Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher was a surprisingly fantastic film. I went in thinking, thanks to some slightly misleading trailers, that this was going to be a high octane action movie with a bunch of gun fights, car chases, and explosions but little development and quality. I was completely wrong. While there were a few gun fights, one car chase, and an explosion of sorts, it was done in a completely different manner and was more of an action thriller. Tom Cruise did a great job in his typical role. The rest of the supporting cast was solid enough and the cameo by Robert Duvall was awesome. The plot developed really well and made it more of a "thinking movie" than I anticipated. That being said, the turns in the plot kept the film from becoming stagnant or boring and the action sequences felt real and authentic. I wasn't a huge fan of some of the cinematic elements and there were some flaws in one of the plot twists but nothing that really hurt the movie-watching experience. All-in-all, I'd say this was a great movie that most people would very much enjoy watching.

James Barr (Joseph Sikora), a former military sniper, is in jail for killing 5-people and says he is innocent. He asks for ex-Army MP Officer, Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). But Reacher knew Barr in Iraq and is out to prove him guilty. Hmmm……should be a slam dunk.

It's not often that we get a good thriller along with a good mystery as well, but that is what we have here. Why would Barr ask for Jack Reacher if Reacher knew what Barr did in Iraq? Also, what was the purpose of Barr killing 5-people who had no connection to each other? Assistant DA Helen (Rosamund Pike) asks Reacher to help prevent Barr from getting the death penalty. But, we also had some good fight scenes and an exciting car chase. Let the games begin.

This gets somewhat talky in the beginning as Helen and Reacher analyze what had happened. But, we hang on every word because we, too, need to know things. All this sounded like the dialogue was dubbed in, but I think the microphones were just too close to the characters and this made it seem as if the dialogue was dubbed in. To be honest it did look like Rosamund Pike had weak knees around Tom Cruise, but the script wouldn't go here. It just looked that way to me.

The supporting cast of bad guys was good as was Detective Emerson (David Oyelowo), assigned to the Barr case. Robert Duvall comes in as a retired USMC Gunnery Sgt, Gunny Cash, who does a masterful job as the owner of a gun range and inserts some humor as he deals with Reacher.

Over all this was very good. But, I did have the feeling something was missing. Maybe it needed a better ending as this one was kind of weak for such a good story.

Maybe Tom Cruise is leaving his Mission Impossible movies behind and is now centering on another action hero: Jack Reacher, who is described as someone who seems to only wear the clothes on his back, doesn't care about the law and is only concerned with one thing: justice, and the way he goes about achieving it may shock you. Hey, Lee Child, the author of the Jack Reacher series wrote about 15-books. See? (8/10)

Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, not much

Flanked by plush production values and an interesting supporting cast (including Werner Herzog as a baddie), Tom Cruise investigates at his leisure an apparent spree killing treading the mean streets as a laconic investigator after whom the film is named like Steve McQueen in 'Bullitt' (which also had Robert Duvall in it); and both prove hot stuff behind the wheel of a car.

Cruise has been shot throughout so he looks as tall as or taller than most of the other men in the film; so one admires him for agreeing to willowy Rosamund Pike as his leading lady.

Jack Reacher is based on Lee Child's book "One Shot". For those who've read it, you already know Tom Cruise isn't right for the role. One would wish they could've gotten a bigger and taller actor to play the role like Hugh Jackman, or Chris Evans, or someone else. It could have been a new iconic appearance for a hero. The real problem is it seems Tom Cruise is just redoing his generic action hero performance. As much as he refuses to call himself a hero, he still looks like one but in a much glossier way. In spite of that, the film itself is a snazzy piece of entertainment that is rare in cinema these days. A neo-noir styled action blockbuster that will grip you by its storytelling and its action scenes. There's a chance that could have made this a much better film but put aside those complains, it's still pretty awesome.

The film begins with a man shooting five random innocent people. It effectively builds tension by being silent. The rest of the movie is as slick as the opening and it serves a great entertainment. The only disappointment is Tom Cruise. He may not have the appearance of the character but he could have done a lot more than just doing his typical action hero swagger. He sure has charisma but that's all. His fans might still think he's pretty cool for it. I'm not a fan of comparing a book to its film adaptation. I never cared if a single plot point or character was changed, but the Jack Reacher character is the real deal here. It seems this film is only made for Cruise to get him back in action. Well this character is not for him.

The film is still solidly made. At least it doesn't go to the modern generic action movie direction that is relentlessly loud but sticks to the neo-noir storytelling. The best parts is when it spends time in scrutinizing the case in silence. When the film starts talking, the dialogue is witty and interests the story's investigation. It gets exciting when it goes to the action. The action scenes are well shot. The hand-to-hand combat fight scenes reminiscence the cool eighties action with some humorous camp. The car chase is the most impressive sequence where it shows several angles as they drive away without shaking the camera. It has the potential of a classic throwback.

Jack Reacher is quite entertaining but again they should have gotten the right actor to play the lead. Jack Reacher here is nothing more than another Tom Cruise character with a leather jacket and do what this old man usually do. The only good thing is it's not bad. It's a decent kind of action thriller that isn't famous in mainstream cinema anymore, but yet is enjoyable. It's not entirely an action film though, but people might think it is. It leaves having a smart mystery in spite of fact it lacks the anti-hero. It's fun and worth watching but there are things that could have made this a lot more interesting.

First of all i would like to ask how any of the other reviewers could possibly give this film 1 out of 10? They must have some deep rooted personal reasons for this i guess.

I nearly didn't watch this film for all of the negative reviews. I would have so missed out on something good.

The film was excellent! Great plot. Creepy bad guy and a reasonable amount of suspense. I have never read the Jack Reacher books, so cannot compare Cruise to the title character. I imagine that some people might have been disappointed at the lack of huge explosions and transforming robots etc etc, but this was a fine old school action thriller with many new tricks which i haven't seen before (check the buss stop scene. Classic!). I loved the pacing and the great interaction between players. Sure, some of the one liners seemed a tad forced, but they were not so common. Well done Cruise again.

Do yourselves a favour. Ignore the negative reviewers and give this a go.