Jack Reacher - in case you didn't know - is a character in 17 novels of Lee Childs'. At 6' 5" tall ,with a 50-inch chest, weighing between 210 and 250 pounds, with ice-blue eyes and dirty blond hair, Tom Cruise wasn't exactly the fans favourite choice to portray him in the new movie.

But Cruise - who stands at a diminutive 5ft 7in in comparison - has managed to play the hero before, with unforgettable roles in Mission Impossible and Vanilla Sky as proof, so has he managed to defy the physical appearance of his character's origins and please the fans?

The Sun's review, which gives the film 3 stars, asserts that Cruise is on "top form", and that he "delivers on the action front and the script from Usual Suspects writer Chris McQuarrie, who is also on directing duty, gives proceedings just the right level of knowing humour. The movie also contains one of the great lines of the year: "I'm gonna beat you to death and drink your blood from a boot!" Nice."

Empire also think Cruise makes a valiant effort to bring Reacher to life, saying, "Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise deliver on their promise, with a witty, violent take on Reacher that makes up for its lack of height with an abundance of smarts and thrills."

The film as a whole may be lacking, with a distinctly average average of 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it would appear that Cruise's performance stands a full 8 inches above his actual height.