I'm a huge Lee Child fan - have read all of his books. Was also not impressed with the choice of Tom Cruise as Reacher as he sure didn't fit the vision that had been painted in my head. I *will* be going to see the movie, so I can see this story from a film-maker's perspective.
Moving between the two experiences (film vs book) is always a huge challenge - there is so much that the written word can do that is just pretty much impossible to convey on screen.
I had also read Lee Child's article in Time (also published in 'Word and Film' -
http://www.wordandfilm.com/2012/12/l...ing-the-baton/ ). If the author sees his character coming to life on the screen with this cast, I'll give it a chance