mean NONE, of the actors here can fill a movie theater. Really, A young David Morse? No intimidation at all. Neal McDonough because of "steely" blue eyes? I have seen McDonough as the bad guy in the third season of JUSTIFIED. He didn't convince me he could be Reacher. Not by a long shot. Adam Baldwin? Well, I'm glad you said it. No, he's nowhere near convincing. Ray Stevenson ? Well, the problem with Stevenson is he can't carry a film. PUNISHER WAR ZONE more then proved that and that's as close to Reacher as you could get in some ways. Stevenson is a second or third banana and always will be. It ain't a leading man.
Liam Neeson would have been good, but he's too old now and he's got the TAKEN franchise.
But no matter what you say about Tom Cruise, he really made Reacher his own and played the part to perfection. Case in point, I have a heavy duty Reacher fan in Calif. When the casting news came out, he was sending emails about Reacher would be portrayed as a "munchkin" and made endless jokes about the casting. BUT when he finally saw the film, he said he didn't even notice the size difference. Now that's because it's a movie and you are watching the action unfold. In a book, you are constantly being reminded of his size one way or another, but in the film,you just watched the story unfold and Reacher's size made no actual difference to the story itself.
Lee Child, who thinks highly enough of Cruise as Reacher that he actually appears in the film, has often said that Reacher's size was a metaphor for Reacher being unstoppable. Whether you believe that or not makes no difference. It's what the actual creator of the character thinks. And, in all honesty,he says that because he knows Cruise respects the character enough and his star power will make Reacher a very successful film franchise. Cruise is fine as Reacher and I look forward to the sequel now in pre-production.
"Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove"

1 David Morse(if he was younger)Too bad the movies werent made a few years ago always pictured him as reacher
2 Neal McDonough-a few inches short i believe he is 6'1' but has the steely blue eyes blonde hair and the build
3 Adam Baldwin-not sure if he could be believable as a lead role
4 Ray Stevenson-has the size and wit
any of these four would be better than TC have nothing against him but the character is defined in all the books by his size and TC isnt convincing as a ex-mp west point grad badass that has crushed skulls with "hands like shovels" also think kevin durand could pull it off
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Bruce Campbell. Perfect mix of good humor and @$$kickingness. Woulda been great.
"I hit the beep brain!"

Max Martini is close. A bit short but the rest is ok.

One possibility is that this series turns out like the many movies based on Tom Clancy books where the character of Jack Ryan ended up being played by several actors. We could end up seeing a few different actors as Reacher.

I mentioned this in another thread - visually, younger Dolph Lundgren is just like Reacher in the books: 6'5", lean, muscular, blonde, blue eyes, good looking, but not really His acting would have been questionable.
Fighting a religious war is like fighting over whose imaginary friend is better.

Vinnie Jones (Sphinx in Gone in 60 Seconds) was the first person I mentally pictured when reading the books.
Then, after watching the Ray Donovan show, I really think Liev Schreiber could really pull it off..
Having never read the books before watching the movie, I thought it was great and TX did a good job. Having read the series now, I still think he did a good job but was obviously physically miscast.
I'm not a fan of TC personal beliefs but I do feel his movies get a bad rap because of those beliefs.
If I chose not to watch the movies of those I didn't personally like or support, I would have very limited exposure to most of the movies produced

I haven't read the books but based on what i hear how about Scott Adkins or how about Cruise's mIssion impossible 2 adversary Dougray Scott.

I'm a huge fan of the books and my 1ST choice for Reacher has always been Adam Baldwin, he's the right height and build and has spent over 30 years playing similar characters both on tv and in movies. He may not be a big name star but he is known and has a very large following. Kevin Durand has always been my 2nd choice for the role for similar reasons to Baldwin.
I could of also excepted David Morse in the role if he was a little younger.
If they were to cast a younger actor then I would go for Daniel Cudmore, I think he has the potential to make a great Reacher, like Baldwin, Durand and Morse he has the height and build height and at 32 he could theoretically play him continuously through the years instead of different actor like Jack Ryan.

Joker had me at Danny DeVito
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Heath Ledger
Bruce Willis, with the blonde wig of Surrogates

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The site doesn't physically measure them so how would they know? The point is not their actual heights, but how different they look. Tom Cruise looks shorter than most women on the red carpet, whereas Hardy looks normal, he's looks taller than Anne Hathaway in DKR events, who is a pretty tall girl. It seems like it would be easier/more believable to have Hardy in this role since the description calls for a big guy, that's all I'm saying. (And I did enjoy Cruise in the role).
Francis, it's a nation of f**ing rats.

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Nah, Cruise is 5'6", way short for a guy, whereas Hardy is average height, and he looked huge in Lawless. I think Hardy would have been interesting as Jack Reacher.
Francis, it's a nation of f**ing rats.

@qwdzx
Bane appeared physically imposing because of the way he was filmed.
I think Tom Hardy's physique also had something to do with it. Anyways, they could've filmed him the same way for
Jack Reacher
as well.

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@homes4bethel Gotta second Tom Hardy - when I read what the novel's Jack Reacher was like physically, I thought of Bane. Plus Hardy's young enough to do a lot of the sequels.

Tom Hardy would have been an incredible Reacher.

Liam Neeson (coz I would watch him any day over Tom), Ron Perlmanor just anyone with a more menacing presence.
I always thought air was free until I bought a bag of chips

Don't make me laugh! Cruise may be small, but he at least has the acting ability to pull off the dark, mysterious personality of reacher. The rock is a terrible actor, and far too bulky to play reacher. He's meant to be tall, not a steroid head!!