Tom Cruise Quips More, Still Kicks Ass in JACK REACHER TV Spots

The first trailer for Christopher McQuarrie's Jack Reacher presented Tom Cruise as a laconic tough guy, but two new TV spots show he's as handy with his smart-ass quips as he is with his hands, fists, and feet.

Cruise plays the title character, a former military officer, called in to help an old friend who's accused of murder. As before, he drives fast and is prone to beating up strangers, yet his ready wit is deployed as a weapon too.

From reading several enjoyable installments in the long-running book series by Lee Child, I don't recall Reacher as such a quip-minded character, though it may be that McQuarrie fleshed out that side of his personality to compensate for Cruise's real-life dimensions, which are significantly more diminutive than Child's imagining of his fictional ass-kicker. (For the record: 6'5", 220-250 lbs., 50" chest, dirty-blond hair.)

In any event, I remain cautiously optimistic, though I wish at least one of the spots had shown more of Werner Herzog's villain. The film also stars Robert Duvall, Rosamund Pike, and Richard Jenkins, and is due out in North American theaters on December 21.