The failure of a 2016 Tom Cruise movie led to the creation of one of Amazon’s most successful original series ever, Reacher. Cruise starred in two Jack Reacher movies during the 2010s, starting with Jack Reacher in 2012 and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back in 2016. The Top Gun: Maverick star was also deeply entrenched in his hugely popular Mission: Impossible franchise, which has continued to be the highest-grossing franchise of his career and the 17th highest-grossing franchise of all time. Cruise hasn’t appeared in a Jack Reacher film since 2016, which led to Amazon creating their celebrated series.

Cruise doesn’t miss too often at the box office but Jack Reacher: Never Go Back didn’t put up very impressive numbers, generating just over $162 million worldwide against a production budget of $60 million. His first Jack Reacher film in 2012 certainly did better, generating roughly $218 million against a production budget of $60 million, which was enough to warrant a sequel for the potential franchise. Both Jack Reacher and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back received mixed reviews from critics, with the former getting a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 64% and the latter receiving a critic score of just 38%.

The Failure Of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back Led To Amazon Prime’s Reacher Show

Reacher has an impressive 95% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes

Rather than making a third Jack Reacher movie with Cruise in position to star and round out the trilogy, the focus of the Jack Reacher franchise fully shifted to the television adaptation. Amazon’s Reacher is both a critical success and a widely popular series among audiences, with Cruise’s rendition of the character being replaced by the formidable and unmissable presence of star Alan Ritchson. Prior to his massive success as the lead in Reacher, Ritchson rose to prominence for his appearances in popular television series such as Blue Mountain State. After Reacher premiered in 2022, he joined the cast of Fast X the following year.

For all intents and purposes, if the failure of Cruise’s second Jack Reacher movie led to the creation of the coveted Amazon series, then it’s one of the best things that ever happened to the franchise at large. Amazon’s Reacher has an impressive 95% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, one of the highest ratings of any Jack Reacher film or series. Season 1 earned a 92% critic score while season 2 received a near-perfect 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, cementing it as one of the most critically acclaimed series currently on streaming or television. Reacher Season 3 is set to premiere sometime in early 2025.

Why Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’s Reviews Were So Bad

Amazon’s Reacher is highly entertaining while Never Go Back is basically the opposite

While Reacher is undoubtedly a massive success, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was quite the opposite. Reacher season 2 was nearly universally celebrated for Ritchson’s spot-on casting and the simplification of the storytelling. Don Aucoin of The Boston Globe writes in his Reacher season 2 review, “It confirms that the choice of Ritchson was inspired casting — for reasons that have more to do with presence and aura than with height.” Craig Mathieson of The Sydney Morning Herald writes, “To surpass Tom Cruise’s Reacher movies it needed, frankly, to be dumber. The show’s new season appears to understand this.”

On the other hand, critics found Jack Reacher: Never Go Back lacking entertainment value to the point of sheer dullness. David Sims of The Atlantic writes, “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is dispiritingly formulaic, retaining much of the first film’s swaggering masculinity, but none of its self-awareness.” Will Leitch of The New Republic writes, “The film has the empty sheen of a quick in-and-out cash grab, a movie insisting that it’s a franchise while the audience yawns indifferently.” Alissa Wilkenson of Vox writes, “Reacher has no personality. He has no interests. He has no one-liners that land. He is, frankly, just a handsome, dull guy who happens to be adept at knocking people out.”

What The Reacher Show Does Better Than The Tom Cruise Movies

Cruise is great but Ritchson feels made for the Jack Reacher role

There’s no question that Cruise is outstanding in just about everything and can masterfully keep billion-dollar franchises afloat. It is, however, hard to see him nowadays outside of his Ethan Hunt and Maverick persona, since so much of Cruise’s energy, passion, and determination feels as though it’s infused directly into those two roles. While it’s great for those Cruise franchises, it’s not so great for Cruise as Jack Reacher, since it’s difficult to unsee Cruise and ultimately disrupts the immersion of the two movies, making his rendition less impactful. Ritchson, on the other hand, appears to be made for the role of Jack Reacher and also adds an intimidation factor and menacing quality that doesn’t come as naturally in Cruise’s version.