So Cruise being 5’7” weighing in around 170 is a perfect match for Reacher’s stats in all the books Lee Child wrote? I saw some out takes from Cruise’ Reacher movie and he’s a joke.
But: I did recently re-watch the two Tom Cruise movies, as well as the first two seasons of Reacher the cable series.
Maybe it's not fair to compare the two: movies and made-for-cable mini-series are not the same thing, but I will.
The stories in both the movies are engrossing, and the characters are interesting. Including Cruise's Reacher character, but also all the other characters. They are nicely paced and don't feel like they have any filler in them. The sort of movie quality you would expect from a major studio employing one of the highest paid actors in the industry.
OTOH: The Reacher series just screams "cheap cable" production. There are all sorts of ridiculous fight scenes in it, some look like they were choreographed by Hong Kong guys.
The first season was a pretty good story, it got slow in places, but carried my interest unil the end. The second season was pretty bad, it felt like they were still writing the script as they filmed. Also, it lacked realism more so than the films.
So, while I love the character, and certainly agree that the TV guy is a better fit physically, as the author envisioned him, taken as complete works, I still much prefer the movies to the series.
If I don't watch Season 3 it won't be because I object to the actor's politics, it will be because it's just bored me with tedious stories that turned the franchise into a glorified "A-Team" where the plot is carried along by regular shootouts and martial-arts fights. (And the required "super badass girl fighter who can kick a guys ass twice her size". I mean I get that every Marvel Universe has to have that, but at least the back story there is they have super powers.
I'm sort of tired of that sort of thing in movies. (For instance "Lioness" season two was ridiculous and unwatchable due to this over-used plot device.)