A trailer has been released featuring Tom Cruise taking on the hulking main character in the Lee Child novels for Paramount‘s Jack Reacher, Deadline said.

In the film, Cruise’s ex-military policeman-turned-benevolent drifter is always finding himself smack in a situation where a helpless person needs someone who can put the clues together and kick butt when necessary.

The movie, from Paramount and Skydance Productions, opens December 21.