SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JULY 03: Tom Cruise attends the Australian Premiere of “Mission: Impossible – … [+]
Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher films—which preceded Alan Ritchson’s hit Reacher series—have lots of Netflix viewers tuning in.
The first two seasons of Ritchson’s Reacher have been a huge hit for Prime Video and Season 3 is on the way.
However, Tom Cruise first played the character in two feature films: 2012’s Jack Reacher and 2016’s Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
The first Jack Reacher movie was directed by Cruise’s longtime collaborator Christopher McQuarrie, while Edward Zwick—who directed Cruise in The Last Samurai—took over the director’s duties on Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
Both of Cruise’s Jack Reacher films were released on Netflix on August 1. As of Sunday, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the No. 2 on the streaming service’s Top 10 most-watched movies in the U.S., while Jack Reacher is No. 7.
The Jack Reacher movies and Reacher series are, of course, based on select books in author Lee Child’s series of best-sellers. Cruise’s first Jack Reacher movie was based on Child’s One Shot from 2005, while Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is based on the 2013 book of the same name.
How Were Cruise’s Jack Reacher Movies Received Audiences And Critics?
According to The Numbers, Jack Reacher earned $80 million domestically and $137.3 million internationally for a worldwide box office total of $217 million against a $60 million production budget before prints and advertising costs.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back didn’t fare as well, earning, per The Numbers, earning nearly $58.9 million domestically and $101.2 in international ticket sales for a worldwide tally of $159.9 million before P&A.
Jack Reacher—which co-stars Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, David Oyelowo and Werner Herzog—earned a 64% “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics, based on 185 reviews. RT viewers gave the film a 67% “fresh” Audience Score based on more than 100,000 ratings.
The RT Critics Consensus for the movie reads, “Jack Reacher is an above-average crime thriller with a smoothly charismatic performance from Tom Cruise.”
RT critics weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, giving the film a 38% “rotten” rating based on 245 reviews and an Audience Score of 42% “rotten” based on 25,000-plus ratings. The sequel co-stars Colbie Smulders, Aldis Hodge and Holt McCallany.
The Critics Consensus on RT reads, “Monotonously formulaic, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is one action thriller sequel whose title also serves as a warning.”
One person who is not critical of Cruise’s Jack Reacher movies is Alan Ritchson, who took over the role for the Reacher Prime Video series in 2022. No matter how many times his portrayal of Reacher is compared to Cruise’s, Ritchson said he never tires of
Being compared to the most legendary actor of all time? The last film star? I would never tire of being compared to somebody of his stature,” Ritchson told MovieZine.
“Look, he did his thing, he brought a lot of eyes to this project that wouldn’t be here otherwise, I think,” Ritchson added. “There’s some great IP, the books are great, a lot of people have read them and enjoy the show because of them, but I think a lot of people enjoy the show because he made them aware of it.”
Of course, the biggest difference between Cruise and Ritchson is their heights—Cruise is 5-foot-7 and Ritchson is 6-foot-3—which makes the latter closer to Reacher’s 6-foot-5 frame in Lee Child’s book series.
Ritchson, however, will be looking upward in Season 3 of Reacher when faces off against one of the story’s villains, Paulie (Oliver “The Dutch Giant” Richters), who is 7-foot-2.
Both of Cruise’s Jack Reacher movies are streaming on Netflix, while the first two seasons of Ritchson’s Reacher are streaming on Prime Video.
